#but it has lots of good memeable moments too

[yumedoca]

I've been noticing your posts of Detective Conon (is that how it's spelled?) anyways I'd been noticing them and tbh I'd forgotten who it was and I'd been seeing the little boy wondering why he looked so familiar before I remembered where I'd seen him.

He's from the Lupin III X Detective Conon special. That's when it clicked that you were posting Detective Conon. Bro I didn't realize it was him till I remembered this- 😭

[Warning: Rambling's of a fangirl Ahead]

Hai there! Hope you're having a great day!!

Yeah, The Conan (as in Arthur 'Conan' Doyle) X Lupin special was a thing, lol. The thing is that I'm just like you except I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I've only watched Detective Conan, but I haven't watched Lupin at all. I've watched the special as well, but it seems that it was more Lupin focused (I heard it was made for anniversary or something??), so I was kind of confused for some of the parts. There's a crossover movie as well, but after my reaction to the special, I figured that I'd watch both after I have consumed Lupin media. I still haven't watched it but that's because I'm too busy to watch anything at the moment now, but once I'm able to have more free time, I'd love to start watching Lupin since it seems like a lot of fun!!

I'm pretty sure the crossovers were made because both shows share the same animation studio. Detco's (short for detective Conan) mangaka, Gosho Aoyama is a huge fan of the series, even stating Fujiko is his ideal woman. There's even a character who's based off of Fujiko in detco as well!

As for Detective Conan, considering all the fandom I've seen you be a part of (You have great taste BTW), I feel like it would be a shame if you didn't check out the series because I feel it fits perfectly into your tastes. I myself started the series when I heard there were Urusei Yatsura references in the series:

Couldn't find a clear anime counterpart of this so have the manga version instead. This is only just one of the references though.

And while looking up the reference, I came across a small plot summary and it intrigued me. Then I started the anime and I've been obsessed since. Like Ace Attorney, Detco is a mystery series with tons of lovable characters. It also has an overarching plot which keeps you intrigued at the same time. A series filled with Love, Thrill, Shock and Suspense to the brim. I would highly recommend it!!

You can experience the series by either manga or anime. I'd say for you anime might suit better since the manga is still ongoing, over 100 volumes, is officially licensed but it has localization (the names, 96% of the fandom uses the Japanese names), it is readable on the VIZ app for a small subscription, but the localization problem still exists. Of course, you can read fanscans without localization as well. Mangadex is good site for that.

As for the anime, it has over a 1000 episodes (+ movies and OVA and other stuff) but that's because it has tons of fillers. 65% of the series is canon to the manga. You can easily look up a filler list and watch which are canon according to that. There are good fillers, but you can watch those in your own time. There are movies as well, which even though not canon, I'd definitely still recommend.

I'd say if you're watching the TV series in the quickest time, it would take a few months. I think I took 5-6 months, but I also took a lot of breaks in between so it isn't all that relevant.

Anyways, even though watching Detco is time consuming it is still something I do not and will never regret because of story and characters this amazing (and memeable) and I'm pretty sure everyone else who have watched it feels the same.

Detco does have a sister series called Magic Kaito which is much shorter in case you've decided not to watch Detective Conan. It's a phantom thief focused series with 5 volumes and 25 something episodes. However, if you do watch Detco, you will come across Magic Kaito whether you like it or not..

In the end, the choice is up to you. Sorry for all the rambling, when I start talking about any my favorite things I just can't seem to calm down..

If you have any queries, feel free to ask! I'm open to any discussion!!

#thanks for the ask! #sorry for the late reply btw #i just knew i was going ramble as soon as i saw the ask so i decided to reply when im free #also ignore any lupin posts i mightve reblogged #its either because the post was memeable or the art is great #im too shy to put this one int the detco or lupin tags so im not doing it

[queenofthursday6599-blog]

I don't understand shows and movies that try to be super relevant to what's going on in modern day.

Especially if they try to put like memes or fast fashion trends in there to try and appeal and connect with kids & teens more, because honestly it's more or less a coin flip of if those things are dated or not by the time the movie is finished and in theaters.

It honestly feels like some movies and tv shows are just trying to take the easy route by using stuff that's already popular, vs trying to just make something iconic itself.

It uses popular memes, instead of just trying to write it's own jokes.

It goes with the fads and trends that were going on during filming, instead of dressing the characters as characters with a specific look in mind made to show who they are as characters rather than trying to look as trendy as possible.

Iconic movies are iconic because the movie was trying to be the best movie it could be (or it's so bad it's good), not because it was trying to be super trendy or up to date on memes.

Like the movie Clueless literally changed teen girl fashion trends of that era, before that movie came out, was was really on trend was the grunge/punk rock look, baggy jeans, plaid shirts, and band ts, but the costume director didn't think that aesthetic fit with the characters in the story they were going to be telling.

So they dressed the characters in something that was wildly off trend, and instead changed how a lot of teen girls dressed in real life as a result.

I will never not be irritated with movies trying to be trendy vs trying to be effective with the their story telling.

And yes how you dress your characters does indeed involve storytelling.

It informs you about the character (or at least it's supposed to). It's supposed to tell you stuff about their personality, about their place in the world, about their interests. And possibly more, if done right.

Dressing your characters in trendy clothing doesn't tell us anything about them, other than that you are a dumbass who doesn't know how costume design works, and maybe that the character is a trend obsessed person who probably has tiktok.

That character who you intended to be super fashionable, so you just dressed them in the most popular current trends? They're going to look dated and unfashionable probably 6 months to 2 years after the movie comes out, as a best case scenario.

Also just stacking a bunch of really trendy pieces on top of each other? Not how a real human being (who wasn't just desperate for validation of how trendy they are) would make outfits out of them.

I'm not even super into fashion trends, but even I know that your super trendy item is supposed to be your statement piece of the outfit. It's not supposed to also be competing with like 3 to 7 other statement pieces.

The literal only time you would see someone pile on a bunch of statement pieces are in those cringe flexing videos, where the goal is just to show off how many trendy pieces you own.

On the meme side of things, just don't put them in your movie, if your movie has a memeable moment the fans will let you know. You have to let it happen naturally, or else the meme will probably be that your movie is trying way too hard.

[sugirandom]

Ranting about Sonic X, a lot of critical stuff so feel free to skip if you like Sonic X XD, I might even go into some personal stuff later so yeah... this was longer than I intended ha ha

So, my best bro and I have been working through watching Sonic X and we’re nearly finished the season 3... Sonic X has frankly been a chore to get through at times...especially season 3

Of all the Sonic cartoons/anime I had the highest expectations for Sonic X because it was (and as far as I know still is) the adaptation that’s closest to the video games in terms of the original Sonic characters, the Japanese version having the original voice cast also helps.

But honestly the need to place Sonic in the ‘human world’ has always been very strange to me because there are humans in Sonic’s world in canon and this seems to be forgotten constantly, with Sonic X being the first offender of this and the live action movies doing their own version of the same thing.

So,there’s that and thanks to that most of season one was dedicated to getting us attached to the human characters, of which some are interesting, but the human lead, Chris, is not...he’s 12 but he acts 10 so I honestly flat out forgot 12 was his canon age. He’s a privlaged rich american kid who acts like he’s all alone despite his maid and butler doing a good job of raising him while his parents are pretty much absent because of their work and when tyhey are around spoil him...so yeah there’s that.

He forms a bond with Sonic and honestly the tone often feels kinda romantic, at least of Chris’ end. I don’t think they intended it that way but I mean...I’d take Sonic 06′s Elise over Chris any day (the one they actually acuse of pushing a relationship with Sonic and a human lol). I guess I’ll stop my rant about Chris here because there’s more that I wanted to say but... I don’t want this to all be about him...I just want to add one more thing...the end of season 2 ruined any chance Chris had of me liking him...

On ocassin they miss the mark with the actual Sonic characters too, often flanderizing certain aspects of them, for example, with Amy Rose...she has more to her than just loving Sonic obsessively but especially when we get to season 3 it becomes her entire character. I’m not saying the video games are completely innocent of this (see Sonic Heroes) but it’s a bit of a nitpick...

As much as I love Rouge being chaotic neutural by season 3 they seem to abandon any bond she developed with the other characters (except her bond with Shadow, which is great!).

There’s also a huge genre shift, season 3 is it’s own Sci-fi story with aliens they completely made up and a saving the galaxy from these aliens who are stealing the life force of other planets...for reasons (the main villain hasn’t revealed why at the point we’re watching this). I honestly think this idea may have come from another anime that the team working on Sonic X couldn’t get approved or it was a case of “make it Sonic” XD

Ironically I’ve had an idea forever for a Sonic fanfic...series that I have yet to write involving aliens but mine are humanoid and their focus is just on Earth so it really made me question why we were all longing to have Sonic fight aliens so badly lol

If you guys want to hear me rant more about Sonic X let me know. If I feel really brave I might share some of my story ideas too but...for now... I’ll list a few things I like about Sonic X so I don’t sound like a complete jerk.

Quick list of some positive points: Eggman’s characterization is, for the most part, interesting and close to the video games so I do like that, he’s evil but he has his moments where he’s more complex. 

Some of the supporting human characters are interesting but the plot doesn’t always know what to do with them

Sonic is hilarious and entertaining, I like the Engrish he uses, very memeable but not cringe and genuinely fun (applies to the Japanese version only obviously)

Some filler episodes did have good plot ideas (not all but a few)

The designs of the Sonic characters were done well

Shadow is badass but honestly for the most part you have to be trying to mess Shadow up. 

That’s all I can think of for now and I’m tired of typing but I wanted to get this off my chest!

[raavenb2619]

[ID: The Owl House snowball meme. A boy, labelled “Freud”, holds a snowball, labelled “"everyone experiences sexual attraction"”, and looks at it inquisitively. Over the course of three panels, a girl, labelled “aces”, smacks the snowball out of his hand. End ID]

#ace #asexual #queer #lgbtq #queer memes #original #meme #the owl house snowball #the owl house #not only is The Owl House good and full of good queer rep #but it has lots of good memeable moments too

[mihidecet]

Tibi’s MCYT WritingTober, Day 28

Oooh boy how time flies!! We’re almost done! Only three days more? 

Today’s prompt, from @the-only-gamer-gost ‘s list, is “Muffin Duo” <3 I don’t watch a lot of Skeppy and Bad’s stuff, but I do love their dynamic. They’re best friends!!

"Is this on? Are we live?" Skeppy's voice asks as the camera's red light starts to blink. 

A few feet away, Bad chuckles to himself as all he can suddenly see on his screen - him and the couple of people that jumped on stream the second they went live - is Skeppy's confused expression. 

When the younger man turns back to him, it's with an endeared and mockingly angry expression, mouth open with a protest already on his tongue. 

"Yup, we're live!" Bad starts, interrupting him before he can even say anything, and turns to the camera with an awkward stare, eyes straying to the side instantly. 

Back when they'd first come up with the idea for this stream, before he'd caught a plane to finally meet his best friend, the idea of it had been fun and quite honestly one of the best ideas they'd ever had. 

It was funny, memeable, and a splendid sequel to Bad's old cooking video. 

But neither had quite taken into consideration the fact that doing a cooking livestream required having cameras on for quite some time. 

Skeppy, while being a bit awkward with nothing to do with his hands, thinks he can handle himself in front of the cameras quite alright. 

Bad, on the other hand, has never really picked up using facecam - the last instance of it that Skeppy does remember is the hair cutting stream, which … isn't exactly a common nor reoccurring thing. 

"Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful wonderful day! Today, I am here with Skeppy! Say hi, Skeppy." 

The younger man turns to the camera with a bright, sardonic smile, and lets himself fall back into their usual dynamic. 

"Hi, Skeppy!" Immediately, Bad swivels around with the least irritated look face ever and gestures wildly at the camera before putting a hand on his face. 

"SKEPPY! Oh my goodness-" the man gripes, using the hand on his face to try and cover his fond smile - it works only slightly. 

If it were anyone else, the fact that he can now see the person he's bothering smile as they protest would break the illusion that he is actually managing in annoying them. But to be honest, he's known Bad for too long, he can tell when he's not really angry even without seeing him smile as he pretends to be angry. 

"Can you at least explain the audience what we're doing as I grab the recipe?" Bad asks, moving out of frame for a moment in order to grab the sheet of paper stuck to the fridge behind the camera. 

"Today, Bad's gonna make me some blueberry cupcakes!" Skeppy instantly declares, leaning back into the kitchen table with a satisfied smirk, simply waiting for Bad's next outburst. 

And in fact, like clockwork-

"Skeppyy! That is not true, you said you'd help me out!" He protests, getting back into frame, now with the recipe he printed down for the occasion. There are very easy and very clear steps written on it, that he read out loud before they started the stream so that Skeppy could have at least a vague idea of what he was in for. 

"Come oon, Bad! You know I can't cook!" He comments, pouting a bit just for show, and - yep, Bad's expression instantly softens. 

"But that's not the point, we're supposed to be making it together …" whoever says they would be able to say no to that, they are liars. 

"I guess I can try and help!" 

"YAAY!" Bad cheers, clapping his hands together, and before Skeppy can say anything there is a sudden bark from near his feet that makes him jump in surprise. 

"Oh you scare the shit out of me!" Skeppy says in a gasp, one hand over his chest as he looks down at Rat, who is wagging her tail at his feet. 

"Language, Skeppy! Lucy just wants to say hi!" 

Skeppy snorts out a laugh as he looks down at the little dog, who is now standing on her hinds legs and lightly scratching at his jeans. 

"I think Lucy wants up. Do you want up, little lady?" He asks, already bending down to scoop Lucy up in his arms. She is instantly excited, tail wagging like crazy as she struggles to reach his face - and once she does, it's dog kisses central. 

Skeppy can't help but burst out laughing as Lucy seems to be desperately trying to cover his whole face in kisses. 

"Oh my goodness- Rat! Rat stop, you- oh my goodness, let me help you-" Bad starts, inching closer with his arms outstretched in order to save Skeppy from the onslaught of love, but the younger man just steps away. 

"She's mine now, Bad! See? She loves me so much!" 

While Skeppy is a bit preoccupied with preventing Lucy from vaulting out of his arms in excitement, he does not miss Bad's indignated huff and how he crosses his arms over his chest. 

"Bad-boy-halo. Are you-" 

"No." Bad interrupts, with an edge of finality that flies over Skeppy's head.

"Are you by any chance-"

"No, Skeppy!" He protests in vain.

"Jealous??" Skeppy asks, wagging his eyebrows. Lucy gives a bark that, while destroying his right eardrum, sounds like her agreeing with his statement.

"I am not!" 

"You so are! You're jealous because Rat keeps giving me lots of kisses!" Skeppy presses and as if Rat could understand him, she gives another small "yip" and resumes her extremely vital task of licking his face. Right in front of him, Bad crosses his arms and gives him a skeptical look.

"I- Rat gives me plenty of kisses!"

There's a split second during which Skeppy thinks of where he can take this bit, and he decides that hey, maybe he can try and be lazy: he sticks out his bottom lip in a pout and squeezes Rat to his chest. 

"Oh, wow! Ok, I see how it is! You can make your own muffins then!" He exclaims, turning his back to him and walking away. 

What the camera can't thankfully see is him realizing after just a second that there is no exit in the direction he's walking to - unless he can suddenly pass through walls - so he reaches the end of the kitchen and just … rests his forehead against the wall.

"What- Skeppy, no! Stop! Come back, come on!" Bad protests, thankfully while being enough good of an actor to mask the fact that what he is seeing is simply hilarious. Skeppy's shoulders are shaking with the need to laugh himself to tears, but he holds on. For the bit. 

And then, all his plans come crashing down as Bad's voice takes a more stern tone.

"I- You're either helping or not getting any!" 

A very long moment of silence goes by, and then-

"You know what, what are we even waiting for! Come on, Bad, we have muffins to bake!"

#mcyt writingtober #badboyhalo #skeppy

[luvreyn]

My Manhwa List (2019) pt. 4

And the list continues ~

The Reason Why Raelina Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion

Summary:

Poisoned to death by her own betrothed?! Eunha didn’t wake up in a novel’s story just to get killed off again as an unfortunate extra! To change her story she needs a cover… 6 months pretending to be the fake fiancée of the novel's male protagonist, Duke Noah Wynknight. But will this cold-hearted, angel-faced demon of a man really help her avoid another ill-fated ending?!

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

this is like my second discovered manhwa so it’s very high on my list

plot = 6/5 the plot twists are awesome hail the author

noah freaking wynknight

mc is smart and capable and knows how to use guns she is no damsel in distress my friends

mc knows and uses her knowledge efficiently

adam 

art style - 6/5

the king is awesome

the villain is unexpected bcuz ohmygahd i didnt see that one coming

R A E L I N A

noah being in love 

the reasons and logic are all justified and reasonable

very lovable characters that you would understand

has the right amount of angst/comedy/romance/drama 

facial expressions are on point they are memeable 

in conclusion: read this because this is one of the best manhwa ever like ever i mean who havent read this gem you’re missing out if you havent

My Life as an Internet Novel

Summary:

Every novel has the usual cast: a gorgeous heroine, handsome boys vying for her attention, and a homely best friend at the heroine’s side. Dani, an ordinary student and avid reader of internet novels, is all too familiar with these tropes. But she never imagined that one day she’d wake up at the center of one herself! Her new fictional world is complete with a beautiful best friend named Yeoryung, and four impossibly good-looking boys who all happen to be in her class.  Dani is determined to stay out of the way and not get involved in the twists and turns of the plot. But is she really just the sidekick -- or is Dani actually the leading lady? Anything is possible in the world of a novel!

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

the mc’s reasons and fears are justified and reasonable 

the characters are all lovable 

plot = 5/5 very diff from iseka-ish stories that just went with the flow of their new life this mc’s reactions are realistic and shouldn’t be invalidated 

art style is decent

yeoryong loving her bff and prioritising her is love

the characters are complex and have their own personality

yeoryeong x dan - i

the bff’s bro is handsome

the male characters are all handsome and cute and understanding

spoiler: they believed in their friend and that’s pure friendship 

their friendship are goals i just want to cry because they didnt invalidate the feelings and fear of the mc 

yeoryeong x eun ji ho

dan - i x chun young

Lady Beast 

Summary:

An arranged marriage that ends in a body swap?! The quiet Princess Elissa has lived a miserable life thus far. To get away from it all she agrees to marry the war tyrant, Duke Ginger of Landall Kingdom. But by some evil curse, the new couple wakes up in each other's bodies! Between royal functions to attend and getting used to their physical changes, can they keep their cool long enough to find a way to switch back? Or will they be stuck like this forever?!

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

red haired characters are awesome

plot = 4/5 the body switching concept is put nicely and are nicely done 

art style = 4/5 

reactions are funny

ml is husband material

ml teasing the mc 

number question: why are they swapping bodies no one knows

light read so read it you want to just have a good time 

The Contract Concubine

Summary:

As the deadliest assassin in the Seong Empire, Yeseo is stumped by very few jobs that come her way. But when Emperor Ahon hires her to find the spy hiding in his palace, she must also play the part of his new airheaded concubine as a cover. It takes all her patience to keep up her lovey-dovey act with Ahon during the day, and all her smarts to sniff out the enemy at night. If only she could wrap up this job quickly and collect her handsome reward-- but with so many suspicious officials and the tangled web of alliances inside the court, it's hard to tell who the true culprit could be. Can Yeseo catch this mysterious spy before she loses her sanity and blows her own cover?

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

what can i say, i just love stories that has politics and history

funny and fantastic

A H H O N

it has a lot to offer 

art style = 5/5

plot = 4/5 

i think this has dark themes but surprisingly it’s a light read for me bcuz of the pov of yesuh

who is the traitor who is the spy

the white silver fox dude reminds me of gin ichimaru

ahhon x yesuh

Daughter of the Archmage

Summary:

Mabel’s been mocked her whole life for her nonexistent magical ability, but when she finally meets her true father, it’s the all-powerful archmage, Raquiel! Forced by an imperial pact to let her go long ago, he can now welcome her into his home, with his half-wolf butler, three nymph sisters, a fox halfling, and a kind disciple to watch over her. But dark secrets from his past threaten to catch up with them. Will his magic be enough to protect her? Could she even come into a power all her own?

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

if you love wmmap, you’re gonna love this

plot = 3.5/5

art style = 4/5

ngl rykell is one of the top candidates for best daddy award

rykell doesnt hate his daughter ok 

sweet and adorable father-daughter moments

maybelle deserves the world

this is a warm and light read if you just want to enjoy reading 

p.s the scanlation team is dropping this because the author said so BUT there’s going to be an official english translation next year (i think jan 2020?) 

a lot of questions that’s going to make you want more

#manhwa #the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion #noah wynknight #raelina x noah #lady beast #manhwa recommendation #princesssehunnalist #My Life as an Internet Novel #The Contract Concubine #Daughter of the Archmage #The Reason Why Raelina Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion #reyn.manhwarecs #shoujo manhwa

[radramblog]

Some longer thoughts on Pokemon BDSP

I think at this point the absolute vitriol-fest thrown at the upcoming Sinnoh Remakes has largely died down, people moving onto greater things like the upcoming New Pokemon Snap release (I’m probably not buying it) or…whatever it is the #mainstreamPokemonFandom does when they aren’t spewing outrage about trees and dexits. It might be a bit early for me to do this considering the games still don’t have a release date, but I figure with the hype dying down a bit I can afford a few of my own thoughts as to what these games should look like.

Of course, we’ve all been burned before, and I’m not expecting an awful lot. But hey, it’s just my two cents.

I think the first thing that made people immediately bounce off of the BDSP reveal is the artstyle. And, I get it- it’s certainly A Choice. The models look kinda awkward, almost hearkening back to Gen VI’s first attempts at full 3D overworld but with a more deliberate style. The short, round characters look awkward against the more detailed overworld. And the full sized models aren’t especially impressive either- all the previous remakes updated the original’s character designs somewhat, as did third versions Emerald and Platinum, but BDSP doesn’t seem to have made any changes outside of model-ifying them.

And the thing is, I don’t care?

On the one hand, aesthetic in a game obviously does matter, and having the protagonist you’re going to be staring at all game look like that is going to be an issue for people. On the other, I actually really like how the overworld looks. On the other, other hand, I’m really not convinced that the artstyle of this game should make or break it, as it certainly doesn’t for me. Pokemon’s graphics have been arguably behind the curve for like, 8 years now? I remember all the complaints about Sword and Shield’s graphics, and that obviously didn’t kill that game. And like, I don’t want to go for the throat of a game I haven’t played, but, people don’t seem to mind Colosseum and XD’s artstyle from what I’ve seen, and those games kinda look like shit. They do have those dynamic pokemon animations though, and I hope we get to see that in BDSP- those (and that of Battle Revolution) were a result of outsourcing, I believe, and this game is outsourced to another studio.

More importantly, in my eyes, is the gameplay. Doesn’t matter how good the game looks if it plays like garbage. And herein lies the biggest sticking point, and potential blunder, of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Diamond and Pearl are like, easily some of the worst games in the series from a playthrough standpoint.

The pacing is all over the place, with backtracking that seems to be trying to emulate RSE but not quite making it. The level curve is messy, with the Elite Four being such a massive spike that they had to tone it down 4-5 levels on each Pokemon in the intentionally harder third version, Platinum. The regional Pokedex is sorely lacking- while Elite Four Flint’s infamous 2/5 “Fire” team is eminently memeable, Electric Gym Leader Volkner is just as bad (2/4, though he could technically be running…Pachirisu…), and of the 28 new Pokemon related to previous games’ evolutionary lines, 17 cannot be obtained in a regular playthrough. HM use is especially egregious in this game, with 6 of them being mandatory to complete the game (Victory Road alone requires 5) and of the other two, the games’ sprawling map and frequent backtracking basically necessitate Fly while without Defog the foggy parts of the map are absolutely miserable both to navigate and fight through.

How BDSP handles these issues is kinda my make or break with the game. See, a lot of the issues were solved in Platinum, and Heartgold and Soulsilver (the best remakes the series has had) solved much of the issues in GS by taking notes from Crystal and tweaking things in the transition. The thing is, the last remakes we got, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, did not take Emerald’s tweaks in mind, making them substantially worse games than they could potentially have been, and I’m worried BDSP are going to do the same. A particular sticking point for me is the HMs, interestingly- outside of the aforementioned Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire sticking too closely to outdated design, Pokemon for the last 4 generations has had light to nonexistent HM requirements. Black and White only had one mandatory HM use period (Cut in the Dreamyard after Gym 1), B2W2 and XY both only require Surf off the top of my head, and Gens 7 and 8 remove them completely from the game. Because that’s kind of what they are, outdated game design- I think the Alola games handled it best, where the interesting level design these obstacles can lead to is still present but tackling them is less restrictive on your party and is based on progression through the story. That’s the kind of design that makes backtracking interesting, something Gen 8 really lacked in the long run.

The final thing I want to bring up is kinda a combo of two things- postgame and connectivity. One would argue that the Battle Frontier is also outdated design based on development priorities, but it’s removal in ORAS was kind of a kick in the taint to fans- it’s a beloved part of the game, and it not being in BDSP would be a terrible shame. The other thing is whether or not the games will have online connectivity with Sword and Shield as far as trading and battling goes. While I’ve heard quite a few people express doubts that BDSP will do so, I’d be shocked if, unlike every other main series title, competitive battling stayed a primary function of Sword and Shield and BDSP didn’t get it. I’d also be surprised if the games weren’t able to trade with each other, considering that’s been a core facet of the series since day 1- not being able to trade would make Dexit feel more permanent almost, considering many, many of the Sinnoh Dex mons aren’t available to play at the moment, even with the expanded DLC Pokedex in Sword and Shield. In fact, one thing I noticed that leads me to believe that trading between games is absolutely going to happen is related to said DLC dex- namely, that the Crown Tundra added every single Fossil Pokemon to the SwSh Pokedex- except the Sinnoh ones, Cranidos and Shieldon.

 At the end of the day, we’re just waiting for more information to come out for these games either way. I can tell you right now, though, that I’m not preordering them (last time I did that was Y, I think), and whether or not I get them is really going to base around many of these factors.

#ramble #pokemon #pokemon bdsp #BDSP is a really stupid acronym TBH

[spongebob-connoisseur]

i'm watching through the series for the first time (currently in s5) & i honestly don't understand why people like to talk bad about episodes past season 3. i get that 1-3 are the classics & stephen hillenburg was closely involved with their production, but season 4 is still pretty great! i can recognize a bit of a shift in season 5, but even there it's not terrible either. i guess some people just want to be considered 'true fans' >:|

Yeah I noticed that too, a lot of episodes are great after season 3, a slight change in tone here and there but certainly not shit.

I remember cartoon reviewers on youtube and such around 2014 really pushed the narrative "everything after the movie is shit". I was pretty young so I didn't know as much about spongebob as I do now so I didn't really know how much of what they were saying were true. While they were able to put into words the weird off beat vibe i got from the show and why I didn't really like some later seasons, it was crazy how hard they pushed seasons 1-3 being absolute god tier and seasons onwards are trash. In fact at the time I wasn't sure which episodes were in the pre movie category or what was in the post movie category. I thought episodes from seasons 4-6ish-7ish were in the classics since I found a lot of them enjoyable and considered them classics.

I get that a lot of them were older around the time season 4 came around and the change in tone wasn't for them. It would be hard to adapt to and its easier to say its garbage then to properly evaluate what exactly they're feeling. For me, I was a pretty small kid when season 4 came out so it was just spongebob. I did start to feel a weird offbeat vibe around season 6ish but that's personal to me and why I felt uncomfortable about it later on but that's just me.

I guess maybe its because they aren't used to having some misses? Some episodes were hits and some were misses. It doesn't mean the season is automatically bad. Every show has them. I guess we are used to the first three episodes throwing out hit after hit after hit that we just expect that as a standard which isn't always gonna happen super perfectly but I'd argue that the show had misses too in the pre movie seasons. The whole episode the sponge who could fly is a disaster. We enjoy it because it has a classic spongebob feel and some good jokes and memeable moments here and there but storywise its pretty awful. Spongebob wss a punching bag for the whole episode with no resolution and a lot of it dragged out.

Its still funny and I can't really bring myself to full on hate it since nostalgia✨ but its important to note how much nostalgia can blind you.

It also reminds me how in post movie seasons, people are so critical of gags it had that happened in classic episodes. Like the gross out close ups and whatever. In fact on reddit, someone posted a screenshot of a joke from season 6 and said "nothing beats seasons 1-3 spongebob" which was hilarious but shows how stubborn people can be about classic and current spongebob.

Now a days we just call those people who are diehard classic fans who shit on the modern episodes spongeboomers which is appropriate.

Considering they used to harass spongebob writers on twitter all the time. Some even got off twitter because of them. They begged ans whined saying the show was ruined without Hillenburg and he came back for the current seasons we have now along with the classic writing team and they still call the show garbage after getting their savior back. Now they switched to saying Derek Drymon was responsible for the shows success but in reality they just have to learn to accept times change. People change. Even if all of the classic writers come back, they won't get classic spongebob back. People change. Things change.

I got off topic here but it was fun to talk about! The seasons after the movie are pretty great and they deserve a better chance to be loved.

#spongebob #spongebob squarepants #sb #spongebon squarepants #the spongebob theorist #spongebob theorist #about the spongebob theorist #Ask

[fyexo]

200924 SuperM Talk 'Super One' & Finding Unity In The Covid Era

Last year, K-pop group SuperM made history when their self-titled debut EP premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. A miscellany of a boy band featuring seven cornerstones from four different acts signed to South Korean company SM Entertainment, the newly formed act’s star power and the virality of their immensely memeable first single "Jopping" made them a must-watch act of 2020. Now, they’re back with their first LP, Super One.

Out on Sept. 25, SuperM's first full-length album features 15 tracks, some that listeners have heard before, like pre-release singles "100" and "Tiger Inside," and B-sides like "Dangerous Woman" and "With You" that the act has performed in the past during concerts and televised performances. Split almost evenly between songs that are performed predominantly in either English or Korean and fronted by the lead track "One," a blend of two B-sides, "Monster" and "Infinity," Super One is all about meshing different elements together, whether it’s members of SHINee, EXO, NCT 127 and WayV into one whole, or running the gamut of different genres and languages in ways that are all at once familiar and innovative for members of some of K-pop's biggest acts.

Throughout all the multitudes of Super One, however, is one overall theme—serving up a soundtrack perfect for the age of corona. "I think we tried really hard to unify the messaging through the lyrics and through that bring a message of hope and unity to our fans and everyone who listens to it," said Taemin, the most senior member of the group, active in the industry since debuting with the group SHINee in 2008.

Coming out since the world first began reeling from the changes and ongoing impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Super One spends its length motivating listeners through a freewheeling medley of energetic, vibrant electro-pop anthems and mellowing out to offer up lackadaisical, breezy moments on hopeful tracks. Whether it’s the optimistic, sweet bounce of "Better Days" and "Wish You Were Here" or the hint of separate-but-together partying euphoria on "Together at Home" and the smooth sexiness of the groove on "Drip" serving up the type of confidence that comes with good times, SuperM have delivered an album that is oh-so-very 2020 but will live long beyond December.

This interview was edited for clarity, and conducted in both English and Korean.

You’re about to release Super One into the world, following the release of "100" and "Tiger Inside." How does it feel to be sharing your first LP after last year’s debut EP?

Mark: We feel really thrilled to let the whole world see it. We’ve prepared a lot for it. “100” and “Tiger Inside” were just the singles that only lead up to the main album, so we’re pretty excited.

Taeyong: Because we’ve been working on this first full-length album for such a long time, we think it’s that much more meaningful for everyone. We were really thinking of our fans when we were putting this all together. Because we released two singles ahead of the release, we hope our fans and everyone will have the same and rising expectations for “One.” We hope everyone receives a lot of strength and positive vibes through this album.

What is the meaning of Super One to you?

Mark: We believe that it is very appropriate for the situation that the whole world is going through, the message that we have. Not only are we trying to say that we can overcome all of our problems and all these difficulties as we work together, we also believe that—if you see in the album, there are a lot of songs in the playlist where it has an encouraging message. We just want to spread positivity around the world and really bring hope to the listeners, saying, "We can overcome it all." With that positive message, we really want to bring everyone together. That’s pretty much how we, SuperM, were brought together as well. Though we may be all scattered in different ways, when we come together we become very super. I guess that’s the main message and the aspiration also of Super One.

Your first album debuted at No. 1 on the Stateside Billboard 100 chart, so expectations must be high for this album. What sort of response are you hoping for now that Super One is going to be heard by the world?

Lucas: I just hope that, throughout this whole worldwide pandemic situation that we’re all going through, listeners and fans will receive strength and hope through our music.

Why is "One" the perfect single for SuperM to release Super One through, following the earlier releases of "100" and "Tiger Inside"?

Mark: We always thought that having "100" come out first, then "Tiger Inside" leading to "One," that whole picture was a strategy that we thought would be best because we wanted to build up as much anticipation as we can. We wanted to build our fans’ expectations a lot as well. Having "One" come out as the final product was something we knew was right because the song itself has a lot of power in it, it holds a lot of what we can sing and rap about. The potential of the song holds what SuperM can really express. I feel like "One" was one of those tracks we really wanted to explode with. It’s a song that represents the album the best way.

You mentioned that you were sharing a unified picture in releasing these trio of singles one after another. What were you trying to relay through this trilogy?

Mark: I feel like each is great in their own way, but they all are connected as well. They’re all very different. Even if you just see “100” and “Tiger Inside,” the concept, the visuals, the pictures, the sounds, they’re all really, really different. But if you see the whole playlist of the album, they’re actually quite connected because all the songs have one central message on the album. “100,” we really wanted to give our 100% power and energy for fans to receive. “Tiger Inside,” the message was to not hide your power, to not hide the inner wildness you have inside and really release it out. And “One” is to bring all that energy together to overcome something we think we may not be able to but we can if we work together. It’s all about overcoming and collaboratively working together to overcome something we all want.

“One” is a blend of two songs, “Monster” and “Infinity,” how does it feel for you to be blending these songs together?

Ten: I think the concept that we put two songs and mix it together is very new, but also SHINee’s [2012 single] “Sherlock” is a mix of two songs, “Clue & Note.” With this album we think it’s a good idea to put the songs together because both songs, “Monster” and “Infinite” are very strong, they’re both ear-catching. That’s why I think it’s a very good idea to put it together, and I think the fans are going to love the mix too.

Speaking of… Taemin, firstly, congratulations on the release of your new album Never Gonna Dance Again!

Taemin: Thank you!

You’ve done this blending of songs into a single before as SHINee. How does it feel revisiting this creative style again with SuperM?

Taemin: I personally think that this is one of K-pop’s biggest strengths, the fact that there are so many different styles of music and genres that can be mixed into one song and they’re all so catchy. Since we [already] did this with “Clue” and “Note,” it was really cool for me to see that creative process happen again. If you think of K-pop in general, it includes so many different styles of music. Even in one song, you’ll see multiple genres, multiple drops, multiple tempos, key changes, etc. I actually heard that when the producing team was making this song, it was really hard to make it sound really seamless and natural, making sure the key and tempo and everything matched when they mixed these two songs. But I personally think it was really fun to see this all come together and happen. Seeing a more creative and fun kind of music production process is always what makes K-pop new and exciting all the time.

The album is bilingual, and split pretty evenly between English and Korean tracks. How do you feel about showing this duality? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think it’s ever been done before in K-pop, splitting an album with different language tracks quite in this way.

Taeyong: When I’m recording [in English], it’s very fun but it’s like English studying, a little bit. It’s because English pronunciation is important. I think our fans like our English songs a lot. They and our Korean songs are really good. They’re really dope. Really a bop.

Several songs, like “Better Days” and “Together at Home” seem inspired especially by the global corona pandemic. Why was it important to you to share these sorts of songs with listeners?

Mark: We structured the entire album to appropriately fit what’s going on in the world right now. So that’s why we thought of this entire message. “Together at Home” and “Better Days” are the songs that really represent that feature the most in a way. Taeyong and I actually wrote some of the lyrics for “Together at Home.” When we received the message of the song for us to get the inspiration, they were talking about how we can talk about the Beyond Live [concert platform] that we used. We could think of that as a way for us to get inspired so we can think of ways to write about ways we could reach our fans at this time. So we actually wrote stuff about that on the song. We really wanted to put that in there. That’s why if you see the lyrics, we’re talking about how we’re always indoors but still kind of connected in a virtual kind of way, however we can [be]. Stuff like that really fits what’s going on right now, so we hope the fans can relate.

Is there a song that any members feel particular fondness for?

All: “Wish You Were Here!” [Members sing.]

Mark: I guess we all like “Wish You Were Here” the most. [Laughs.]

Lucas: Yeah!

Mark: It’s so catchy. It’s easy to listen to and so catchy. That’s why I like it.

Kai: I like the chorus. It’s very bright so I can get uplifted by it. I think it suits the album a lot.

Taemin: It would be great to hear fans’ covers of that song. I think it’s a song people will want to cover, and it’d be cool to collab with someone on it as well.

You’ve been together as SuperM for a while now, but who surprised or impressed you while recording and preparing this album?

Mark: We’ve been together quite a while now and, more than discover an aspect we haven’t seen of each other before, it’s more like, "Wow." For example, I knew Baekhyun was good at singing, but like… It still surprises me to this day, if you know what I mean? There’s stuff like that. Something that I didn’t know was that Baekhyun is good at art.

Baekhyun: We were together, and when we were in LA living together, from the beginning [as SuperM]. As time passes, we feel more like family and I feel every one of us is growing more into our roles as individual members of the group.

Were there any memorable moments from the creation process of this album?

Baekhyun: We actually shot a reality show together. Obviously, the album production process itself is always memorable, but in addition to what we’ve always done – preparing for performances, practicing together, recording the songs, etc. – outside of that, we had a chance to be a part of these shows that will air soon. These shows were where we got to spend a lot more time together, and we could showcase our chemistry to our fans and viewers. Those memories were really fun because we got to travel and do stuff together.

Transportation and speed have been themes that carried throughout your songs and music videos, where you regularly are seen traveling in different types of vehicles, whether it’s space ships or helicopters. At a time when people aren’t able to travel, what do you feel this represents?

Kai: If you look at our past music videos there are motorcycles, there are tanks, there are a lot of cars, and I think that goes well with SuperM’s concept as a group. That’s why they were featured in our music videos and past songs. We can’t really travel right now because of the pandemic and everything that’s going on, but we hope that, just like these modes of transportation can take you somewhere, our music and this album can be a mode of transportation that takes you to a place of hope and takes you to that higher place where everyone can enjoy themselves and be happy.

What are your favorite lyrics on the album?

Mark: For me “Wish You Were Here”’s, “After all these years, I wish you were, wish you were here” is my favorite. Because the melody is really cool.

Taemin: In “So Long,” there’s a chorus where Mark sings “차가운 표정으로 맞이하는 절정 (An ending with the coldest face*)” I like that part. It’s really addictive, that part in particular.

Mark: I don’t know if he’s teasing me. [Laughs.]

You’re all part of different groups under SM, so what do you think makes Super One a distinctly SuperM album?

Taemin: If you listen to our first mini album, there were songs that were like unit tracks. It wasn’t every member on the album on every track. This album is different because every member participated in all of the tracks, and I think that it’s distinctly SuperM just because we were kind of able to create this album with one unified messaging. There’s so many types of songs, types of genre, on the album, but I think we tried really hard to unify the messaging through the lyrics and through that bring a message of hope and unity to our fans and everyone who listens to it. I think that makes it distinctly SuperM.

What are your goals for the rest of 2020? What do you hope to achieve with this album?

Lucas: The biggest goal that we want is we really want to be able to meet our fans if possible in 2020, because we miss them so much. If that can’t happen, another goal that we have is that through the Super One album we bring a lot of strength and hope to anyone who listens to it.

Ten: We might have more online events, like Vlive [livestreams] or Beyond Live [concerts]. Maybe those kinds of things can happen. We’re still thinking of ways to get close to fans even though everything is far apart nowadays. We’re going to find all our fans. So don’t be sad, don’t worry, just have fun. Hope you guys stay strong during this period. We’re going to do our best to meet you guys.

Baekhyun: That’s right.

*Translation provided by SM Entertainment.

Tamar Herman @ GRAMMYs

#exo #baekhyun #kai #t: interview #album: super one #200923 #e: interview

[random-mha-thoughts]

Holy shit the movie though!!! Omg!!!!💚💛💥

The movie was amazing!!! The entire thing from start to finish was great!! I’m actually on the phone with my little cousin rn bc I ran straight home and had to scream about this bc it was SO. GOOD. (Spoilers below!)

Dabi in the beginning was 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 I wasn’t expecting to see LoV so seeing him against Endeavor was just *chefs kiss*

And then the wholesome goodness in the beginning was too much for my heart bc I knew shit was gonna hit the fan later, my babiesss

One thing I will say about the movie that I’m really happy about is that they really gave all of 1-A screen time to show off their quirks. I got to see my babies Tokoyami, Ojiro, Shoji, and Sero showing off and doing their best, and I was so happy about it!

BUT CAN I JUST SAY, DekuBaku really went double Super Saiyan on Nine!! Someone in the back of the theater said that and I was like “damn even their rival friendship is like goku and vegeta”

Also the Sero/Uchako pairing works so well!! I never thought that pairing would work but now that I see it, it makes so much sense!! At the very least, they should be in the same hero agency so they can work together like that bc that was A 👏🏼MA👏🏼ZING👏🏼

Fave villain has to be Mummy, he reminds me of Ja’far from Legend of Sinbad. Don’t @ me, it’s just facts.

I cant even decide what my favorite part of the movie was honestly! It was so good the whole way I can’t decide! But I’ll pick a few of my favorites:

-Shoto 👏🏼 freezing the wolf/animal villain, he was gonna get hypothermia but he DID. THAT. LIKE A BADASS

-Shiguraki obliterating Nine at the end. Boy’s crazy but come on, we all wanted Nine dead anyway

-Kirishima tanking for Todoroki!!! My god I love that boy with my entire heart

-BAKUDEKU DOUBLE OFA OFC???

-Tokoyami and Dark Shadow f*cking that girl up in the cave even tho he almost died poor baby

Ofc this movie was also full of memeable moments:

-Endeavor hugging Todoroki at the end and Shoto having NONE of it

-Bakugou’s popsicle melting 😂😂😂

-Poor denki being used as a lightning rod 😂😂😂

I probably missed a lot of moments, but I’m just so overwhelmed by the general awesomeness of the movie, so tell me your favorites too!

#tiny talks #ask #heroes rising #answered

[ben-the-hyena]

Squidward : )

Why I like them

Totally unexpected character in my ask box ! As a kid you dislike him, from your teenhood you become more and more like him. He is one of the most relatable and memeable characters ever done in cartoon history, and a snobbish grumpy jerk like we live them, we still sympathize with how much he struggles and just is unlucky and unappreciated in his hobbies and plans, does a job he hates, can never catch a break, you just wish him to finally be happy at least once abd you reall are happy for him the rare times he is. Plus I love these moments in earliest seasons when you see he is not that much full of hate and resentment deep down and actually does like his neighbours deep down, always sweet to see tsunderes

Why I don’t

Not only he sometimes is a real jerk for the sake of being snobbish, seeing himself superior and it's annoying to see himself never accepting he is lame at his arts and taking lessons and progress or taking things into considerations and finally move on instead of stubbornly saying people even professionals know nothing, and it's also extremely annoying sometimes to see him look down with so much disdain at genuinely fun and good things because they are not intellectual, I hate how he progressively became a full jerk who would be ready to see Spongebob and Patrick dead as postmovie seasons progressively passed, he no longer is lovable. I'll stick to his earlier self

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

SUPER HARD BECAUSE A LOT OF SCENES WITH HIM HAVE ME HYSTERICAL AT HOW HILARIOUS, RELATABLE AND MEMEY THEY ARE LIKE MOST CHARACTERS IN THAT SHOW oh and I love whenever he's genuinely happy and appreciated like for that concert, and actually genuinely nice or caring about Spongebob and Patrick

Favorite season/movie

Well the seasons when the show was still brilliant befoge it started sinking into a cursed loophole. Goes for them all

Favorite line

I love a lot of his quotes because they are relatable or great reaction images, and often part of these scenes I find hilarious "FUUUURUUUURRRRE" "Too bad that didn't kill me" "OH NO HE'S HOOOT" "I wonder if being dropped from this height will be enough to kill me" etc

Favorite outfit

I love whenever he wears his robes at home when he's relaxing, always look comfy

OTP

*INHALES* I... ADMIRE whoever is able to see this kind of show seriously enough to think things through just like shipping XD Well well well uh... since I have to think... uh... I kind of like him with Squilvia since it's canon and they have a lot of common, but unfortunately she just was episodic. Hmmm... him and Squilliam HAD to be exes, since they have common points and interests too and since Squidward knows how he looks like in his underwear and finds him hot in it, and how Squilliam always wants to rub his successes at his face like a bitter ex who never moved on but convinced himself he did, but that's exes heeeeemmmm... I do se why people ship him with Spongebob for all the Ho Yay moments but to me it's just humor (yes even I who see gays everywhere thinns so here XD) and Spongebob just being too friendly, and I always preferred them as friends. I kind of also am intrigued but admitting Squidward X Sandy is well thought of for several reasons, but it still seems far fetched at times and even as a kid I always preferred her with Spongebob... yeah I honestly never knew until DeviantArt shipping for this kind of series existed and I don't truely see the interest, good for those who do x)

Brotp

I love the earliest seasons having him genuinely care for Spongebob and Patrick deep down, being extremely annoyed at them but hating seeing them cry or seeing others hurt them. Fuck the newest seasons having him hate them

Head Canon

I have no idea it's not really the kind of show that has enough depth and seriousness to be thought through to me, I admire those who do like I often see on my dash XD

Unpopular opinion

Is the fact I don't feel the need to give headcanons OTPs etc to this kind of character in this kind of show not serious with no lore where eveyrybody is crazy unpopular enough ? XD

A wish

The spinoff featuring to either be actually good or (I would prefer that since poor Stephen Hillenburg never wanted any Spongebog spinoff and Nickelodeon is spitting on his grave) it to not happen at all or flop hard and crash the whole franchise that needs to end because it lost even more inspiration than the Simpsons did

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Him to forever be hateful as he gradually got in postmovie seasons and never go back to his jerk with a heart of gold self I only like to take account of. Like how I prefer all the characters, they all became shadows of themselves

5 words to best describe them

Grouchy, unlucky, snobbish, bored, desillusionned

My nickname for them

Me in some years

#moi #ask #yes I'm ok #anon #gif #squidward tentacles #spongebob squarepants

[jeremiahwasajoker]

5x02: Trespassers (A Review)

It’s that time again! I got to watch Trespassers on Thursday night. I know I said that I would be watching on Fridays, but I have convinced my parents to watch the night of, and they’re pretty okay with it! Anywho, tonight was episode two, and there were so many epic scenes, along with good laughs and memeable moments.  This season is my favorite by far, and it just started! At any rate, let’s start this review!

WARNING: This includes spoilers. If you have not seen the episode yet and want to avoid seeing any information about it, I would advise you to not look at this until you have done so. Without further ado, let’s get started!

First, I would like to say thank you to Barry Friedman. He was apart of the show’s post production team, and unfortunately passed away in August, when they were filming this episode. They made a title card for him at the very end, and his work was vital for the show to be aired. Rest in Peace. 

Also, shoutout to the composers and musicians that make the music on this show. Wow. The score is incredible! I think I remember hearing an extended version of the theme song this episode, and it blew me a way. As a music fanatic myself, it really added to the mood and atmosphere of the episode, which really elevated it even more. Wonderful job!

Next, I would like to review what I thought about some of the arcs of major characters and scenes that were incredible throughout Trespassers. They are in no particular order! Here we go!

Bruce and Ivy

IVYYYYYYYY! Peyton List is my favorite interpretation of Poison Ivy. She really encapsulates the character from the comics in the perfect way, and her design is beautiful! I like how Bruce acted throughout these scenes as he was determined as ever to get whatever it was that Selina needed in order to get better. He wasn’t going to play any games with her and when she turned on him, he was ready to fight. I will say, Bruce has become a good liar, too, as we see that he easily spit out the statement about his fake little brother. All in all, the two had a lot of chemistry together, and I just loved the scenes they shared together.

“Here he comes, Gotham...”

Erin Richards is really killing it this season. This scene was, once again, chill inducing. I feel like the quote that she said about Jim being Gotham’s most hated son will probably end up being one of the most iconic of the season. Whenever Babs yells, you can really hear the pain and utter anger in her voice, and something about this just leaves me in awe of Erin’s magnificent acting ability. Also, it is very interesting that she would help Jim out after everything. I know she said that she did so he could get killed, but we see towards the end of the episode that she genuinely wants to help. I can’t wait to see more of Barbara this season! 

Harvey’s Quick Quips

First of all, I would just like to say that this picture looks like it’s supposed to be for some kind of sit-com. Anyway, Harvey was so funny this episode! I think that he’s always the one to lighten a darker situation, and he really adds humor to the scenes he’s in. Some my favorite quotes this episode were “It's a freaking arrow, Jim! IT'S A FREAKING. ARROW!" , “Jim, I don’t feel so good.” (As someone who watched Infinity War and was utterly destroyed by Spider-Man dissolving, I’m glad it was turned into a meme. I know it probably wasn’t supposed to be referencing that, but still.), and “The Halloween shop was out of gas masks, so it was either this or sexy nurse.” Him dealing with Mother was also hilarious. Gotta love Bullock.

Mother and Orphan

This exact shot of Mother scared the living daylights out of me. I love that there was a sort of horror movie feeling to this episode, I’m not the biggest fan of those, but there was such a huge feeling of suspense in this episode, and it was amazing! Her just lurking around, and Orphan acting the way he was really did succeed in creeping me out. Those lights that knock you out were interesting, and it makes me wonder if the boy was really telling the truth about that or not. I’m glad that we got context to that random shot of teeth, as I was really confused about that when it was in the trailer. I’m so glad they introduced these two villains this season!

“I feel better...even better than before, in fact.”

I’m really glad that Selina is back to normal now. I did get scared when she was convulsing, and Bruce’s reaction really does show how much he truly cares about her. If she had died, I know he would never had forgiven himself. The fact that she’s happy again also relieves me, because seeing her in so much pain beforehand really hurt. When her eyes were glowing like a cat’s, I really liked the symbolism of the scene, as she was truly turning into Cat Woman. If she’s a metahuman or not is up for debate, but I’m not opposed to the idea! I’ll get into that a little more further down the line.

Since there were too many scenes for me to have the time to cover, I’ll have some honorable mentions! Ed peeing (face it, it was unexpected and hilarious), Jim and company versus the gangs, and the soothsayers.

Now is the time for a few questions I have about the latest episode!

Is Selina a Metahuman? I’m really not sure. I know people have been commenting about this, and if she is, I honestly don’t mind. It could be symbolism with the way her eyes turned into cat’s, but if it was the medicine really working and doing that, it’s interesting how her inner nature that is being released is that of a cat. I know some people don’t like the idea of this, but I think it would be cool!

How will Jeremiah obtain the tunnel the Soothsayers were in? At first, before we were introduced to these men, I thought that maybe they worked for Jeremiah. However, their motives told me otherwise. They want to get to the mainland, and he wouldn’t want that. I think that maybe he finds the place and hires some guys to make a maze under Gotham? Another thing that confuses me is that I thought that’s where his hideout was. Where is he hiding? Where’s his latest place of residence? I’m sure we’ll find out in the future.

If I had to sum up the episode with one Jeremiah Valeska mood, it would be:

Another entertaining and hilarious episode of Gotham! I loved it!

I know some people thought this episode was boring, but I personally felt that it was needed in order to set up plots and to develop the rest of the story line this season. From Trespassers and Year Zero, I can tell that this season is going to be my favorite by the time it’s complete. I can’t believe we have ten episodes of Gotham left!

Thank you for reading this! I hope you all had a wonderful time watching, too! I think I’m going to do one of these for each one that comes out. I’m so excited for the rest of the season! I hope you enjoyed!

#Gotham #season 5 #jeremiah valeska #jim gordon #ben mckenzie #Cameron Monaghan #Harvey bullock #donal logue #barbara kean #erin richards #Poison Ivy #Peyton List #Bruce Wayne #david mazous #Mother and Orphan #Selina Kyle #Camren bicondova #Trespassers #5x02

[undertheinfluencerd]

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

While Marvel’s Phase 4 has been mostly backward-looking for its first outings, in terms of reusing character, Shang-Chi is finally here to change things up. The MCU’s first martial arts fantasy epic is certainly different and unquestionably bold, but does it work, and will Marvel fans take to it as one of the strongest origin stories so far? How does it stand as a new branch for the MCU to nurture in other words?

For the most part, Marvel’s MCU origin stories have been particularly strong. Even ignoring the usual issues with over-emphasis on exposition, comic book movie fans love to see new superheroes take up the mantle. It’s traditionally been in MCU sequels where struggles have been more obvious – apart from Captain America’s seemingly bullet-proof sub-franchise of course. In that respect, Shang-Chi had reason to be confident, even with a vastly different focus to the other MCU kickstarter projects. But at the same time, with the expectations of fans built on 24 movies and billions of dollars, aiming for something different was never going to be completely straightforward. Particularly with the issues presented by the industry at the moment.

Related: Why Shang-Chi’s Avengers Cameo Looks Different From Endgame

Early box office results suggest Shang-Chi is going incredibly well and a 90%+ Rotten Tomatoes review score into opening weekend is always a very good sign. That is a testament to what Simu Liu and director Destin Daniel Cretton have achieved. That said, though, Shang-Chi has some teething issues, even for a movie that is very good overall. In the interest of balance, here’s everything that worked incredibly well in Shang-Chi and the few areas where it perhaps missed the mark.

As with any MCU origin story, there’s a lot of necessary exposition in Shang-Chi. The majority of this is conveyed via flashback, which works, and could have been a little jarring was the narrative importance of the past not been handled well. That typically means there is less space for character, which is often particularly true of a movie with such major fantastical elements and action set-pieces, but not in Shang-Chi. Simu Liu positively radiates charisma, even as he guards his character (to protect his secrets), promising an awful lot more in the MCU’s future. Awkwafina’s Katy is not just the audience’s eyes in Shang-Chi’s world, but she’s also the breakout character (the same way Ratcatcher was in The Suicide Squad and Michael Pena’s Luis was in Ant-Man). The fact that she returns in future, as set up by the end, can only be a good thing. Add to that, the performances of legends like Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh – not just in combat, but in quieter moments – and it’s a truly great group.

Speaking of Tony Leung, his Wenwu – wrongly named The Mandarin or “The Real Mandarin” throughout the marketing – makes a strong claim to be one of the best human MCU villains alongside Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger. Even faced with being overshadowed by a colossal winged demon in the final act, Leung’s dramatic chops back up his stunning martial arts work to create a bad guy who is not only empathetic but compelling in his cause. He is in pain, haunted by his own part in his wife’s death, and corrupted by the power of the Ten Rings and what lies beyond Ta Lo’s portal. Though he also had a more traditional hunger for power before meeting Shang-Chi’s mother, he puts that one-dimensional motivation aside to be a man pushed to desperate, catastrophic measures by his grief. To contrast that with how Iron Man 3 originally portrayed the supposedly same character is night and day.

While the dynamic between Wenwu, Shang-Chi, and Xialing is great, Shang-Chi is best when it’s examining their personal story. Unfortunately, the shift in gears in the third act that sees them arrive in Ta Lo and face the impending arrival of the Dweller-in-Darkness feels like a similar situation that undermined how good The Avengers was. Suddenly adding the Dweller as the final act “big boss”, plus an army of otherwise unmentioned flying soul sucker drones is very much like Whedon’s use of the Chitauri army to escalate matters for the heroes in his final act back in 2012. That’s not to say there aren’t impressive moments in the battle – and who doesn’t want to see what amounts to the MCU’s first kaiju on kaiju battle? – but there’s not quite enough tension when the personal story is ripped away.

Related: Is Shang-Chi Officially An Avenger Now?

The benefit of adding a martial arts master to the MCU is immediately obvious as soon as Shang-Chi gets into its combat groove. The opening fight sequence on the bus careening down San Francisco’s famous hills is remarkable and it’s far from the best. Elsewhere, Tony Leung, Simu Liu, Andy Le, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhan, and young Arnold Sun (a revelation as teen Shang-Chi in training flashbacks) all put together gravity-defying martial arts set-pieces that are unlike anything seen in the MCU. So far, the MCU brand of martial arts has looked more like the bruising style of Florian Munteanu’s Razor Fist, but here there’s balletic grace mashed up with the physical drunken boxer humor of Kung Fu Hustle (referenced lovingly not only in a poster in Shang-Chi’s wall, but also in the casting of Yuen Wah as Ta Lo Master Guang Bo. The slow-motion can get a little over-indulgent, but there’s no doubting the obscene skill involved.

Despite the mastery of the fight choreography and the incredible environmental designs that go into Ta Lo in particular, some of Shang-Chi‘s CGI is on a par with the worst moments of Black Panther‘s notorious early trailers. There’s more than one regrettable ragdoll sequence, including part of the otherwise excellent bus fight, and while the Great Protector battling the Dweller-in-Darkness is a fun spectacle, some of it is too muddied by an attempt to presumably hide the heavy effects work involved. The moment that sees Shang-Chi run up the otherworldly beast, in particular, is near-impossible to follow.

The MCU has been accused before of being too focused on shoe-horning humor in to meet the expectations of the lucrative family audience, and even some of the best Marvel movies too have clunking gags in them. Shang-Chi, though, brilliantly balances humor and heart and drama. Awkwafina’s Katy and Sir Ben Kingsley’s return as Trevor Slattery take care of much of the leg work, but Simu Liu’s comic background helps a great deal, though his jokes come less frequently than his “sidekicks”. There’s never any attempt to really undermine heavy, dramatic moments with humor, which is where Marvel stumbles a lot and crucially, Shang-Chi being an insider on his lore means there’s no reductive mockery of the mythology behind his powers and his family.

Shang-Chi is a stand-alone almost to the same degree as a Phase 1 movie, and that’s great, but there are obviously expectations to tie it back to the rest of the MCU, and – as ever – use its end as a stepping stone to what comes next. Had that ended with Wong’s recruitment of Shang-Chi and Katy and the impromptu, hilarious karaoke sessions, that would have been perfectly fine, but then Shang-Chi‘s mid-credits scene goes too far. Captain Marvel and Bruce Banner’s inclusions feel too much like big-name appearances for the sake of familiarity, particularly because both add very little to the discussion on the Ten Rings other than a bemused shrug. They’re there so that Marvel can remind the audience that there’s always something bigger coming, but it didn’t need to be done this way when Wong’s mysterious tease of what he needed Shang-Chi for was satisfying enough.

Related: How Marvel Retconned Its Iron Man 3 Mandarin Controversy

Now that there are 25 MCU movies and a number of Disney+ Marvel shows to throw into the mix, the requirement to do Marvel homework before each release is getting to the point where casual audiences simply will not do it. Luckily, Shang-Chi exists on its own merit strongly and without the crutch of the rest of the franchise, meaning any pre-watching is limited. Yes, there are nods to the post-Endgame world in posters about Snap Anxiety, and Wong and Tim Roth’s Abomination appear, but the only substantial link is to Trevor Slattery’s arc in Iron Man 3, and he is played in such a way that he’s no more than a jester brought along to help Morris become the next most memeable Marvel character. His arc is entirely explained within Shang-Chi anyway, so that serves as all the required reminder. The reason this is such a big plus for Shang-Chi is that it has to be how Marvel moves forward when establishing new MCU IPs, like X-Men, Fantastic Four, Blade, and whoever else comes along: not everything has to be tied to the nostalgia machine. Shang-Chi proves it’s still possible to strike out onto a new branch without everything being a set-up for when the next cameo will happen.

While Tony Leung’s Wenwu is great (particularly in how he retcons Iron Man 3‘s Mandarin mistake), and the fight sequences involving both are hugely entertaining, it’s difficult not to feel that both Razor Fist and – even more so – Death Dealer aren’t rather undernourished. The former’s complexity is as limited as you might expect from someone who drives around in an SUV with his own name spraypainted on the side (even when it’s achingly hinted for about two seconds that he fears for his master’s mental health), and the latter is a plot device killed off for effect. Neither is given anything like the charisma to hide their lack of development and backstory and it’s a real shame. At least Razor Fist’s likely return might afford more of an opportunity.

Not only is Shang-Chi a great stand-alone, but it is fundamentally different from what MCU fans have seen over the past decade. While it has the same hallmarks of familial conflict and daddy issues as lots of previous Marvel movies, it balances that with martial arts, new mysticism, a dragon, a giant kaiju-like demon, and the suggestion that more lands like Wakanda can exist beyond portals to other realms. There can be no accusations of deferring to type or Shang-Chi being somehow formulaic, and after 24 films, that is an impressive thing to be able to state. It also makes forthcoming new creative endeavors – like Eternals – that have a similar burden of expectation to be new and exciting a lot easier to back to succeed with the audience. The start of Phase 4 has looked backward a little more than some may like, but Shang-Chi is bold and unafraid to be wildly different to its stable-mates, and that should give future MCU creators cause for confidence.

Next: Every Upcoming Marvel Movie Release Date (2021 To 2023)

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Script Excerpts: Franny’s Top Albums of 2019

[playlist]

tl;dr: A selection of script excerpts from a video on Franny’s YouTube channel called “My Favorite Albums of 2019″. Pretend I finished this in December like I wanted to and that January isn’t nearly over okay

Her channel doesn’t have a super regular upload schedule. She doesn’t feel like adding ~~~youtube personality~~~ to her long list of wikipedia page job titles. And she keeps her social medias (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram) firmly in the “this is for fun” part of her mind. She doesn’t make any sponsored videos or posts on social media but when the mood strikes she’ll upload videos about music, music history, current trends in the industry she’s noticing and her thoughts on them, album reviews, and her favorite content to make is videos where she signal boosts several lesser-known artists in one video and fangirls over how much she loves them and why y’all should, too. 

INTRO: Susadei*, hello, and welcome to my channel, where I, Franny Sor Robinson, share my pesky lady opinions about music on the internet.”

*susadei is the informal way to say hello in Khmer, Franny’s first language

TOPIC INTRODUCTION: It is almost Christmas, which means! It’s time to talk about my favorite albums of 2019. As always, this list is in no particular order, because I believe that especially when talking about multiple genres of music - which we’re going to today - music isn’t something you rank on a linear bad, worse, worst, good, better, greatest scale. 

RULES: Now, the rules!

The album can’t be one I had a part in “And I don’t just mean not a Franny Sor Robinson, Seoul Hanoi’d, or Dara & Danny album. I am an active songwriter and composer even durin’ years I don’t personally release an album. I have co-written substantial amounts of, or entire tracklists, on several albums where I don’t sing or play an instrument on the recorded album, but I’m all over the credits. I think I do enough shameless self-promotion leading up to, and shortly after, the release of anything I work on. So as much as I loved working with Sariya Ibekwe - who is a fabulous Nigerian-American jazz singer - on her debut album this year, I co-wrote a good amount of that album. But, I’ve already talked about Sariya’s album extensively this year, and will link to it in the description box below anyway.

The album can’t be by a close personal friend of mine “I would spend these videos talking only about my friends’ releases if I didn’t have a strict no cronyism rule in these yearly roundups. I hype up, like, Daniel, Vanessa, Yulia, Delia, Lora, Andreas’s, and so on’s stuff whenever anything new drops, so they already got their signal boosts.”

Beyond those two rules, that’s really it. So without further stalling, let’s get into it.

Traveling Mercies by Emily Scott Robinson

The first album I want to talk about is Traveling Mercies, by North Carolina singer-songwriter Emily Scott Robinson - no relation, but oh my god, I wish. I’d love to just meet her, once. She’s so talented, I just - ugh! Anyway.

Emily Scott Robinson is a country singer whose first album, Magnolia Queen, came out in 2016 but I didn’t come across it until after I fell in love with Traveling Mercies. Daniel Maitland - the other half of Dara & Danny - sent the Spotify link of this album to me, and I just ate it up. Her songwriting gets me good, y’all. Her imagery is somethin’ else, her voice has the clarity of Alison Krauss, and her ability to deal with some very heavy themes poetically without sort of...glorifying? or trivializing? them is unreal. 

I should trigger warning this upcoming bit for discussion of sexual assault, so if you’d like to avoid that, I’ll put a timestamp right here [points] for you to skip to. I’ll give you oooone more second to skip, and...okay. 

I had a hard time listening to The Dress at first, because whenever I consume any media that deals with sexual assault, I have to mentally prepare myself. Even the song I wrote about my own experience with it, I don’t - I don’t perform it. Very rarely, I will. It was a write it, record it, release it for your healin’, and try to be done with it kinda thing. But once I psyched myself up to listen to it, The Dress pretty much immediately became one of my favorite songs on this album. I do sometimes have to skip it if I’m not feelin’ up to it mentally, but it. It is a beautifully written song about a very ugly thing, and I think- I think its a wonderful thing that she wrote that song.

[...] and then there’s my favorite song on this entire album, the one that honestly gave me a moment of “oh. OH, she went there.” Pie Song. It starts out by literally, she’s literally singin’ about how to bake a pie, and it made me so nostalgic for home, because I remember being taught by my friend’s mom to make a pie just like that. Don’t skimp on butter for the crust, add a little moonshine, but then she just, the next line goes right into the chorus and its, “but nothing you can make, can make you good enough, if you’re cooking for a man that doesn’t love you.” When I first heard that shift in the song - honey, when I tell you my chest just [both hands go up to her chest] it was powerful. Even though it isn’t the saddest or heaviest song on the album, it’s my favorite. The clear imagery - I could smell the pie she was singing about, I could feel the flour on my clothes - , the plot twist. 

Among the songwriting circles I’m in, this album is pretty popular with them for her songwriting. We go absolutely bananas for it.

Her songwriting is gonna take her places. I really can’t wait to see what she comes out with next. I’m a fan. I love her. SO much. 

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO? by Billie Eilish

This is probably the most quote unquote, mainstream album on this list. Billie’s undeniably a known name, and rightfully so! 

This album, y’all? Amazing. Flawless. True art.  I’m always hesitant when my son tells me what the Kids TM are listening too, because I usually- mm. Far be it from me to gatekeep music, to say what’s good and what’s bad, so I’ll just say that it. Usually isn’t. My, uh, my thing. It doesn’t appeal to me, and that’s fine!

But I- the first couple seconds of ‘bad guy’ got me payin’ attention, at ‘all the good girls go to hell’ I was just like Wow, capital W, and ‘bury a friend’ had me floored. Billie Eilish’s album is probably one of the most interesting, unique, and complex albums I’ve ever listened to. I really- I love this album.

Walk Through Fire by Yola

We’re back in the underground country music scene because of course we are! Yola is a fantastic singer from Bristol, England. On iTunes this album is classified as rock, but her EP titled Orphan Offering was under country, and her music has a very americana-indie-country feel.

Yola’s voice is the best part of this album but that’s not to knock on the music and the songwriting because they are also amazing. I can’t talk about this album and not talk about Yola’s voice, specifically, though. Her voice is like a warm cup of ginger tea on a cold day. It’s husky, and bluesy, on some songs kinda jazzy, and the musicality she displays on the album is really dynamic. She’s soft and smooth, then she’s belting out some high notes, but she’s not spending the entire album hittin’ you over the head with her belting. She really gives you a sampling of what all she can do on this album.

My favorite song off this album is Shady Grove it’s just - it’s - I love everything about it. The string section. The sitar sound. The gentle percussion, and ohhh my good god, the melody is just beautiful. It makes me wish this album was out when my son was little, because [pouts] its a song that reminds me of the song I used to sing to him when we first adopted him, and I’d just kinda hold him in my arms ‘n sway and sing to him. It’s such a beautiful song, it isn’t even the deepest or most profound song on this album but it is the most beautiful song to me musically. And I was want to hold a baby and sing it to the baby, so bring me your babies. Gimme.

Seneca by Charles Wesley Godwin

I’m going to get into this album in a second, but first. We all know I am a slut for odes to one’s roots. I made a whole video talking about how despite its memeability, John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads is actually a masterpiece. The short film I co-wrote and co-starred in with the director Lydia Viravong, a Lao-American I grew up with, is filmed and set in our hometown and based on our mothers. The Dara and Danny album ‘Progidal Children of Clayton County’ is a loveletter to me and Daniel’s hometown in Clayton Count, Georgiay. 

And that’s exactly what the album Seneca is. Seneca is an album about West Virginia. Charles Wesley Godwin grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia, a coal minin’ town. The Seneca Creek ran through his back yard, his daddy was a coal miner, mama’s a schoolteacher - he had a very quintessential coal mining town upbringing. And you know, your upbringing shapes you and this album is all about his love for where he comes from.

The imagery in his songwriting is just [chef’s kiss] perfection. And as someone whose affection for her roots is just as strong, I really - this album made me emotional as all hell. A lot of it is really sad, if I’m being honest, but that’s also because its so honest. For example,  the song Coal Country, tells the story of how West Virginia’s coal industry was the lifeblood of the West Virginia mountains, praises the union heroes of the Battle of Blair Mountain, and laments that in place of prospects for West Virginians, there’s now only food stamps and opiod addiction. 

Seneca Creek...the full version is beautiful, but the acoustic version gives mechills every single time. He wrote it about his grandparents’ love story from when they met in ‘49 to when his grandmother got sick and died in ‘94. It reminds me of Holly William’s 2013 song Waiting on June. It isn’t the happiest song, but even after the verse where the wife’s passed away, the chorus following it isn’t sorrowful. It just goes 

We built a home by Seneca Creek And raised ourselves a family I worked on the farm, you worked the store We had everything we'd ever hoped for

The narrator of the song is just talking about how he lived a simple life with the love of his life. That’s what the song is about, ultimately. And that’s beautiful. It makes me really, really feel lucky to be married to my husband when I listen to it, because for me, that’s what being married to him is like. 

Strawberry Queen is ro-man-tic as HELL! It’s about his WIFE, and as someone who is also trash for their spouse and writes way too many cheesy-ass love songs about him....I love it. It’s beautiful. I cried a little but don’t tell anybody I have emotions.

The last sad one I want to mention is Sorry For The Wait. It is a beautiful song where the narrator’s been killed in a mine explosion and he’s telling his wife not to cry for too long, that he’s buried in the clay and so will she someday, and he’s sorry for the wait. The third verse gets me bad. 

When you miss talkin' at me, holler t'wards the mine It's amazing how your voice echoes inside When the winter breeze tugs at your hair Jus know that it's me with a grin standing there

I’m not! Okay!

 HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

Before I talk about the final album I want to gush about, I do want to mention four albums that I truly enjoyed but in an effort to not make this video go on forever and ever, I didn’t write a whole explanation about why they’re so great. But I really do think deserve a shoutout!

LOVE + FEAR by Marina

Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent by Lewis Capaldi

Closer Than Together by The Avett Brothers

Wildcard by Miranda Lambert

Farmland by Gabe Lee

I can’t believe I haven’t plugged this guy yet because Gabe Lee’s album is fuh-king amazing. Gabe Lee is a country singer from Nashville whose sound you can tell has been influenced by classic country, modern americana, and like classic singer-songwriter types like Bob Dylan. It’s hard for me to interpret 100% of the time what his lyrics are about because at times his writing is pretty abstruse - oooh, pull out your thesauruses, kids - but the imagery in vivid. Its easier for me to talk about what this album makes me think of and how it makes me feel than to outright tell you what its all about. Farmland makes me think about drivin’ out in the woods in my high school boyfriend’s pickup to makeout and drink beer under the guise of deer hunting; or trying to sneaky-clean my muck boots after cuttin’ school to go fishin’  with my brothers; or pulling into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and handin’ some cash for pump one to a clerk that looks like he’s been there since the invention of petrol. There’s this grit to it that’s plain at the same time. Like there’s nothin’ particularly rebellious about skippin’ school to catch some fish, but it’s gonna get you muddy and sweaty. 

The music is very simple and that’s one thing I like about it. It doesn’t feel overproduced, it just feels very classic. Like this album would easily have been made in 1979, 2009, or 2019. The standout song on this album, to me, is Last Country Song. Daniel [the other half of the bluegrass-folk-americana duo Dara & Danny] thinks its Eveline, which is another one of my favorites. The most fun song on this album? Lyra, for sure. I have a lot of feelings about this album, I love this album, and I really hope you give it a listen.

Also, y’all know that as an Asian woman in country music - well, kinda. I got one foot in jazz, and one foot in bluegrass-americana-country-southern-folk, and then I got a hand in indie - [jump cut] LOOK, genre is a social construct, okay? I make whatever music I wanna make and you can like it or hate it. What was I talking ab-- oh! Gabe Lee!

Right, so, y’all know, clearly you can see, I’m very Asian. [*gasp*, puts on a generic American accent] What do you mean you’re not white? [normal voice] Shocking, I know. I like to highlight other artists of color as often as possible, but of course I’ll signal boost whoever I think is fantastic. But whenever I come across another Asian artist in these [air quotes] “white people” genres, I get really excited. And Gabe Lee is Asian-American, which again, we don’t see very often in country music, or like, other genres that we consider “Americana.” So yeah, I think that’s really cool.

#&&...hc

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 10 - SJS - Shoot

These back-to-back games against the Sharks marked the first time the Sabres have had a home-and-home series with a Western Conference team since 1995. They are now 5-0, UNDEFEATED, at home at Key Bank Center to start the season for the first time since the President’s Trophy winning season of 2006-2007. The Overtime winner also marked Jack Eichel’s sixth career OT game-winning-goal. That ties him with Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek for the most in franchise history (That stat courtesy of @SabresPR). There is some irony to that fact and Eichel’s two total goals this game considering the first period was a story of the Captain refusing to shoot the puck. We all know the stereotype of shoot guy. You high class folks down in the 100 level seem to act like it doesn’t happen down there but it does. There’s always someone yelling shoot, often times when it may not be wisest to shoot the puck. Tonight I was shoot guy. Tonight we all were shoot guy. Tonight was the right night to be shoot guy and I think Jacky boy knew it as he giggled at receiving the question about it in postgame. We’ll get back to that point. It’s worth discussing the way this team plays in tough situations. San Jose came out upset with themselves. They haven’t had a great start and Saturday night in NorCal Buffalo won the chest match. I don’t think it’s off-base to say the Sharks are a better team than the Sabres. Sure, they skew older these days, but they have the horses to win a Stanley Cup and all you can really do is get within striking distance of that chalice in this league. The other thing about this league is any team can win any night and for two games in a row on different coasts of the continent this Sabres team won. They’ve decided to keep that barn a fortress. Do I think they’re going to win the President’s Trophy like that last time they started 5-0 at home? No, but now they’re playing to their potential and that on a consistent basis might change the Spring narrative. Enough hype though, let’s look at the reality of this game.

They did not start hot like they have lately. In fact, they did a lot of flubbing out of the gate. Captain Jack was more-or-less one-on-one with a Martin Jones who WE KNOW is not so hot right now from three days ago less than a minute into the game. He passed the puck to Victor Olofsson who took an ill-fated shot in one of the more memeable moments of this season so far. This is not a new thing. Jack Eichel is a hungry boy for as long as he’s played organized sports. He plays to win but he also minds the team. Going all the way back to his rookie season we’ve seen this conflict between to pass or to shoot. In the early years he didn’t have great wingers so shoot please, Jack. More recently he has had good wingers and still he could shoot more. Like some kind of prophet the guys on this Sabres media team emphasized Eichel’s comments that he needed to shoot more. Ok: Coach says shoot more, your teammates say shoot more, YOU say shoot more, How about you shoot more, Jack? He did and it paid off but first we had to sit through a first period where the home team took more shots but it seemed like the Sharks got all the good chances. Dylan Gambrell scored his first goal on a redirect originating with Erik Karlsson on the blueline. It’s 1-0 Sharks a shade over five minutes in. It was hot and cold for the rest of the period. They got a powerplay and the Conor Sheary line, which was fire tonight, got a couple beautiful chances. As much as that powerplay looked hot again it yielded nothing. Want something else familiar? Marco Scandella gave up an ugly turnover in the defensive zone and nearly gave old pal Evander Kane a goal. I don’t care how well Henri Jokiharju is rehabilitating Scandella, bench him once Lawrence Pilut comes back! Tic-Tac-Toe Marc-Edouard Vlasic collected a Patrick Marleau assist to put the visitors up 2-0. It was not a fun first period.

Buffalo gets outshot in the second period mind you, but this segment they looked much more like the Kruger, connected, high-press team we’ve gotten used to this month. This was Jimmy Vesey’s best game as a Sabre so far, he and that Sheary-Mittelstadt pair were pushing hard. Vesey specifically had an expected goals and a corsi that was off the charts. The poor kid can’t buy a goal and he’ll continue to have to put up with punks like me until he does. The Sabres got a powerplay off a trip on Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Eichel shot to kill this time. The King of the Castle ripped a slapper from the circle, and it hit Martin Jones in the armpit. Luckily it had the power to keep going and so Buffalo got on the board. There was palpable relief in Eichel’s celebration looking heavenward. Had he not scored after the first period he had or worse, the team lost, that would have haunted him. You can tell because after a few missed chances in the first Ralph Krueger patted him on the back as if to tell him to keep his head up. The home team push picked up and Krueger made a strategic choice that may stick: he slid Jeff Skinner up to Eichel’s wing like last season. There was an immediate chemistry like old times. But the next decisive moment in this game came from Eichel’s other winger Sam Reinhart who tipped in a Rasmus Ristolainen rocket. The Captain’s super puck handling kept the puck in the zone just before the goal. Tie game 2-2. You could see Erik Karlsson was pissed as he went into the visiting locker room for the second intermission. With how the third period went in San Jose you knew this team was going to come back to win in the final frame.

Maybe anticipating similar third period festivities to Saturday night Buffalo picked up where they left off to start that final frame. Jack Eichel fought for the puck behind the San Jose net and got it out to Jeff Skinner in his office, right in front of the net. It was a 2018-2019 classic Jack to Jeff goal. The home side is now up 3-2 looking at a Sharks team they’re not really afraid at this point. While Jeff boy’s stunning smile lit up the Sabres bench Erik Karlsson plotted his revenge. But first we needed to be reminded we were playing one of those West Coast teams with one of those West Coast… styles. Yeah, let’s call boarding fools and starting fights a style. It’s no secret they play heavier hockey out west, but boarding Sam Reinhart is not a type of hockey. For everyone saying this team needs grit, take a look: there was a swarm. There was an ultimately inconsequential powerplay off the situation, but it makes you think what we have in terms of a physical response. Beyond the pugnacious side of Rasmus Ristolainen, Jake McCabe is never afraid to lay the hits and punch some faces. With Risto on the trade block Anthony Sciandra pointed out McCabe may not be taking the mantle of the overrated, beloved Sabres tough guy. McCabe does other stuff but the more I thought about Anthony’s sentiment the more it made sense. The Sabres got pushed out of the Ducks game physically. They didn’t fail the punk test this time and as far as I’m concerned that’s all I need them to do as far as the fighting game assuming they don’t lose their momentum from it. The Roaring Twenties line had a rare defensive lapse, particularly with Zemgus Girgensons not covering Karlsson and the Sharks tied the game up at 3. They smelled blood in the water and hemmed Buffalo in their own zone for segments of the remaining time in regulation. Ultimately Ralph Krueger would call a time out and they would hold the line until overtime.

This overtime period was damn near what I always want to see from their 3-on-3 overtimes. They possessed the puck for almost the entire extra frame. It was on a bungled line change when the Sharks got anything of a chance which ultimately got them no shot. It was on another line change when the Sabres registered what would apparently be the only shot on net in OT. Bodies flew at the net and sticks started slapping. The play began with Casey Mittelstadt bombing it in from the defensive zone to Rasmus Ristolainen who took the initial shot. It was a messy goal that originated with Jack Eichel. It looks like he gave the puck the momentum that carried it across the line and yes, before the goal was knocked off its moorings. The goal call would be reviewed but nonetheless the end result was a 4-3 win for the Buffalo Sabres to keep Key Bank Center their perfect home. That was all she wrote and that was it for the season for the San Jose Sharks whom the Sabres far and away have the best all-time record against.

Like, Comment and share this blog. These fun postgame reports are fun when the team is winning but sorry to say, they’re going to regress. I love the fun Sabres, but I don’t see them remaining atop this Atlantic Division. They have five games in ten nights now leading into the games in Stockholm, Sweden for the Global Series. They are setup nicely to fly inter-continental rather content with themselves. The next two games are a road trip to New York Rangers and Detroit, far from the fortress they’ve built down by the river in Buffalo. One of those teams you absolutely HAVE TO beat if you’re going to be taken seriously going forward. I’ll let you guess which one is which there. As we said earlier, any team can win any night in this league. If they’re going to be the team that continues to win on most nights they’ll have to lock down points much like they managed four against the Sharks. Those points are going to look great down the road, but they won’t be worth anything if they get buried in losses. I am a believer this team is for real at about 90% of the clip they’re running at right now. We have two very different tests later this week to see if I’ll be that fool again.

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Oh, and the Leafs lost to Boston tonight too! Let’s treasure the little things while we got em, eh?

#buffalo sabres #Hockey #blog #NHL #san jose sharks

[polandspringz]

I Started Trying To Replicate “What’s In A PV?” and I Ended With An Essay Comparing “Neo Yokio” and “Children of Ether”

I wish I could post this on /r/ anime but I’ve never posted on their before and after a brief rundown of the rules it seems like this would most likely be removed for not fitting their definition of anime. Still, I’d like to make everyone aware that when I call this property an “anime” I am referring to the fact that it is a part of the anime-inspired movement as defined by Mother’s Basement. (See his video titled “Avatar is an Anime: Fuck You, Fight Me)

So, “Neo Yokio”, a very obvious and not so clever allusion to Neo Tokyo. Where to begin? Well, within two days, this trailer has not received much attention, and those who have been talking about it are split on not whether it will be terrible, but whether it will be terrible in a good way, or terrible in a bad way, and by that they are referring to being nonredeemable, even through memes. After jumping into this two days late, I was only able to scan the comments underneath the trailer on Youtube, and I saw this split very prominent. However, I was surprised to find a few people who saw some worth in this series, that it may in fact be good- in a trashy but comedic way.

I think the main thing many people are missing from this show is that it’s a parody. If you do any few seconds of research, hell- even simply typing the show title into Google- you’ll instantly be shown several articles that all include the word “parody” in the title. So, we should already be aware the show won’t be taking itself seriously, which I think is good. The last time Netflix tried to make an anime inspired thing, which was less than a month ago, it turned out badly, almost as bad as everyone fears this series will be, un-memeable (I tried to avoid typing that, I really did) However, with what the trailer shows, I think this series will offer plenty in terms of comedy, as I don’t think the lines of dialogue we heard in the trailer in context will be as similar to Jaden Smith tweets as we are being led to believe. At the very least, there is hope that when put into context, they won’t intentionally sound cringey and forced as if to replicate the hilarity of his most famous tweets.

So, now I’d like to jump into the trailer, stealing a bit of Mother’s Basement’s “What in A PV?” format, although I am not as eloquent as him, and I’m not being sponsored by the network this series is being hosted/licensed on. Now, if I’ve learned anything from the Anime Youtube community, it’s that sometimes one shot can encapsulate a whole show. In Made in Abyss, the opening scene that drags the camera vertically up from the bottom of the abyss has been analyzed by many this season as a key example of this. The shot right before the title drops, I believe is this show’s rather crude version of that. When we are shown the two girls playing tennis, the reaction of the girl breaking her racket is supposed to be seen as strange and over dramatic to the extent that our curiosity is awakened. We are immediately supposed to be led to believe that the rest of the trailer will show us a rather over the top reactions made by characters, and the entire show will be similar in nature. But, when the shot freezes and starts playing Studio Ghibli like music over top the brush stroke stylized title drop, the contrast is supposed to leave us with more questions than answers.

This show is a parody, so it’s going to be packed with references. These two contrasting shots that follow one another are very much that, references. The mecha robot seen throughout the trailer does not imply that the show will be attempting to invoke the mecha genre in anyway, but it exists for purpose of being an allusion to that genre, as well as a spin on the robot butler trope. When I found people stating that they thought this show had no direction and was plain cringey, I was a little surprised. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was a passion project, as I am not familiar with Ezra Koenig’s works or interests, but another Google search has revealed to me the show’s intent is to be “a postmodern collage of homages to classic anime, English literature, and modern New York fashion and culture”, as stated by Netflix themselves. This explains how we got from Neo Tokyo to Yokio (New York + Neo Tokyo, although some of the narration about the city reminds me more of New Orleans, but I digress)  But, I feel as though people are fearing this is going to end up being like this season’s “THE REFLECTION” in nature rather than something like a comedic “Children of Ether”.

For those of you who went to Anime Expo this year or attended one of the Anime Movie Night screenings or encore screenings during the summer, I can hear some of you finding disgust with my comparison there. For those who are unaware, “Children of Ether” is a Crunchyroll original series created by LeSean Thomas and animated alongside the help of Japanese studio Satelight. An ONA is available on Crunchyroll and was premiered at the aforementioned events, and it too pays tribute to classic animes, but ones close to Thomas’s heart in terms of their animation, storytelling, and representation. The most notable and prominent influence on the work being Michiko & Hatchin, a series I thoroughly enjoyed and found to be a beautiful action and crime road trip story. Now, I would like to make it clear I am in no way saying that I think “Neo Yokio” is going to be an equivalent to “Children of Ether”, but I am saying it is possible to pay tribute to anime in your story in a multitude of ways. (Once again, see Avatar is an Anime, Fuck You, Fight Me). When I watched “Children of Ether”’s ONA short in theaters, I found it to be a rather interesting story that I looked forward to seeing more of. It had an art style similar to the works it had been influenced by, as the character designer was the same one from Michiko & Hatchin, and it’s voice acting for the main cast was well done and the world was fleshed out enough that it distanced itself from every other post-apocalyptic story we had seen in both eastern and western media. The only fault I had with the real short was the way the character’s mouths and bodies moved in accordance with their voices was always slightly off, both in mouth flaps and general motion. It ended up making some scenes very awkward to watch. Now, that can be explained away by problems with mixing Japanese animation and English voices, but the strange thing is, “Neo Yokio” doesn’t have that issue.

To be more precise, I understand that’s not enough to give Neo Yokio a leg to stand on or to place it above or on par with “Children of Ether” in any way. (I just figured it would be a good way to break paragraphs) “Neo Yokio” might have a better production team than “Children of Ether”, or at best one that has more experienced animating for another language, and as it would seem, that is Production I.G. But if you’re confused on why “Neo Yokio”’s art style has turned so many people off at the same time, it is being co-produced with Studio Deen. (So…) Yet, I feel it is unfair for people to treat “Children of Ether” so well when one can hold hope for “Neo Yokio” in the same way. The art style certainly does not have the same realistic edge as “Children of Ether” does, nor does it have KyoAni or A-1 Picture’s eye candy animation or anything like you would expect to see in “Ping-Pong: The Animation”, “Mob Psycho 100”, or “Tatami Galaxy”. In many ways, I think many people are forgetting what a lot of children’s anime or even mediocre anime looks like- it looks like “Neo Yokio”. It’s not trying to be anything special in that regard, and the typical art style one might see in a Pokemon episode is expanded upon by its western edge, which makes it into its own little mish-mosh creation. I understand it may not be pleasing to some, but it’s not trying to do what “Children of Ether” did where the production company literally was able to snag the exact designer of the work it was influenced by to create something equal. If anything, I think if “Neo Yokio” was given any sort of mainstream style (yes, at this point, I’d say even the oddballs with mixed media styles have enough to be grouped as a collective mainstream style decision) it would be worse off, because then it would be seen as trying too hard to be an actual anime. It would come off as obnoxious and be insulting.

“Children of Ether”’s purpose is to be its own work that visibly shows off the works that preceded it and influenced it in hopes of creating a compelling action and adventure story in a fresh post apocalyptic world. It also hopes to inspire more works to help increase the number of stories in anime that include diversity and representation amongst its cast. The tone of the serious is going to be serious but not melancholy, being able to build exciting suspense in fight scenes without ever falling too far away from the ability to turn a sad moment into a hopeful, but not heartfelt scene. “Avatar: the Last Airbender” and “The Legend of Korra” both are established in Mother’s Basement’s video essay as being a part of the anime community for their obvious art style and storytelling. While western media is meant to make people laugh first, Japanese media is always meant to make you feel for characters before you laugh at them, and although these two series often are known for their comedic scenes, they never break their emotional moments for comedy, they let them set in and simply be emotional and heart wrenching. Even shows like “Steven Universe” can be seen as not a direct western-anime equivalent, but have its moments where it allows itself to replicate Avatar and Korra it’s emotional scenes, but it plays more to the western cartoon art style. Yet, the idea of the story itself is not far from what would be found in Japanese media. And then there’s “Neo Yokio”.

Even though it is true that Japanese animation aims for emotion over comedy, there are countless animes that exist for the pure purpose of making you laugh. “Neo Yokio” is going to be much different than any other western anime purely because all of the aforementioned ones ended up following two main things: art style and storytelling. “Neo Yokio” is a parody though, so both of these are actually secondary. If it were to try to follow the storytelling style, it would end up being “edgy” with all its references being seen as though it was trying too hard to replicate anime that it would be cringey- as many proclaim it will be. The lines hashed out by Jaden Smith should be enough to explain away that, but the main point is that because this series is trying to include a variety of anime references (mechas, demon hunters, etc.) the story is going to be certainly original but not original enough that it can survive in a serious tone and not been called out as a blatant copy. By taking the parody route, the series will most likely be able to be consumed as a sort of an anime abridged video, but not to improvisation level and chaoticness of “Ghost Stories”. I deeply believe that by deciding to make this series a parody instead of your typical western anime, it will be much more successful and much less cringey than it is being expected to be.

(Here are two of the articles I referenced for some of LeSean Thomas’s comments about “Children of Ether”, besides my own viewing of the ONA:

https://goo.gl/NDeUub

https://goo.gl/UZRk7P

Thank you for reading this! Let me know if you want me to ramble/review about any series in particular!)

#also I do believe that if neo yokio was done by crunchyroll we'd be getting a different response but thats another story #would love to investigate the bias between netflix and crunchyroll's productions but i digress #poland's thoughts #neo yokio #children of ether #crunchyroll #netflix #anime #jaden smith #mother's basement