#she’s slayed so many times this feels very underwhelming

[themakeupbrush]

Quinta Brunson at the 2024 Golden Globes

#quinta brunson #she’s slayed so many times this feels very underwhelming #even though she looks nice it’s not up to par with previous looks from her #red carpet #golden globes 2024 #golden globes

[humanpurposes]

These are all my thoughts about the Season 2 teaser, under a cut because I'm mentioning book spoilers and doing some speculating, and also because I have sooooo much to say

Starting off with the first shot of Rhaenyra, standing by Shipbreaker Bay with Storm's End in the distance. The fact that she goes looking for Luke is so heartbreaking, but this is why I'm so excited for the show!! In the book there's not really an explanation of how the Blacks found out about Luke's death, just Rhaenyra's reaction and the "son for a son" line. I do really love the portrayal of Rhaenyra as a mother in the first season, especially her bond with Luke and I can so see her rushing to find out what happened to him.

I'm so excited for Emma D'Arcy in general. I'll be honest, it took me a while to warm up to post time jump Rhaenyra, especially because I felt like the character felt so different to Milly's Rhaenyra, but they really won me over in episode 10. What Emma is able to do with just their expressions is incredible, particularly in the very last shot of season 1, that look of grief and fury was so impactful. I hope we get more 'silent' acting moments from Emma and I think this could be one of those.

I wanna jump a head and mention the parallels between this scene and the shot of Alicent by some lake? I really thought that was supposed to be Alys Rivers until they showed her face. Obviously there's a similar visual there with Alicent and Rhaenyra. My questions are, where is this meant to be? It looks misty and you can't see much in the background, so I'm thinking it could be a dream given that she's dressed very plainly? The other lake that comes to mind is the God's Eye, but in the book, Alicent doesn't leave King's Landing. This bit also excited me because I've kinda used bodies of water as symbol for death and grief in one of my fics haha.

Sticking with Alicent, the first we see of her in the teaser is her speaking with someone off camera, probably Larys Strong because you can see his cane. My girl looks tired (probably because her son started a war whoops) and she seems very reluctant with the "many will die line." Super excited for more Olivia Cooke looking melancholic!!

I hate Criston Cole's haircut, but it's not a big deal.

Aegon on the throne! He still looks miserable lmao. I think of all the interpretations of the characters I think Aegon will end up disappointing me the most. I really don't think they developed him enough last season to set up any meaningful rivalry with Rhaenyra, which I can understand because the focus is on Rhaenyra and Alicent. But I feel like he's been left out of his own story in a way because in the book, he doesn't want the throne, but is convinced by Criston to stake his claim and properly fight for it. I have a feeling HotD is still going for a mopey emo boy. I mean he literally has a chain around him. Also I wish his crown had more rubies, it looks so underwhelming, but the dragon embroidery on his tunic is sick.

Also, dragon shoulder things going on with Rhaenyra's dress? Slay, she's the more fashionable monarch for sure.

0:26, the dragon flying overhead. I think this is Nettles!! Some people have been saying they're disappointed she was left out, but I think could be her looking at Sheepstealer? And she has some stick thing idk it looked like a shepherd's cane to me.

And immediately after that we have a shot of a dragon flying over another lake. It looks like the same one? I was thinking it might also be Jace on Vermax when he's delivering his messages to the Vale and Winterfell? Omg but so many dragons this season!! I'm so excited to see all of them.

Going back to Daemon, he's definitely on a war path this season, we have that first shot of him grabbing his helmet and storming off, presumably to battle, then he's beheading someone in front of a Weirwood tree. One thing I really found interesting about the time jump in season 1 was how subdued older Daemon was compared to his younger self, even when he killed Vaemond he played it off so nonchalantly. But then in episode 10 he's just desperate to make a show of strength and end the conflict quickly and violently, with Rhaenyra being the one who has to restrain him. So I'm interested to see how their dynamic as a couple will play out, and to see a return to form for Daemon as a force of nature.

Aemond being the very next frame after Daemon swings his sword oof. I'll get more into Aemond in a bit because I will talk about him forever and ever amen once I get started. But that LOOK, my man is yearning for the throne and we're all obsessed.

0:38, that looks like Seasmoke to me, which would mean the person standing in front of the dragon is Laenor or Addam of Hull. I don't really have an opinion about Laenor possibly coming back, we'll just see what happens. Would be quite devastating for Corlys and Rhaenys though, after mourning their son for 6 years.

speaking of mourning sons Helaena looks so stunning in 0:40. I tried to avoid those leaks but these look like they're from Jaehaerys' funeral procession. I'm looking forward to more prophetic stuff from Helaena, hopefully get more into her relationship with her family. I just hope she gets the time she deserves in the show because in the book she very much exists in the background, especially after Blood and Cheese. And the audacity of them to show a shot of the Dragonpit before Helaena, that's just cruel 🥺

UM ALSO 0:52. Took me a second to register what was happening the first time I watched this. Something that really stands out to me is how gentle Helaena's expression is (unless I'm misreading Phia's face completely) but that is something that's mentioned in the book, Helaena supposedly met them very calmly. I just know Phia Saban is going to do an amazing job in this scene and I'm absolutely terrified to see it play out.

Ok going back again, there's some battle scene or whatever, that's cool ig.

0:45-0:47 Rhaenys' voiceover, her and Rhaenyra (I'm guessing at Dragonstone) and then BAELA!! Again, I'm really hoping for some canon divergence from the book because I am so down to see Baela being utilised more! That's something I didn't really get about the book, Baela has Morning but they only participate in one battle. I'm thinking this is her at Rook's Rest, seeing Rhaenys die or getting there too late.

0:53 Duel of the Cargyll twins? omg :(

And to finish off, the shots of Aemond, then Rhaenyra, then Vhagar. Excited to see Rhaenyra being more active in the fighting. Although her unwillingness to fight her own battles was something that was used against her in F&B, I think it feels very much in line with what we saw of her in season 1.

Aemond looks SO GOOD, and I know these probably won't be from the same scene, but with the shots of him and Rhaenyra being one after the other, I feel like there could be something there about the (for what of a better word) rivalry between them in the aftermath of Luke's death. If we got to see them face off against each other or have some kind of interaction, that would be insane.

Ok now I'm going to ramble about my war criminal princess 🥰

So we all know one of the biggest talking points of the season 1 finale was the part Aemond played in Luke's death and what this means for him as a character moving forward.

It's really interesting to compare HotD Aemond vs F&B Aemond, because in the book he comes across as a lot more abrasive, ruthless and impulsive. In the show, Aemond is an imposing but understated presence which is so unnerving and so captivating to watch, and then he has these moments where his anger comes out. I think in episode 8, his anger feels deliberate when he reacts to Luke laughing at him at the dinner, it's all a threat and a reminder of what he's capable of. It's all to get a reaction and it works, he insults the Strong boys, laughs off Jace's punch, but the moment he comes face to face with Daemon he backs down. Then we have Storm's End in episode 10. His anger is meant to intimidate again, but the difference is that there's no one to make him back down, so he takes things too far, chases Luke and is helpless to stop Vhagar when she goes in for the kill.

I love what Ewan Mitchell has said about the bond between Aemond and Vhagar, how their bond has changed his view of himself and shaped the person he becomes. He's bonded to an ancient war dragon, he's an ambitious second son who has to settle for being a supporting act to his useless older brother, and he's been through a lot of physical and emotional trauma since childhood, so while he's trying to play the part of Alicent's golden child, he's had all this pain simmering under the surface, which was inevitably going to reach boiling point.

I think it makes perfect sense that Aemond's first kill was 'accidental' considering he's never had any experience with actual combat, but this doesn't mean it has to detract from his character and in fact I think this lends itself to the tragedy of his story. Enough people have said it but I think he'll come back to King's Landing, get a right bollocking from Alicent and Otto, and he'll play it off as though he killed Luke to avenge his missing eye. The alternative is admitting that he doesn't have full control of his dragon, not a great sign considering she is the Green's most important asset in the war. B&C is going to devastate their whole family but with Aemond has to carry the guilt of being the one who drew first blood, and I think from there we'll really see him lean into this persona of The Kinslayer and become more ruthless and overtly violent. AND THEN after Rook's Rest and Aegon's injury, Aemond will become Regent and will be closer to the throne than he ever has been or ever will be.

I think he's just going to become completely insane and even more unhinged and I'm absolutely buzzing to see it all go down. Just please, HBO, for the love of God, give him more than one outfit.

Additional thoughts:

I wonder if they'll keep the GoT theme for the opening credits? I kinda want something new, maybe a bit darker? Either way, so excited for new stuff from Ramin Djawadi

No Daeron which isn't looking good, yikes. Dare we hold out hope he'll show up in a later season? But then there was a shot of the Hightower army in the teaser and he'd be with them

We also have no Cregan Stark which surprised me because I really thought they'd play up nostalgia points with Winterfell

No Sunfyre :(

No Caraxes :( unless we count that quick shot of Daemon in his saddle.

No Dreamfyre, but this is less surprising

I'm nitpicking now, but I would have liked a shot of the Velaryon Fleet too, that would have been cool

#me when i overshare #house of the dragon season 2 #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd season 2 #aemond targaryen

[ratherchaseamouse]

Cats Warsaw first reaction thoughts part two: Grizabella the Glamour Cat through Jellicle Ball

Grizabella:

- griz’s costume is a slay. She has a really beautiful voice! The rasp and depth sounds so good.

- I’m not crazy about Demeter’s wig, I think the pigtails look a little too kitten-like. I think I’ve seen pictures where she has a different wig though?

Bustopher Jones:

- Jenny and Bomba are very funny together, I hope they interact more later

- how is this the horniest number thus far? How is that possible?

- his wig and sideburns remind me of another production, it’s on the tip of my tongue but I can’t place it right now.

- I’m actually really impressed by the big furniture, it looks really good.

- that one cat needing cpr— who was that lmao

- my boy just wants a fish who stole it?

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer:

- I’m loving all the interactive parts of this set! The trash can is so clever!

- making the verses straight triplets is a daring move, especially when it’s a translation. They pulled it off, but I’m not sure why it was changed?

- the choreography is great, once again. they’re not super in-sync at some parts, which is fine, but some moves look a little sloppy because they’re a little off from each other. This is just me being nit picky.

- ok there’s a reoccurring problem of Teazer not being lit during the verses so either there was a miscommunication with the LD or she just needs to know to stay in her light.

- energy!! This is a hard number to dance and even harder singing along, but if you’re not matching the energy of the music in your movements, it’s gonna fall flat (so to speak). They’re doing the choreo well, but there’s noodle arms! No noodle arms! Sorry I’ve veered into giving director’s notes lol

- with all my criticism I really do love how this number is being done.

- them speaking with each others’ voices is really cute! Good finish, but I’m confused as to why they didn’t stick around to do anything in the playoff of the number.

Old Deuteronomy:

- loving the mystic twins + Misto interactions

- I’m pretty sure this is just because the quality of the video is not great but. Munkustrap’s makeup just like. A dude. A dude with a neckbeard :/

- Old Deuteronomy smokes weed in this production no question. Idk how I feel about his costume. I’ll give an opinion later. WAIT DOES HE HAVE LITTLE GLASSES THAT’S GREAT

Pekes and Pollicles

- a movie projector? That’s clever!

- who is my man spinning on the floor. I think it’s Alonzo? Not sure

- I may not like munk’s costume but I do like his voice! Wow! Shout out to the actor for managing a patter song in a whole different language

- I’m confused of the point of the projector now…

- big fan of the staging here! It’s haptic while still being easy to interpret!

- damn they couldn’t afford bagpipes for Tugger :/ the gag is still funny with the flute lol

- ohh, the guy spinning was the rumpus cat, okay! My man’s writhing, good for him.

- I’m a little underwhelmed by the finish. That’s all.

Jellicle Ball:

- Protector Bomba? We love to see it

- hm. Something about how everyone is speaking their lines is making me. Uncomfortable. Everyone sounds half horny and I do not like it. Ok moving on

- big fan of Gus’s lil pantaloons

- WHAT is coming down from the ceiling??? Is it a picture frame or something?

- Every number! The choreography! I will say this every time I even slightly like it! Everyone has such good timing, I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to arrange this many people into those formations!

- the rumpus cat is my favorite ensemble cat so far. Jumpy man.

- damn, Tugger’s homophobic :/ (/j)

- everyone’s tails are noticeably longer than average, I wonder how long it took people to practice not stepping on them.

- ooh pas de deux time. Ok there must be a problem with the lights or something because I don’t know why she’s doing this in the dark. If there isn’t then. Well idk it’s a bad choice. Well never mind no pas de deux I guess

- I like that they kept a good chunk of the original choreo but then made it unique.

- I love it when you can clearly see that there was a rehearsal where the choreographer was like “raise your hand if you can do something acrobatic”

- the choreo for the entire uptempo section has been so impressive. Like genuinely jaw dropping. The breakdown does kind of look like an aerobics class though.

Ok that’s it for part two!

#blue’s thoughts #cats the musical #cats warsaw #cats non replica

[kyndaris]

A Vikingr Saga for the Ages

Ever since the first game in the franchise, I was enraptured by the idea of stalking my prey on the rooftops of Renaissance Italy and then leaping down - slaying them with a flourish. I didn’t know it yet but the marriage between history and stealthy parkour had me hooked from the very first trailer for Assassin’s Creed. When the series pivoted towards mythology and set further in history than ever before, I eagerly followed. From Ptolemaic Egypt to Ancient Greece. It should come as no surprise that I devoured, then, that I devoured as much of the world that I could in the latest entry: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. And after clocking in just under 150 hours, there is much for me to unpack in Ubisoft’s latest entry into the Assassin’s Creed franchise. That, and a fierce desire to finally start watching Vikings. 

When I initially booted up Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (AC:V), I will admit that I was a little disappointed with the control scheme. Once again, Ubisoft had made it a confusing mess with trigger buttons instead of face buttons used to attack. Since I had just come from Spider-Man: Miles Morales, it took a good long while for me to adjust. Several hours later, after fumbling through my first battle with a lost drengr (I actually dumbed down the difficulty a litte), I finally managed to find my footing and was on my way to England to scrape out a place for the Raven Clan.

As for stealth...well, the less said about it the better. I never found it effective. It was much easier to smash my way through, axe in hand (or greatsword) and lay waste to their paltry resistance with a mixture of heavy attacks and parrying. I also, hardly used the bow (one of my favourite weapons to being stealthy in Origins and Odyssey). 

The story in AC: V is a little messy. Most of it is done through a separate arcs for each territory Eivor ventures through: from East Anglia to Snotinghamscire, with little to link it all together except the main character. Were it not for the very loose story threat surrounding Sigurd and the conquering of Mercia to establish a firm foothold in this new land of England, many of the storylines could be regarded as standalone adventures in Eivor’s epic saga of conquest.

That doesn’t, of course, mean it’s bad. Merely disjointed. Particularly when I went from Jorvik and its Yule Tide celebrations to Glowecestrescire that was right in the midst of Samhain right after each other. Did I go back in time? Or did almost an entire year fly past Eivor with none the wiser?

Still, even though they were mostly standalone storylines, I still very much liked all the characters I met along the way. My favourites were the earnest Hunwald, noble Ceolbert (his death was almost as bad as all the horse deaths I’ve encountered in video games) and fun-loving Twydwr (particularly when he and Eivor were drunk, and messing with the local chickens) On the Norse side, I very much enjoyed the banter between Eivor and her childhood friend Vili. But the one that I admisted most was Soma. She was the jarlskona of Grantebridgescire - the first place I explored after landing in England. And one, I hoped I could romance to some degree. Alas, my hopes were dashed on that end.

What I did find a little intriguing were how Sigurd and Eivor were sages for the Isus: Odin and Tyr. And in their little Raven Clan, revealed much later, was also Freyr. It seemed strange that so many of the reincarnated Isu were all incredibly close at hand.

In this title, Ubisoft was able to focus again a little more on their complex lore that was seeded throughout the first few games. And while some questions were answered, it still left plenty of mysteries of where the games go from here - particularly from a modern-day standpoint. Though I am reluctant to see the franchise go, it does feel like Ubisoft is finally coming to a close on the grand story that they are trying to tell. What the end result turns out to be is still to be determined, but more emphasis needs to be focused on the central conflict.

For a game that still has Assassin’s Creed in the title, Eivor’s connection with the order and their enemies seemed very tangential. While I killed many Order of the Ancient members, there was no sense of personal investiture, like, say with Ezio’s quest. The only ones that I felt motivated to put an end to were Fulke and Kjotve the Cruel. Unfortunately, all the build-up in the first scenes with Eivor were quickly resolves within the first two to three hours of the game, and Fulke’s arc was all but over in the half-way point.

I suppose the main reason for my discontent with the narrative of AC: V is the fact that there is no Big Bad for Eivor and her Raven Clan. Yes, Aelfred of Wessex is a ‘villain’ that hinders our protagonist, but he never felt like an oppressive threat. 

Basim’s reveal, somewhat late in the game, was also a little underwhelming. Yes, he did look an awful lot like Loki, but how did he manage to get to Norway? He hadn’t accompanied Sigurd and Eivor. Did he travel with a third party? How did he know that Sigurd and Eivor would be in the ruins of an Isu temple? So many questions, so little time.

Then there was the whole ‘Heir of Memories’ and the fact that Layla seemed so worn. After finishing Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, my last impression of her was receiving the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus from Kassandra and being hopeful for the future. Fast forward to AC: V and Layla is tired. The world is on the edge of destruction once again and she’s now paired up with married couple: Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings (the two last appearing undercover in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag). 

On a side note, why are their adventures all done in the comics or some other media? AND WHY DO I NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ANY OF THIS?

And because I didn’t play the expansions for Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, I knew too little regarding the modern-day struggles with Layla. In fact, I basically resorted to the Assassin’s Creed wiki to bring me up to date. Honestly, DLC should never be story-related. Or, if it is, should be more tangential rather than major. It’s a terrible practice that quite a few publishers do, and which leaves players such as myself playing catch-up.

The only one that landed with any oomph (at least for me) were the Asgard and Jotunheim arcs. These were connected and told the story of Havi as he struggled to find a way to avert his fate. The final battle also proved challenging and climactic. A far cry from the ‘endings’ that the main story provided. In all honesty, I probably should have left that to last while completing everything else first. But the temptation was too great and I was vastly overlevelled.

I also enjoyed the play on the Norse myths. The only downside with the Builder was that there was no horse to help him. And so, there was no sexy mare Loki to tempt away the Builder’s horse - giving birth to Sleipnir. The other stuff, though, was clever. And I liked the references made to other myths, such as fighting against ‘old age’ and Thrym’s disastrous marriage to ‘Thor dressed as Freyr.’

What was also a little odd, at least for me, was that there was no definitive part where the credits rolled. Much like in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Assassin’s Creedy: Origins. Personally, I hate it. Credits give closure and tell gamers that the narrative that they were pursuing has come to an end. It lets me reflect on everything that I experienced and is an indication that I can finally set the controller down.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla also came with its fair share of bugs and glitches. Many, after reading up on them, made me frightened to continue. One, in particular, took me a while to figure out an alternative to: entering Lunden. I didn’t help that the more I read, the more I worried about encountering a game-breaking bug. Thankfully, most were simply treasure hoards not loading, late texture pop-ins that were a little frightening, and the drunk Eivor every time I loaded up the game. 

Despite its many faults, I still very much enjoyed my time roaming around England, Vinland and Norway as I worked to build up Eivor’s reputation and to ensure her name would be sung for ages to come. Like a true Vikingr, I played copious amounts of orlog, drank mead and tore up the battlefield to create a home for my people.

Even better, at Gunnar’s wedding, I managed to finally woo Randvi (who I abstained from bedding down with earlier on in the game)! That, perhaps, elevated the game for me and I can be happy knowing that all my hard work paid off.

(As an additional aside, I also love how many of the side quests or ‘mysteries’ in AC: Valhalla made references to popular culture. From Winnie the Pooh to Alice in Wonderland. AND ROBIN HOOD! THE NPC CALLED LITTLE JOHN HAD ME GUFFAWING!)

#Assassin's Creed: Valhalla #AC:V #Assassin's Creed #video games #Eivor x Randvi

[tsaomengde]

So, it's been a month, and I have finished Cyberpunk 2077. Time was I would have chewed the game up and spat it back out in less than a week, but now I have children and a house to run. I'm not here to talk about the conditions of its release, the human cost, the et cetera. I'm just here to give my thoughts on the game.  If you want a spoiler-free review, here it is: thanks to my mother-in-law for buying it for me for Christmas. If I'd paid money for it I might have been disappointed. As it was, I had a perfectly fine time. Spoilers follow. (Also spoilers for Witcher 3, which is more than five years old now.)

Let's get this out of the way: should the game have been more progressive? Well, yes, but here's another question: what the fuck is cyberpunk even supposed to be? After all, initially, punk itself was created to sell leather jackets and records, and its defining trait was being subversive. It wasn't about being progressive, just offensive, about bucking whatever Standards there were. It's been refined, and redirected, but there's a reason 'Nazi punk' is a thing.

I personally wasn't expecting this game to be a bastion of progressive thought just because it has the word 'punk' in it. They should have done better by people who wanted to play trans or nonbinary characters. They should have done better with a lot of things. But they should have done those things because that's just what we should expect as people who engage critically with media, not because the game has the word 'punk' in the label. Was I sitting there shaking my head at the fact that V can work with the police? No. You're a mercenary, you go where the money is. The game wasn't advertised as an Antifa 2077 simulator, it was advertised as an RPG where you play the role of a merc who will do pretty much anything for that cash.

Here's the other question: is it cyberpunk? I say no. Cyberpunk as a genre is about human beings trapped in exploitative systems which commodify everything, even our bodies, and the lengths we have to go to in those systems to remain human - or not. The game has a lot of stuff in it showing this commodification and exploitation of everything, including our humanity, but it doesn't really have much to say about it. There are no significant choices in the story about how many pieces of yourself you're willing to cut away for power. Fill up every slot with cyberware or play as natural as possible, makes no difference at all to the story or the endings you get.

So it’s not really cyberpunk. That’s fine, a game can not be a thing and still be good. What’s the story, then? The story is about V (who is supposedly you, but they definitely are a distinct entity unto themselves, this is not a blank-slate Bioware situation) and Johnny Silverhand, and who is going to end up occupying the brain they’re forced to share for a while because of an experimental personality-upload chip that gets lodged in there too good to remove. Johnny Silverhand is an asshole version of Keanu Reeves, and I happened to really like his performance. A lot of people didn’t. That’s down to YMMV. Having finished the story and gone online to read about the endings I didn’t get, I feel that it’s… fine. They give you a decent number of ways to address the issue. I was more invested in the side stories with people like Judy and Panam than I was in the Big Plot, though I definitely warmed a lot to Johnny and Rogue near the end.

I never got the Big Feels, though. Like, Witcher 3? I agonized over the amazing chemistry Geralt had with both Yen and Triss, and had serious debates with myself over who to romance, because I may be a slut, but I’m ethical, dammit. I got big sad when Geralt found Ciri, thought she was dead, and just collapsed in on himself. I got even bigger sad when Vesemir died, and felt very vindicated when I murdered the dude that killed him. All of this from a game whose predecessors I didn’t even play! Cyberpunk never hit the same highs for me.  The most invested I ever was in a mission chain, by the way, was the one where the plot goes full Ghost in the Shell with memory editing and "what is a personality really" and truly vast conspiracies, and then the chain ends and just kind of peters out and you're back to all the other stuff that isn't Ghost in the Shell.  So that was... not great.

What about the *game* part though? Is it awesome? Does it suck?  I mean, the game is also fine. The gunplay feels alright, alright enough that I definitely regretted my initial desire to be a katana ninja person and went pretty hard into guns by the end. I give it credit for the systems being robust enough to support that kind of mid-game playstyle pivot.  The melee is deeper than it’s been in other games, but uh… look, I’m pretty sure Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 had better-feeling melee combat, and that game came out over 23 years ago. Might have something to do with the fact that you had an option to switch to a GODDAMN THIRD-PERSON CAMERA. After seeing the story and playing the game and doing the stuff I am prepared to Pronounce on this, and my Pronouncement is that the first-person camera definitely is more immersive, particularly given the story they wanted to tell, and perhaps you should stick with it during cutscenes if that’s your jam, but Goddamn, give us the third-person mode for melee. Anyway, the game, yeah. The stealth is cookie-cutter basic. The hacking minigame is dumb, and the hacking itself is useful, but underwhelming.

What about the vehicles? What about them indeed? I got a motorcycle from one of the first side quests after the world opens up and never used anything else. Everything drives like shit, but at least the motorcycles let me weave through traffic and get those rare glimpses of the toon I spent an hour carefully creating. Of course, most of the time, she would look ridiculous, since you have to continually equip whatever latest thing gives you the most armor, and there’s no transmog, so it’s only at the very end of the game where you *maybe* stop looking like an extra who wandered off of the set of a quirky indie film about near-future hip-hop dancers.

What about the city? Yes, it’s an enormous open world and it’s crazy detailed and there’s so much to do and so many icons to visit, but look, they didn’t need to go this hard. They could have told this story without a GTA-style open world. They could have told this story with Deus Ex-sized hub areas. Perhaps then the game wouldn’t have taken eight Goddamn years to make and destroyed so many poor Polish game developers’ lives.

I’m a thousand words in and I feel like I could write several thousand more, but let’s wrap it up. Here it is: did the 64.6 hours I put into the game entertain me? Yes, but I was ready to be done well before the point of no return, and still I kept hitting up all the side character stuff because I was invested in them. Am I going to play it again? Not right away, no. I’ll wait and see what DLC they drop, what bugs they fix. I have other games to play, and other things to do. And most tellingly, for this past month, I have never been doing real-life adult stuff and just been thinking the entire time, “I could be playing Cyberpunk right now.” I would play it when I sat down and felt I had sufficient time for something more involving than a run in Hades or Slay the Spire. It did not get hooks in me the way the Greats have done.

Cyberpunk: not a whimper, but not a bang either.

#cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #spoilers #cyberpunk spoilers #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #review #thoughts #lot to unpack here

[antmrankingskd]

Cassi

Place: Runner-Up

My call-out average: 3.6

Panel call-out average: 3.4

Favorite Photo: Beach

Least Favorite Photo: Ford Style Icons

It seems to be a pretty common opinion that Cassi should’ve won Cycle 5 and was robbed of the title. While I genuinely would’ve been happy with her winning, I don’t think she was really that robbed. Sure, based on natural talent and pure potential she was pretty much at the top of the class, and her getting the votes from most of the industry professionals in the finale reflects that. Her look was perfectly suited for high fashion and she really stood out from the crowd. She also had amazing instincts in front of the camera and she really impressed me with her fluidity on set in several of the photoshoots. All that being said, her journey was far from consistent. Cassi totally slayed the first three photoshoots and I thought she would dominate the cycle. However, from week 4 onward she kind of lost her groove and her performance level rose and dipped quite a lot. Her Desert and Beach shots are some of the very best of the season, but she also served up underwhelming pictures in the Chanel, Trampoline, and London photoshoots, and even was straight up bad in the U by Kotex and Fashion Icons shoots. Her weaker moments seemed to happen in weeks where she tried too hard and overthought things on set, while her best moments generally came about when she just let her natural talent lead the way. I think that her portfolio was very good overall, but while she had some extremely high peaks, she also had a few too many low points for my liking. Cassi’s biggest weakness was runway. Her limbs all seemed to have minds of their own, her movements were jerky, and she struggled with her poses and turning around after reaching the end. I think she did show a lot of improvement and that was reflected by her booking a fair amount of shows in the Australian Fashion Week challenge, though she still trailed far behind most of her competitors. Another thing I have to comment on is Cassi’s lack of professionalism. Her tantrums, immaturity, and self-conflicts about quitting at multiple points make me think that she wouldn’t have been ready for the crown even if she had won. At the same time, I did feel bad for her since virtually all of the other girls ganged up on her (mostly behind her back) and that would be so difficult to deal with in the middle of a competition. Overall, I think Cassi gets a bit overhyped due to her post-show career. She could’ve been a worthy winner since her look had the most potential for success out in the real world in addition to a delivering a pretty strong portfolio. However, she wasn’t as well-rounded as some of the other top contenders and I’m not sure her talent was fully baked at the time. Still, I was really happy to see Cassi go far and she was definitely one of the strongest models of the cycle!

#cassi van den dungen #auscycle5contestants #ausntm

[graphicabyss]

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4 E08

First of all: I’m pissed. I have been pissed for 3 days now because some bitches can’t keep it in. This episode was an emotional roller-coaster. If there was one episode where I really wish everyone would be spared, it would be this one. There were so many beautiful moments in it and so many deep touching words from Ru and the queens and it’s sad that it all faded with the way the elimination went.

Manila won this challenge on her season so you’d expect her to do well. Well, she did. It’s just that in All Stars you have to be amazing. I think the concept of cards was brilliant and the make-up and hair was flawless. It was the dresses that ended up being a little too simple. As Raja and Aquaria said in their Ru-view, while the outfit was better than some queens’ best looks, it was underwhelming for Manila as she set the bar very high. Whereas Monet who wasn’t always great with runway looks made a great impression. In terms of resemblance, it seems like Manila was going for more of an “opposites attract” than family with contrasting colours of hair and make-up. It was hard to judge the dance from the mashup but the judges seemed to like it so it looked like the problem was with the runway look. 

It felt so cruel - one little slip and she’s out. And sure, this is a show and there aren’t rules as to how to get to the top. But it’s not even that Naomi chose to eliminate Manila, it’s the hypocrisy. When Manila considered eliminating Valentina everyone was so appalled and every time there was all this talk of “being fair”. Manila also got shit for wanting to keep Latrice even though at the time Latrice and Monet had roughly the same standing. Wouldn’t be surprised if Monet wanted to send her home too. Monet was expecting her to plead and be sorry for wanting to eliminate her but Manila was unapologetic and proud. In the end it was clear that they would either be getting rid of the weakest link or the strongest. Naomi took the chance.

My respect for Manila has doubled after the show. Not only did she slay almost  every challenge, was consistent and exciting. She left with grace, she showed no bitterness and she turned it up by using the show as her marketing strategy.

I don’t feel sorry for Manila, she was hurt but she left with grace, good tips, and a beautiful loving husband but.I really wish we could see more of what she had in store. Maybe I should try the Valentina way and live in reality where Manila, Trinity, Valentina and Monique are Top 4? There’s nothing left to do but move on. But first, I want to see the first 5 minutes of episode 9 to see Trinity trash Naomi. After all, Naomi did ruin her chance of competing with the best.

#Drag Race #Manila Luzon

[myragewillendworlds]

Just finished watching Game of Thrones S8 E3.

Wow.

But also...

disappointing.

Terribly anti-climactic.

Very few major characters died. While on one hand that'd make you happy, on the other hand it makes the battle seem rather inconsequential. It started amazing, lots of tension and fear, overwhelming odds of defeat, and then it ended rather suddenly. We only see Daenerys crying over Jorah. The overall impact feels rather small.

The Night King went down... easy. Too easy. And to give Arya that role.. I don't know. I said before I was afraid they'd overdo her and they did. In the post-episode interview they even described her as a “magical figure” and claimed she was the best at killing/fighting... really? Her? Inbetween all these extremely skilled and experienced warriors? Though, I do appreciate the fact that the Night King was killed by the dagger that started the story. That felt poetic.

But I have a lot of questions.

- What was Jon doing? I've never seen him be this useless. - What was Bran doing? Just checking things out through the ravens? I expected more of a twist from him, to add something more special than literally just serving as bait. - Who was the Night King? What was his purpose? We've heard about him before, sure, I just expected there to be more to his story. This was it? - Why couldn’t the Night King be taken out by dragonfire? (my theory being he too is a Targaryen, which would also explain why he could ride the dragon) - What were the blue flames anyway? Extremely hot? Extremely cold? Just randomly magic? - Why were they so horrifyingly unprepared? The death marching faster than expected is not an excuse, they knew they were coming for a long time. Why not build several of those fire trenches? Why not build it farther away and have the army stay behind it? Why did they just stand there and watch the dead build a bridge over it? Why send off your entire Dothraki army into literal darkness? Why not have more battle plans involving fire, like the fire-lit cannonballs? - So Arya finally gets her weapon, specially designed and made for her, fights with it for a minute, and loses it for the rest of the episode. Really? - "Now that purpose has been served." What purpose was that, exactly? Bringing the Hound North? Saving Arya? I suppose the latter might make sense, as she was the one to slay the Night King, but it remains vague. - Why did Melisandre go out and let herself die at the end?

I feel like this episode raised so many more questions than it answered. Questions that deserved answering, and will probably now not be answered any more.

With that said, despite that whole list of complaints, watching it was still amazing. It was really tense and they did have me believing some major characters were going to die. Definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Some of my favorite moments: - The dragons above the clouds. The visuals were stunning. - Tyrion and Sansa in the crypt. There was a connection there. Although it was probably aided by the impending doom, it made for some beautiful moments. Tyrion's delivery of the line "What a terrifying thought" was perfect. - Bran and Theon in the Godswood. Though Theon's death was underwhelming to me (why not have him die protecting Bran, instead of rushing at the Night King like an idiot?), the moment right before with Bran's last words to him were just right. - Melisandre's return. Her role in the episode was certainly interesting.

So, that was the great battle against the White Walkers.

What did other people make of it?

#game of thrones #spoilers

[sussex-nature-lover]

Petworth House Collection

Part 2 of our visit to the property - the inside

As I wrote in Part 1, I was sadly underwhelmed by our visit to Petworth, although that doesn’t take away in any part from some of the fabulous works of art and decor which are real treasures.

It’s very difficult times for any kind of ‘attraction’ or museum and I did try to curtail the flat feeling I had with appreciation of being able to go inside the house at all and to see such things. It’s just that I really like to come away from visits with a real sense of who the people were who lived in and shaped the futures of, these historic homes.

One thing I have just discovered is a video they’ve made about the kitchens which, as you read in the last blog, I really wanted to see for myself.

Credit Petworth NT Twitter

As I said before, only downstairs rooms are open.

Side Note: alterations to the property were carried out in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin, architect, who was also involved in Scotney Castle local to us, which is why the name rang a very loud bell.

The way the house tour is arranged now, you first encounter The Chapel. You’ve got to marvel at anything that dates back to approx 1300.

Pietà after Michelangelo Buonarroti

It may just be us. It might be the times, but I didn’t get much of a feeling of peace or of history. The Chapel, despite its ornate decorations seemed dull and dusty and, oh I don’t know, I feel churlish, but it didn’t give me what I expected, or any inspiration. The stained glass is impressive though with all the Percy family commemorations. 

I’ve taken a few photos from Trip Advisor which hopefully show things in a different light.

The Chapel at Christmas

Of course, the main attraction at Petworth is the purpose built North Gallery. Here are some of my photos and an indication of what it would usually look like.

Wander around and take your pick

There have previously been sign boards with lots of information 

Now, there’s nothing, so it seems more like ‘and here’s another statue’ or ‘here’s another landscape’

St Michael Slaying Satan  John Flaxman RA

Carved from a single piece of marble apart from the spear.

One thing I learned from the guide is demonstrated here by the middle statue, look carefully below.

The body of a male with the face of a female - when art works and statues were all but plundered from Continental Europe, the authorities decreed that only damaged and broken statues were permitted to be exported, hence the practice of combining parts to make a whole. I wonder if anyone does a double take?

I can’t really work out why at least some of the information boards can’t be displayed because of Covid procedures. Knowing what you’re looking at makes such a difference.

My favourite piece in the whole house - I’m not exaggerating to say that it blew me away. There’s no sign or information so I’ll put good money on it being overlooked by most visitors.

I enquired and found out that this piece, which is approximately 10x12″ is attributed to Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey, also known as Lady Jane Dudley (after marriage) and as "the Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman and de facto Queen of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, and was a first cousin once removed of Edward VI

History of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland for anyone who wants to brush up on their history.

Lady Jane Grey embroidered panel

The colours on this work have held up well considering it must be AT LEAST 467 years old and more likely 470. Lady Jane Grey was only, what? 16 or 17 when she was executed, so this piece of work is reputedly the work of a teenager. It’s so accomplished, so fine, so magnificent that it almost leaves me speechless in awe and these pictures simply can’t do it justice. Frankly, despite my whinging about the visit, this item was worth the journey all by itself. What makes me feel sad about it is that people will walk by and perhaps not even know what it is or why it’s on display. 

These are my photographs of the Molyneux Globe, a priceless treasure, which I believe has previously been on display in the North Gallery. Below is a Trip Advisor photo of the information you would usually see.

Emery Molyneux (/ˈɛməri ˈmɒlɪnoʊ/ EM-ər-ee MOL-in-oh; died June 1598) was an English Elizabethan maker of globes, mathematical instruments and ordnance. His terrestrial and celestial globes, first published in 1592, were the first to be made in England and the first to be made by an Englishman.

Molyneux was known as a mathematician and maker of mathematical instruments such as compasses and hourglasses. He became acquainted with many prominent men of the day, including the writer Richard Hakluyt and the mathematicians Robert Hues and Edward Wright. He also knew the explorers Thomas Cavendish, Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and John Davis. Davis probably introduced Molyneux to his own patron, the London merchant William Sanderson, who largely financed the construction of the globes. When completed, the globes were presented to Elizabeth I. Larger globes were acquired by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions, while smaller ones were purchased as practical navigation aids for sailors and students. The globes were the first to be made in such a way that they were unaffected by the humidity at sea, and they came into general use on ships.

Molyneux emigrated to Amsterdam with his wife in 1596 or 1597. He succeeded in interesting the States-General, the parliament of the United Provinces, in a cannon he had invented, but he died suddenly in June 1598, apparently in poverty. The globe-making industry in England died with him.

Only six of his globes are believed still to be in existence. Three are in England, of which one pair consisting of a terrestrial and a celestial globe is owned by Middle Temple and displayed in its library, while a terrestrial globe is at Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex.

Wikipedia

That’s interesting because I only associated the name Molyneux with the football stadium in Wolverhampton 😊 We live and learn.

Bespoke locks and door plates - I have a particular interest in these wherever we visit - the craftsmanship and attention to detail is fabulous and I do like a marble floor as well.

Lovely large windows giving views down to the lake

Apparently this was originally an entrance to the house - which is now the back of the house. Personally I’d expected a larger porch area and perhaps some kind of covered outer porch. Get me and my critique.

Below is my photograph of the carved hall. It’s not as per the original because two rooms were later knocked through into one with the carvings both modified and also supplemented (from elsewhere in the house and by new additions) Portraits were moved. At a later point in time the base panels were painted over. Every generation makes its own mark I suppose. Having just watched some TV footage of felling ancient woodland in Buckinghamshire to make way for HS2, I have to say, oftentimes things are better off left or preserved.

Read that and weep - in my case, literally.

Points to note are that when the lower level paintings were installed this was so that diners had good viewing from their seated position - clearly that effect is lost on us now and also, the large portraits beyond Henry VIII were originally on the demolished dividing wall and were hung here incorrectly i.e. not complying with the original intention of the artist’s composition of the family.

The Duke is pointing to his left which indicates his wife and child portrait should be hung to the viewer’s right side as we look at the scene. Originally they were hung on the (now removed) dividing wall

*Short Video about the Carved Room at Petworth House at the end of the Blog

Carved work by Grinling Gibbons

Apparently the carved sheet music is Henry Purcell’s Fairy Queen and can actually be played.

I’ve just discovered a You Tube documentary about Gibbons, which I’ll watch tomorrow. LINK.

So, so many photos. Well, if you’re unlikely to get a chance to visit for yourself, this is a mini tour. I’ve got a separate entry of some artwork snaps. 

  The smaller dining rooms are no longer presented as such but there are some information stands of Turner watercolours from his time at the house. I think other originals are in the Tate Britain collection. Shame as they look charming studies and at the risk of stating the obvious, very at home in this setting. I hadn’t realised how accomplished Turner was or how young he was when he started his studies. His youth was very challenging. A guide recommended the film Mr Turner, which starred Timothy Spall. That’s probably one for the long Winter nights.

*Note the blue monitoring device

The Square Dining Room dressed for Christmas

Weighing Scales

check out that link!

Sanitise your hands and exit to the front Courtyard and the Servants’ Quarters opposite.

♦ As always I’m not responsible for the content of outside links, in bold type which are not affiliated to my Blog

#nationaltrust petworthhouse lovewhereyoulive

[joshleyson]

From Honeymoon to Dangerous: A closer look to Ariana Grande's interpretation of a Dangerous Woman.

I’m not a hardcore Ariana Grande stan yet  (and I’m willing to be) but I’m not gonna lie that I do love her music and her pop sensibilities and I must say that every Arianator will consider me someone so lucky enough to be able to attend her first two major world tours (The Honeymoon Tour and Dangerous Woman Tour). Seeing her sashay from her iconic ponytail, soaring vocals, and infectious pop diva hits was a privilege for me to witness such a spectacle, especially in the age of the competitive pop radio generation. 

  Last 21st of August of this year, I get to see Ari again live for her Dangerous Woman Tour in the Mall of Asia Arena in support of her third album of the same name. From the youthful vibe of her sophomore album My Everything and its associated The Honeymoon Tour, the Dangerous Woman Tour was indeed Ariana’s departure from her Nickelodeon teen-demographic image to a more mature, dark, and even politically charged Grande with feminist empowerment aesthetics and radically explicit lyrics of self-control in a non-conformist perspective, from “I gave zero fucks and I got zero chill in me” to “Ain't you ever seen a princess be a bad bitch?”. Wow.

The concert kicked off with 80’s house swagger-jack “Be Alright” which was an unusual choice for me for an arena-scale world tour although it’s my favorite track off the album with Ari dressed in black on a vogue-style choreography. Then it continues with her fresh songs from the record including “Everyday”, “Bad Decisions”, “Let Me Love You”, “Greedy”, “Touch It” and etc. intertwined with some of her revamped hits like “One Last Time”, “Love Me Harder”, “Problem”, “Break Free” etc.

Overall, I must say that Ariana’s DW Tour was a spectacle of power vocals, obvious departure from her musical roots, and a sense of creative control, especially on her overall vibe and aesthetic as a pop diva. It was a mixture of extravagant dance, elaborate costumes, visuals, and sounds echoing the arena that any typical Arianator would surely die for. However, I wished that I can willingly say that the show was a total slay machine but somehow the show failed to deliver the premise of a “dangerous” woman as there were some parts of the performance that felt awkward at times. It was obviously mature but it still feel like Cat Valentine dressed as Cat Woman. It was sexy and edgy but in a less empowered state. Maybe my expectation was too high that I’m hoping it would be many ways better than her previous tour. I know she said that she was kinda feeling under the weather that night, but her less interaction with the fans that also plagued her last tour was so evident that somehow the show sounded rushed and kinda underwhelming like she just wanted to get over with the show and be done with it. And as far as the technicalities were concerned, I recommend that Ariana would reconsider the lighting on her show as it was too dimly lit like was she hiding or something? And I do hope that her team would never downgrade the stage designs on her tours, especially on her Asian Leg ‘cause I believed every dedicated stans of hers deserved the same experience whether it's from The Madison Square Garden to the Mall of Asia Arena. 

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the privilege. Lucky for her, regardless of the opportunities that I noticed, her four-octave vocal range which is very rare on today’s pop standard somehow blurred all of these awkward moments that diehard fans will never notice and her sensational vocals were enough to cover up the missing recipe for a supermassive pop explosion concert tour, which I also believed she can pull off as her career continues. And if you ask me if I’ll still go on her next tour? Yeah sure. Ok.

Rating. 6.5/10

P.S By the way her offical merch is sooooo rad so I got two. :)

Photos by Me. Additional Photos by a Facebook friend Simeon Lesing and MMI Live.

#music #Ariana Grande #Dangerous Woman Tour #sounds #Reviews

[6ix-dragons]

Fairy Tail Fan Impressions (FTFI): Chapter 539

(Be aware; there are spoilers for the most recent FT chapters, found below!)

Me: Aaaand here comes ‘The Black Dragon’, making his glorrrious return!

“LOOK AT ALL THAT DESTRUCTION HE MADE!”

Me: He’s tearing up a new one, on his enemies!

“WENDY, NOOOO!”

Me: Now, it looks like he’ll have his wishes actually happen! 

“WHO’S GOING TO STOP HIM, NOW?!”

Me: Umm...Natsu, and the power of friendship?”

“...You serious??”

Me: Well, I mean... (shrugs) that’s a possibility. A crappy one, but...anyway!”

Ohhh, boy! Chapter 539 of the manga, here we are! 

Ladies and gentlemen...just when you were disappointed by what has happened in last few chapters (for both legit and dubious reasons), just when you thought there wouldn’t be a final fight between Acnologia and the Seven Dragon Slayers—and, just when you felt that everything was going to fall flat...this chapter happened! 

First, let’s start at the beginning of it all. It picks up from where the previous chapter left, with the whole mystery of what that crack in the sky was. We see the surviving members of Blue Pegasus, along with Wendy, Erza, and Jellal—who happens to be resting atop of Erza’s lap...which is nice to see, for Jerza fans (like me xD)! 

Anyway, that’s not what I’m here to focus on. We then see the cracks in the sky becoming much wider, and larger, looking as if it was actually falling apart. On that note, somebody should get Chicken Little on this! Joking aside, everybody that I mentioned above, gets quite concerned by this. Jenny Realight, especially, since she knows what’s really going on. 

...And, lo, and behold, here he comes! I was actually right, in my last FTFI post, about what was going on with the crack in the sky, and Acnologia being the one to return from it. Bursting through the sky, as if it were drywall, the villainous dragon-slayer makes his return, in complete dragon form! It turns out that he has managed to escape the Ravines of Time, by consuming it, as it is considered to be a magic source. Hmm...there’s something about this detail, that I don’t like—and I’ll explain it, near the end of this post.

Moving on! So, Acnologia goes raving mad, ranting about how he wants to become the destroyer of all dragons...and dragon-slayers...and...something like that. I mean, it’s a very notable difference about how he appears in the more recent chapters, compared to his earlier appearances. It does kind of make sense, ‘though, since he’s corrupted by the powers he’s gained, from the past. Yet, I think all of what he says, just sounds like the typical stuff that an obviously-evil character would say.  

Speaking of which, Acnologia uses his powers in this chapter! In his dragon form, he unleashes quite an attacking spell, in ‘Eternal Flare’, dishing out hundreds of beams from the air. His attacks scatter in multiple directions, hitting everything in his wake! There’s explosions, buildings being levelled, and all sorts of chaos out there! I mean...damn, dude! Surely, there must have been some casualties resulting from those blasts! 

...But, no. It turns out that nobody on the ground was caught in one of those beam attacks. Just...that they all missed the ones that were intended, over there. Maybe Acnologia’s just a honoured graduate of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. Who knows??

Nevertheless, we then see the next thing that truly shocks everybody—including some of the readers. Acnologia, by some sort of means, has managed to get ahold of Wendy, making her vanish somehow. Erza springs into action, and starts to do something, to save her guild-mate...and then, we get nothing more than that. However, it’s already clear what Acnologia was trying to do, when he took ahold of Wendy like that. In those panels, he states that he wants to absorb all their souls—not just killing all of the dragon-slayers that remain...but to absorb the magic they have, in order to become more powerful (than he already is). 

Then, we see what really happens, with the intentions of his machinations already stated explicitly. We see that the other dragon-slayers have vanished from where they were, including Gajeel and Erik (a.k.a. Cobra, a.k.a. Snake Boy). Before I go on, I just want to point how devastating it would be, for Levy, to have her beloved disappear again. I mean, it’s already enough that Gajeel had to be seemingly done away with, when the battle between him and Bloodman happened. Why make Levy miserable again, with this? I feel quite bad for her, too...

Oh, and then, we get treated to the scene, where Gray, Happy, and Lucy were. All of them are still devastated, over Natsu’s sudden disappearance. Gray and Happy continue to wonder where he went. Lucy crying out the name of the dragon-slayer she cared about, ‘though...again, that still kinda got me there. :(

Speaking of Natsu, however...yes, folks: he’s finally back! (Hooray!)

But, despite his return, Natsu ends up in a whole new different world. He looks around, and wonders aloud, where in the flying heck he is. Then, we get to see Acnologia appear before him, as he claims that this is his world. Ohhh yes, the chapter ends on this note, which implies that we may be able to see the Seven Dragon Slayers take on Acnologia, once and for all! 

And, now, all of this leads to the Question of the Chapter: how do you think Acnologia will be defeated? 

As I’ve mentioned it somewhere above, this ‘Black Dragon’ is just much powerful than he is, already. For all we know, he’s gained much of those powers by slaying many dragons, during the war that he fought in, about 400 years ago. And now he has managed to gain even more power, through consuming the magic particles, while being stuck in the Ravines of Time! I didn’t like how all this happened, in this chapter, with the simple reason being of him beyond the traditional sense of ‘overpowered’. I mean, how will Mashima properly address this sort of thing that’s been plaguing this series, for quite some time? 

We’ve seen several characters, most of them being antagonists, who have been hyped a lot, due to how powerful their abilities are. And, in some cases, we’ve seen them be defeated easily, despite how powerful they were. Case in point, Zeref and August, if we’re going by the most recent chapters. It just doesn’t make any sense to have Acnologia gain much more power at this point, because he’s already more than powerful enough to take on just about anybody! 

As for how he’ll be defeated...I suspect that the dragon-slayers will use whatever magic they have against him, only to leave a considerable dent—but not enough to defeat him. And then, I think Natsu will be the one, to close things out. At the very worst, we’ll probably see the fight get resolved with something that will be considered underwhelming, or disappointing. I’m holding a glass half-full kind of view, that the fight gets resolved, in a way that would satisfy a large number of fans/readers. 

Alright, so what do I think of this chapter, overall? Not bad, I would say. There’s definitely some intense moments in this chapter, and it builds up the tension and suspense, from what we saw in the previous chapter. Oh, and I’m hoping that Anna and Ichiya are alright—somewhere, somehow. What I didn’t like about this chapter, was simply how Acnologia managed to gain more power. What I also didn’t like, however, was the timing/pacing of this chapter. 

I’ve seen a couple of posts from other blogs, who have pointed out that some of the panels are happening at odd times, whenever two events are occurring simultaneously. A glaring example of this, would be the timing between Natsu’s sudden disappearance, and Acnologia summoning all of the dragon slayers to his realm. This wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, as something like this was also happening, in the Tartarus arc, somewhere. To me, it really wasn’t all that noticeable, at first, but after coming across those posts... it’s starting to change what I think about this chapter. 

Okay, so that is it for this one; I want to thank those for reading this, from the top! Click on the like button, if you like this post; click on the ‘Follow’ button, if you like this blog; reblog this post, to all your friends...and, well, now there’s only seven chapters remaining. But, what I want to know from all of you in this fandom, and it’s this: are you in? Because, I have a feeling that we’re going to witness, what may be a veeerrry interesting finish to the story, here! 

#fairy tail #fan impressions #ftfi #ft spoilers #chapter 539 #acnologia #wendy marvell #jellal fernandes #erza scarlet #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #happy #gray fullbuster #zeref dragneel #anna heartfilia #ichiya vandalay kotobuki #levy mcgarden #gajeel redfox #jerza #gajevy #nalu #personal takes

[afreakingdork]

Review: I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying and I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying: 2nd Thread

“  Though they couldn't be any more different, love has managed to blossom between Hajime Tsunashi, a hardcore otaku who shuts himself in at home while making a living off his blog, and his wife Kaoru—a hard-working office lady who, in contrast, is fairly ordinary, albeit somewhat of a crazy drunk. As this unlikely couple discovers, love is much more than just a first kiss or a wedding; the years that come afterward in the journey of marriage brings with it many joys as well as challenges. Whether due to their quirky personalities or the peculiar people surrounding them, Hajime and Kaoru find themselves caught up in a variety of baffling and ridiculous antics. But despite the struggles they face, the love that ties them together spurs them to move forward and strive to become better people in order to bring their partner happiness. “ 

So I had about an hour to kill and with these short 3 minute episodes, I thought I would give this series a quick watch. It was about what I expected for a quick show with 3 minute episodes (the redundancy of my sentences was on purpose) it had a few moments that surprised me but overall this a pretty underwhelming and cringe worthy show but let’s save that for....

Criticism: 

The incest insinuations between Hajime and Mayotama 

Mayotama is a fucking trap (let’s move past shit like this as a society ok?) 

In season 1 episode 5, "Drunker Devil", Kaoru seriously rapes her husband. Is that supposed to be funny? 

In season 1 episode 6, "Never Cross a Bridge Till You Come To It", they show Kaoru’s dad talking to Hajime before he has EVER been introduced. I was seriously confused who this random chef that Hajime went to visit was or why he just outright hated him for some reason. 

In season 1 episode 8, "I'll Become a Pro Golfer", there are lovely insinuations that Hajime will go after an actual child because he’s an otaku. They have never shown his proclivities to be for loli. The weirdest manga in his stash is about little middle school sisters. This is such a creepy thought especially if they are going to have a child some day. That part however never occurs to Kaoru I guess? 

Why did Kaoru dye her hair blond? In all the flashbacks she has navy blue hair, even on their wedding day and honeymoon. I guess it just doesn’t matter?

THE WORD MATERNITY LEAVE IN JAPANESE AND THE WORD THANK YOU IN ENGLISH ARE ALMOST IDENTICAL? (this isn’t really a criticism, that is just wild to me) 

The end of season 1 was getting so touching and she found out she was pregnant and I was finally getting into it, but then season 2 starts and they shafted that and somehow went a bit backwards in their relationship?????? They are back to zany antics and not getting along. This is such a huge issue for me. If you got renewed for a second season you were doing something right. That does not mean you have to literally follow the exact same formula when making another season. It seems like they are afraid in the beginning of the seasons to go deep into anything real, its very jarring that the beginning of the seasons are so one-off joke heavy and they have a balance of comedy and hard hitting feelings in the second half. PLUS, and this REALLY ticks me off, the baby thing was a huge reveal for the end of season 1 and then it literally is not spoken of again until season 2 episode fucking 11, "The Weight of Value, and the Value of Weight", WHY THE FUCK- 

Btw season 2 episode 5, "Take Me to the Ryokan", Rino says her boyfriend/husband(?) won’t let her buy birth control and then Tanaka offers her some. 1. fuck you 2. I think this is a translation error because Tanaka holds up what looks like condoms. Then Tanaka, AN OB-GYN fucking asks Kaoru if she is still using birth control even while she is pregnant so 3. if that was not a translation error that is a huge fucked up thing to say as an OB because being on birth control while pregnant is very dangerous but 4. if it was just about condoms that makes more sense. Either way the segment rubs me the wrong way in different ways if that makes sense. 

Positives: 

This season 1 episode 1, "How I Got Into Hobbies I Don't Understand",  drag slays me, I don’t even think they meant it as a drag but it was subsequent scenes and made me laugh out loud. 

Season 1 episode 10, "The Child Who Is So Close Yet So Far Away", depicts the most real-ass mother thirsting for her child to have grand-kids that I have ever seen. Drool included! 

Season 1 episode 11, "One Person Had Survived On Her Own", is hands down my favorite episode of the show and one of my favorite episodes of any anime. It is such a real depiction of having to deal with the toil of the service industry. I love the gritty art style change they used to depict that the episode was a flashback. It doubles as a signifier that this is not a part of the main story line but also of the visceral emotions Kaoru was going through at the time. It is really a piece of art. I mean look at this: 

This sequence. This is truly how I feel. 

I like how that him being an otaku and the naming for the series isn't really a driving force, in fact the little brothers is really more of an otaku than him and drives more plot then the husband does. It is more about relationships and I kind of appreciate that.

Verdict: 

#me #review #it kinda sucked #I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying #I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying: 2nd Thread #anime #anime review

[operationrainfall]

Title Indivisible Developer Lab Zero Games Publisher 505 Games Release Date October 8th, 2019 (other consoles), April 28th, 2020 (Switch) Genre ARPG Platform PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One Age Rating T for Teen – Blood, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes Official Website

I’ve been not so patiently waiting to review the Switch version of Indivisible for more than a year. I’ve been a fan of the game since I demoed it twice at PAX West, and was drawn in by the stunningly lush artwork, haunting music and dynamic gameplay. Though I already knew about developer Lab Zero Games, I hadn’t yet played their other game. And that’s despite me owning Skullgirls. Nevertheless, I was bound and determined to cover Indivisible for the oprainfall site, and now that time has finally come. After putting in significantly more hours to beat the game than I was told it would require, how did I feel? Was Indivisible on Switch worth the wait? Or did Ajna’s heroic journey disappoint?

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Indivisible begins with a climactic battle against some god-like entity. You join the action and control a mighty group of four heroes as they battle the creature, suffer damage, and seemingly manage to defeat it. Two of them are romantically drawn to each other, a man and woman, and after limping away victorious, the story cuts forward to 16 years later. The city of Ashawat is a small yet scenic one, unspoiled by modernity and populated by hardy citizens. One young girl is getting ready to train with her father, and that girl is our hero. Her name is Ajna, and simple deduction tells us she might be the child of those two heroes. After all, she’s a teenager and her father is a grizzled older man that is obviously that same male hero. Here we learn the basics of defense, which Ajna’s father insists is integral. Ajna doesn’t take well to direction, and they get into an argument. She questions his authority and past, and her father stomps back to the village. After fuming for a bit, Ajna realizes she should apologize, and follows after him.

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What should be a calm scene suddenly erupts in fire and bloodshed. Ashawat is burning, and her father has been fatally wounded by a stern young soldier named Dhar. As he draws his last breath, Ajna erupts into violence, and battles the young soldier. They reach a standstill, until something unexpected happens. Somehow Dhar is drawn into Ajna’s mind, where he is trapped. Uncertain what is happening, Ajna is nevertheless eager to find the man behind this murderous calamity. See, Dhar is a soldier in Ravannavar’s army, and they are marching about laying claim to land and killing any who don’t subscribe to their beliefs. Confused and not sure about what’s happening, our hero nevertheless is bound and determined to find Ravannavar, slay him and avenge her father. If only things were as black and white as she suspects. Cause unbeknownst to Ajna, there’s a lot more at stake than she could possibly imagine.

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The journey that follows is one that contends with the mystery of Ajna’s powers, as every main character she encounters is likewise drawn into her mind. She finds she can summon them at will to fight with her, and grows stronger the larger her crew becomes. Though I promise there’s some explanation for such an uncanny power, I won’t spoil anything about the main arc of the plot. I can say that the primary themes it addresses are the following – power without purpose, chaos, nature vs nurture and what defines a hero. The first half of the story involves Ajna cutting a violent swathe through all that opposes her, becoming more and more powerful. By contrast, the second half is all about learning from your mistakes and helping right the wrongs that plague this world. I will say, the first part of the story is probably my favorite. I found Ravannavar a sinister and compelling villain, and his scheme to awaken a god and get resurrected following the destruction and rebirth of the world really interesting. I fully expected him to go full Wesker, plaguing Ajna and company with ever more powerful forms as the game progressed. Imagine my disappointment when I realized he was a one and done foe, and the big bad was far less compelling. That’s not to say the final boss isn’t interesting, it is, but I feel there was a missed storytelling opportunity here. Thankfully, what Indivisible missed with the story it more than made up with its cast of characters.

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As the title might suggest, Indivisible is all about the group of misfits Ajna literally draws to her throughout the course of the game. It’s a very eclectic crew, from a pyromaniac tiger mage to a cute little botanist to a woman-loving pirate to a devout archer and many, many more. There’s more characters than you’ll know what to do with, since you can only have a team of 4 at a time, with the others sitting patiently in reserve within Ajna’s inner realm. I really liked many of the characters, as they are bursting with personality and quirks. Though my favorite is probably Razmi, the smack talking, deranged tiger mage, but there’s others too. Take Thorani, a beautiful and sultry Deva who sprays healing waters from her hair. Or Qadira, a steadfast warrior searching for her kidnapped brother. My main complaint with regard to the characters is so few of them get any real development. Surprisingly, the one that gets the truest arc is Dhar, the same soldier that murdered Ajna’s father. While the others all have interesting personalities, none of them have anywhere close to as significant of a story. Which is a shame, since there’s more than a dozen playable characters, including some you have to hunt for in optional side quests. Luckily, the one area that every character can shine is during battle.

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Combat is both incredibly complex and well streamlined in Indivisible. There are no items whatsoever in the game, other than weapons, so all your healing is done via character abilities. Gameplay kind of reminds me of a mixture of Guardian Heroes and Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier. Meaning the art is beautiful and you have a lot of control over how you juggle and interact with foes, though your team does have specialties. Dhar can charge up and then unleash earthen attacks, while Ginseng & Honey can mash foes and then heal allies with a mortar and pestle. Attacks are mapped to whatever button the character is set to, either A, B, X or Y. You can deal basic attacks with a single press, or use up or down for different attacks. By holding R and then pressing your character’s button when your Iddhi meter is charged enough, you’ll unleash powerful super attacks, such as Dhar wielding a giant column of stone or Razmi healing the entire team. You also use character buttons to block enemy attacks, which can replenish your super meter with Iddhi if you time it right. And if a foe is blocking, a successive input of an up and then down attack will break their shield. Most important of all, if you have downed teammates, pressing L and R simultaneously with a full Iddhi meter resurrects them all, even Ajna. Or if you’re in dire straits, pressing L has your entire team block at once, but at the cost of Iddhi. It’s all pretty intuitive, and despite the complexity becomes mostly second nature. Though you can use any team you want, I quickly learned to go with the crowd control type characters. The reason for this is that by weaving together successive attacks, your combo meter gets higher. The higher it gets, the more damage you’ll inflict to foes. As such, I settled on a team of Ajna, Ginseng, Tungar (AKA Sikh E. Honda) and Zebei, since they could deal tons of rapid fire attacks, as well as knocking down aerial foes with arrows. Once I got a foe grounded, I could juggle them mercilessly for 200 hit combos, dealing tons and tons of damage.

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Though the combat is fantastic in principle, there were some issues with it. One is that the game never really told me I could do different levels of super attacks with more bars of Iddhi. I was using my Level 1 supers the entire game, which probably made progress more challenging than it needed to be, especially when I was in the Iron Kingdom, full of shielded knights and poisonous slime monsters. It can also be hard to see the button prompts on screen when they’re covered by foes. And on the topic of my unused reserve characters, I really wish that I could tag in characters who weren’t in my active party (similar to games like Marvel vs. Capcom). That would make it so I wasn’t only using the characters I was most comfortable with. Or even some sort of ability grid for each character to help individualize them further. Cause as I got into the groove of fighting battle after battle, I just wanted a bit more nuance to liven things up. The most you get is using red gems called Ringsels to upgrade your team’s attack or defense, but that was a bit underwhelming. Which isn’t to say the combat isn’t fun, it’s quite enjoyable. It’s just not perfect.

Divide your attention to page 2! ->

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Part of what drew me to Indivisible was that I initially thought it was a Metroidvania. It very nearly was, but instead of finding items in specific areas to gain new exploration abilities, you get handed them from characters at set points in the story progression instead. Hell, you even have a mini map, but not one you can view properly. You can only see where you are currently, instead of being able to view the entire map at once. Though I did like exploring the game’s lush environments, there were too many wide open areas and dead ends for my liking. You get a lot of different ways to explore, such as bouncing off dangerous surfaces, clinging to walls with an axe, smashing through floors, air dashing and much more. At one point you get a pirate ship to sail in, and even then you have to go to the right areas at the right time. Otherwise you’ll do a lot of backtracking, which happened to me repeatedly. And while I spent a lot of time methodically dashing about trying to unearth every last corner of the world, the game really forces you to explore when it tells you to. Which was kind of frustrating, especially since it was so close to being a proper Metroidvania. Though if you like a good challenge, the final platforming gauntlet in the game was so difficult it made my hands sweat.

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This next section can be called the “I wish” part of the review. These are areas that if they were just tweaked a bit more, would have made the game so much better. Late in the game you gain access to artifacts called Chakra Gates, with one in each major area. You can warp between them at will, which is amazing in theory. In execution, you’ll find the Gates take a while to reach on foot, and sometimes even warp you to an impassable section that needs to be reached from a different vantage. What’s infuriating is there are TONS of save points littered throughout the map. If you could warp from one of these to another, the Chakra Gates would be a cinch to reach. And while I loved using Baozhai’s pirate ship to travel, in the second half of the game it’s absent except to take you back to the Iron Kingdom. Which I only discovered using an online guide after I got stuck. I also wish that the combat had more distinct audio cues to tell you when to block attacks, especially ones that require perfect timing. And this next comment is one I always have for beautiful games like this. Given how much stunning art is in Indivisible, why is there no art gallery or bestiary? I would have given my left foot for pictures and details on the many creatures and characters in the game, even the color swapped foes. Lastly, though I enjoyed all the challenging boss fights in the game, I’m surprised there weren’t more of them. Not including mini bosses or optional ones, there’s less bosses than recruitable characters, which is odd in a game as devoted to combat as this.

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On the topic of aesthetic design, Lab Zero has done a tremendous job here. Which isn’t a surprise given their pedigree, but still worth a pat on the back. Indivisible has stunning artwork and sound design, with awesome voice acting for every main character. Sure the volume can be somewhat low at times playing handheld, but I still really loved listening to the characters converse. And the art kept me invested from the beginning til the end of my 75 hour playthrough. Perhaps the most impressive visual feat of Indivisible is how well it runs on Nintendo Switch. It runs silky smooth with tons happening on screen, which can’t even be said for less visually complex games like Bloodstained. It’s truly remarkable, and I’m beyond curious how Lab Zero and 505 Games managed such a feat. If I were scoring Indivisible solely on how it looked and sounded, it would have easily nabbed a perfect score.

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Sadly, I can’t just score a game on the things it does best. The following are an assortment of glitches or unfortunate quirks I encountered as I played. I had one audio glitch happen when talking to a robot man called Eurynomos, with his speech doubling up and racing past itself. Also, since combat can occur anywhere on the map, I had some strange stuff happen. I was in a few battles, only to fall off a platform mid battle, causing it to abruptly end. I also would often die in battle, and instead of respawning at my latest save spot, would do so at the one before it. And this last complaint is also a PSA to fellow Switch owners. I’m not sure if this is an issue in the other versions of the game, but it certainly came up for me. The very final battle strips you of all your attack abilities and forces you to play defense as the final boss hurls tons of hurt your way. The problem is, all the typical buttons I used for blocking during the game suddenly didn’t work. I looked online, and saw that I could indeed block, but for some reason the standard block buttons have inexplicably been remapped to the last resort L block. Suffice to say this was beyond irritating, least of all since the game didn’t warn me. Oh and lastly, this isn’t really a complaint, but I’m unclear why Ajna’s pet Roti is in the game. It serves no gameplay or plot purpose, and just kinda weirded me out.

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Ultimately, it was still worth the wait to get my hands on Indivisible. Sure it has some rough corners that could use some smoothing, as well as some irritating glitches, but none of that prevented me from having a blast. For $29.99, this is a tremendous ARPG that any fan of the genre should pick up. I just hope it’s not the last we see of this universe. Lab Zero have the bones of a great adventure here, and it’d be a shame for it to end with just one game. It’s not perfect, but it’s still highly recommended.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: Indivisible on Nintendo Switch Title Indivisible

#505 games #ARPG #Indivisible #Lab Zero Games #nintendo switch #oprainfall #PC #PS4 #Xbox One

[recentanimenews]

Crunchyroll Favorites 2018 Part Three: EVERYTHING ELSE!

 This is it--the final installment of CRUNCHYROLL FAVORITES 2018! In our first feature, we talked about our favorite anime and manga of the past year, and yesterday we shared our favorite video games. Today, we wrap up with one of my favorite parts of CR Favorites: "EVERYTHING ELSE!"

  Instead of posting individual articles for everybody's favorite movies, books, music, TV shows, sports moments, life moments, and so on and so forth, we just pile them all here into the "Everything Else" installment and share what's important to us that isn't related to anime, manga, or video games.

  Just like before, the rules are simple: only stuff that came out in 2018, or continuing works that had a major milestone last year. You're gonna get to see a lot of different lists from different people--let's get started!

  Nate Ming

The Night Comes for Us- Timo Tjahjanto brings most of the gang from The Raid and its sequel back for this absolute onslaught of perfectly-choreographed action that refuses to let up--or look away. This one's for the hardest of hardcore action fans, and absolutely not for the squeamish.

Mandy- Nicolas Cage teams up with the stylish and totally gonzo Panos Cosmatos for a trippy, violent ride that starts as a horror story and ends up as a wild action/revenge flick. A friend of mine pointed out that Mandy is the closest we'll probably ever get to a live-action Berserk, and y'know what? He's right.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse- It's rare when, while watching a movie, I don't want it to end. It's almost as rare when it wraps up and I immediately want to watch it again. Into the Spider-Verse has it all: pure emotion, an outstanding soundtrack, action that's like greased lightning, and characters I want to spend even more time with. More like this, please.

Fighting in the Age of Loneliness- Jon Bois--already known for his insightful, fun breakdowns of sports minutiae--teams up with Felix Biederman for a deep dive into the stories that make the history of mixed martial arts. Even people who aren't MMA-heads will dig this--check it out and learn why people fighting in a cage for money is so compelling.

Amanda Nunes vs Cris Cyborg- And speaking of that, in just 51 seconds Amanda "Lioness" Nunes took down the undefeated Cris Cyborg, trading shots until Cyborg caught a huge overhand right and dropped. What a showdown--women's MMA has always been great, but now is the time of legends.

Honorable Mentions: Braven, Creed II, Hereditary

Nicole Mejias

A more stable life- 2017 and 2018 have been very trying years of my life, and I’m glad I made it through in one piece. Depression is something I’m still battling with, but it’s something I’m thankfully more in control of these days. I’m very grateful for my close friends who helped me when I felt I was lost; without them I wouldn’t be here. Thank you! Let’s conquer our goals in 2019!

CEO x NJPW show- I talked about this show briefly in my CEO 2018 report, but my goodness, it was quite the mind blowing show! I never expected NJPW to make it out to Florida of all places, and I certainly didn’t expect the world of fighting games and wrestling to come together in beautiful harmony! It’s a show I’ll remember for a very long time.

Crunchyroll Expo 2018 experience- It was my first time going to this event, and I was very impressed by pretty much everything the convention had to offer! Add in the bonus of meeting up with colleagues face-to-face for the first time and network with amazing folks, and it was an event that I was very happy to be a part of. I’ll be back again this year!

Working for Crunchyroll- The biggest highlight of 2018 was when I got the chance to work here, which was something I didn’t think would happen. Started as a video script writer, then moved on to becoming a features writer and editor! This job has helped me out in so many countless ways, and I’m really blessed to be here and that I’m working with such an awesome group of people!

Daniel Dockery

Beginning My Crunchyroll Writer Journey- Writing about anime for a lot of websites usually requires some handholding (“Hey kids. Have you heard of anime? Before I begin my actual article, here’s a half page about what anime actually is.”) Luckily, Crunchyroll came along and has let me geek out about One Piece for six months. God bless them.

Creed II- After his awesome performances in Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Day of Reckoning, it was only a matter of time before Dolph Lundgren became the heart of a major blockbuster.

Deadwood Movie Hype- It’s finally happening. The Deadwood movie that’s been talked about since 2006 is going to be in front of me in 2019. I don’t want to say that the power of my dreams made this happen, but I will. You can thank me all now.

Shrimp Tacos- Have y’all had these? They’re great!

Peter Fobian

Shonen Jump- I promise I’m not getting paid to tell you that Shonen Jump made history in 2018. They made the most popular comics magazine in the world FREE. They’re selling access to one of the largest collections of comics in the world at a pittance. This is the best deal in the history of comics, hands down. I’m only one month in and have already burned through over 20 volumes of manga. I’m actually going to catch up to One Piece. This is unreal.

Annihilation- I almost missed this movie since they did very little way in the promotion, and man am I glad I saw it in theaters. An awesome sci-fi horror film with a great premise, great cast, some fantastic effects, and a legendary ending. Even if you were underwhelmed by the majority of the film, those last 15 minutes aren’t going to leave your head anytime soon.

Wanikani- Various life circumstances have made it hard for me to continue in-class Japanese studies so I started up Wanikani in January at the recommendation of a friend. It’s the easiest to keep up with language studying app I’ve managed to main pretty consistent all year, finishing off 2018 with a 2000 written word vocabulary is pretty good, I think. I really want to hit max level...

Ricky Soberano

All of the wine I’ve drank- Cheers to speaking about the difference between organic, kosher, vegan, and orange wines. Biggest cheers to figuring out my preferred wine region (Piedmont) and enjoying every Barbera and Barolo I had the privilege of consuming.

The streetwear collabs that mattered- Thank you, universe, for finally getting it. The same people that love manga and anime can also love fashion and finally have a means to show it off to the world. This is why the Primitive x DBZ drop popped off. This is what made the Uniqlo x Shonen Jump collection so important. I can’t wait to see even more in 2019.

Crazy Rich Asians breaking the world- Everything was riding on this film to do well. The future of Hollywood’s treatment towards Asian casts, writing, and films hung in the balance and it slayed the box office. The phenomenon surrounding it was as electric as the film itself.

Japanese Breakfast’s article on H-Mart- My uncle had passed away a few weeks before one of my favorite singers published her first article for The New Yorker. It’s a beautiful testament to coming to terms with identity as an Asian-American, mourning, and food.  

Everything that Childish Gambino has blessed us with this year- This special supernova doesn’t need to go so hard on every project that he works on but he does anyways simply because he can and if you can’t appreciate that then you can enter that black hole over there.

Emily Bushman

Victoria Schwab- One of my favorite authors because she writes fantastic stories, and her new YA book, City of Ghosts, is no exception. It’s like a cross between Stranger Things and the best parts of Scotland, with just a DAB of Harry Potter, and I love everything about it. Her other new novel, Vengeful (sequel to Vicious), also soared high for me with three superior villains who plotted death and destruction, all the way to a satisfying conclusion.

Supernatural- I’m late to the game... but why does it feel good to do something as bad as binge-watching 13 straight seasons over a three month period? To be fair, my friend and I are only on season 9, but we’re getting there. Slowly. Steadily. The checkout lady at our local grocery store approves. And if I’ve learned anything from this, it’s that everyone should have a moose in their life. Get your moose, people. Get your moose.

Haunting of Hill House- The original book by Shirley Jackson (of “The Lottery”) was a favorite of mine, but the Netflix adaptation took it to a whole new level. Love the book, love the show, and love the questions about what it means to be a family, what can happen when a family turns against itself, what it means to be a ghost, either alive or dead, and, most importantly, how the trappings of a perfect life can turn into the ties that bind us down.

Sticky Toffee Pudding- This is a British thing, but I live and die for it and was recently reminded of how much I love it when my best friend begged me to make it for her, gluten free. It’s the perfect gooey sweet sheet cake, with to-die-for caramel toffee sauce. Please try this. This is my favorite recipe, from my favorite queen of internet food blogging, Deb Perelman. You can make it with Cup for Cup, a gluten free flour substitute, and it tastes essentially the same. >> http://bit.ly/2fE1OvW

Strange the Dreamer- Written by Laini Taylor, it’s a YA novel about a boy named Strange, the Dreamer. It’s a weird mix of pseudo-Egyptian Gods, alchemic research, and impossible puzzles that is both fascinating and, well, dream-like. It is unusual, the outlier in a field of run-of-the-mill stories, but it entranced me, and I eagerly await the sequel.

Nick Creamer

The Haunting of Hill House- Ostensibly based on the classic Shirley Jackson novel, Netflix’s Haunting of Hill House abandons the book’s narrative entirely, and instead tells a story about family, forgiveness, and the meaning of home, all filtered through the profoundly haunted titular house. Though the film’s dialogue can get a little clumsy, its evocative cinematography, psychologically scrambled cast, and sharp understanding of horror make it satisfying both for its thrills and its sympathetic emotional core. In a year I’ve spent binging whatever horror anthologies I can find, Hill House has risen to the top.

Offerings- As the follow-up to the staggering concept album White Lighter, Typhoon’s Offerings had some serious shoes to fill. The resulting album absolutely blew me away, with its comparatively stripped-down sound offering a harrowing journey through the steady disintegration of a fraying mind. Lines like “the part of you that I love is still in there, even if it doesn’t know my name” cut to the heart of watching a loved one fade away, and offered understanding in a very tough year. Offerings is a difficult listen, but it’s worth it.

Cooking- After a former housemate gifted me and my roommates a slow cooker last winter, we embarked on a lengthy journey to actually learn how to feed ourselves. After a long and arduous year of training, I am proud to say I can probably avoid incinerating a chicken at this point, and perhaps even prepare a soup. Getting there!

Kara Dennison

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch- I will never stop talking about this, and you can’t stop me. It’s my happy union of Charlie Brooker’s hardcore video game geekdom, my love of choice-based gaming, and my inexplicable desire to disturb myself at every given opportunity. It’s been at least a year since I lifted my hands off a keyboard and walked away because I was so affected. That’s how hard it got me.

Gabutto Burger- A recent trip to visit a friend in Illinois ended up with us at this anime fan-friendly burger place, run by a Japanese family and branded to the gills with mascot characters. It’s as close as I’m going to get (for now) to going to a collab café, plus the food was amazing.

The Night Before Critmas- I wish I had time for the full Critical Role experience, but their one-shots are just right for my schedule. This Christmas-skinned D&D campaign told the flipside of The Nightmare Before Christmas, with dangerously-skilled elves setting out to retrieve Santa from a legally-distinct talking bag of bugs. Their Crash Pandas campaign was no slouch, either.

Crunchyroll Social Media- This year I got to stick a toe in our social media department, running accounts for shows like Magical Girl Ore and How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord. I’ve loved getting to see what the fans enjoy and find more for them between episodes!

  ----

And that's a wrap for Crunchyroll Favorites 2018! Thanks for joining us for this three-parter, and we'll see you next year! If you're in the mood for more CR Favorites, here are the links to past years' features:

Crunchyroll Favorites 2017 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2016 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2015 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2014 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2013 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2012 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll News' Best of 2011 Part One | Part Two

What were your favorite "everything else" parts of 2018? Remember, this is a FAVORITES list, not a BEST-OF list, so there are no wrong answers--sound off in the comments and share your favorites!

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Nate Ming is the Features Editor for Crunchyroll News and creator of the long-running Fanart Friday column. You can follow him on Twitter at @NateMing. His comic, Shaw City Strikers, launches January 15, 2019.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[nothingneverforever]

Passengers (2016)

For every typecast lead, say Hugh Grant as the squinty spluttering English romantic or Cameron Diaz as the slightly detached but nonetheless sweet and alluring babe, there is also many a flick starring Jennifer Lawrence, as her annoyingass self, playing an annoyingass character. In so many moments of this film did her annoyingass off-screen nature shine through, only to reveal the many chinks in the screenplay’s armour in not crafting whole or believable enough a character.

I tried to search through Jade and my conversation to find what we had discussed when we first caught it early this January (hey Jadey, doesn’t it feel like years ago? Time flies </3), but I only found this selfie taken at her house before we left for the cinema on the day, and it’s cute, hehe, I remember being unhappy at how gray my skin looked but I’m glad I kept it anyway, and wtf my eyebrow piercing was so good >(

ANYWAY back to the point

Jennifer Lawrence

Is fucking annoying and stupid and possesses insultingly meagre acting skills

^ this scene reeked especially strongly of her usual flavour that we have seen in every single movie she has somehow still managed to land. Flavour as in crappy acting 101 – her furrowed brows contrived, her dead eyes widened in mock confusion, every quirk just adding up to an underwhelming, feigned, blah nothing

That being said, and also assuming everyone is on the same foot with understanding how unacceptably unjustifiable Jim Preston’s behaviour was, this film rocks. This is entirely me being an immoral hypocrite though – as Bill Graham writes succinctly for The Film Stage,

Jim Preston is a creep. There’s no getting around the fact that his actions are detrimental to one’s perception of the character and the film as a whole. The ultimate success — or failure — of Passengers will hinge on how offended one is by the premise, and whether the story ultimately makes up for it. What is on screen is absolutely gorgeous, albeit hollow because the production design is so far ahead of the two leads — Chris Pratt as Jim Preston and Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora Lane — and their chemistry.

And so my appreciation of the film and ability to be successfully moved by it is indeed absolutely hinged on my being able to excuse the inexcusable and swallow the unswalloable. Graham is right on every mark, especially that the production value was worth a hundred times what the lameass leads were able to carry off. I hate to say it but Pratt and Lawrence are both so clearly lacking in calibre as individuals that together they only amplify the on-screen empty vessel’s deafening silence; what should have been ruminative and desolate was heavy-handed and weightless.

So: does the story make up for it?

My main gripe is with the screenplay. In a setting so cold and foreign, what audiences should have to hold on to is a very familiar humanness, some form of everyday relatability, and this is sorely lacking. Jim and Aurora say dumbass things that further distance our reality from theirs, setting the entire film back.

^ “well I’m not ready to give up” , says Aurora, after having been awake for a whole entire day, to Jim who has been awake and trying for a mere year. Lame.

^ fuck, this was worse than I remembered. Already the first time Jade and I almost got obliterated by how offensively crappy a line it was, but today as I rewatched it it brought me to unchartered lands of grossness.  How is it someone can intend to give a seemingly generous compliment while making it entirely about themselves? You kill me? Fuck, how is that an important sentiment to express at all? “Hey, look at what your beauty does to me! Because it’s all about me, and I appreciate you[r face] because I am so slayed by it!”

The idea of the colony the film presents is somehow never as romantic as it aspires to be, whether because it is too explicitly a selfish venture or because like Aurora points out, the commercial nature of it is too obvious, but still it reminds me of my favourite Crosby Stills Nash & Young song, Our House. I think at one point Jim says, while telling Aurora why he decided to leave earth, “I could build a house. Live in it.” Sad, nice, cute, etc. Our House too possesses an insidious never-to-be-achieved yearning under its beautifully content floral bouquet. And while I hate to make Jim and Aurora the poster couple for all that Our House offers, their story does fit the bill –

Come to me now and rest your head for just five minutes, everything is good Such a cozy room, the windows are illuminated by the Sunshine through them, fiery gems for you, only for you Our house is a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy 'cause of you

Sob this song is so niceeeeeeee :’ ( And again later when his tether has broken and he’s on the brink of floating-in-space-forever-with-no-oxygen death, he says “I wish we’d met in 90 years, I would’ve built you a house”,  my mind immediately follows up with with two cats in the yard…

I guess one thing I really liked was Aurora’s reaction to the grand reveal of Jim’s selfish action, that at least felt realistic and I guess important to have before the romantic storyline normalised it and had us believing that maybe it was okay after all. This is the problem with any kind of romantic/sexual conquest, you see. It’s all inherently self-seeking and built on ideas we have of people that means there will be inevitable disappointment on either end before long. Also was it wrong that I enjoyed watching Aurora powerfully bash Jim up in his sleep? What is justifiable and what is not? Am I in any place to judge? Somewhere along the way I grew to enjoy one-on-one violence and I don’t know if this is alright? Anyway, Aurora doing her daily workout round the vessel and shouting at Jim to shut the fuck up was a nice scene too. Like… seriously…. Shut the fuck up.

^ I remember Jade and I warmed a lot to her from this moment onward, and it felt almost cathartically necessary. You know what I mean? Like suddenly everything had meaning – not just in terms of point-plot structure of the film as a production but every action of Jim’s, of Aurora’s, and served as explanation to why their romance of before felt so hollow. And so the catharsis was not just to cleanse the audience’s guilt at just almost buying into their love before this point, but for both characters to reflect on everything they had been before too – Aurora as a writer full of ego and promise and dreams, and Jim as the lost romantic he seems to remain.

And then, in predictable fashion, the film erases what progress was made here just a few scenes later. Aurora, in conversation with the android bartender aka Michael-Sheen-is-damn-cute, says this in response to his “Time heals all wounds”:

Ummmmmmm…… surely finding out that your romantic companion, who you thought gave meaning to your life that never before existed, had built your trust in him and the entire relationship by completely obscuring all truth would result in slightly more than a broken heart?  

But, okay, let me be generous and say that there was one moment of slightly effective screenplay and direction, where script and visuals came together to form possibly one of my favourite scenes. Aurora’s best friend (voiceover) speaks through a video:

I promise that I will think of you every day. When you wake up, I'll be gone, but just know that I will never forget you. You're my best friend. You were never happy here. I know. Nothing was ever enough for you. You know, you don't have to go. You could do whatever it is you have to do right here. But... Since you're going, here's my wish. I hope you finally find someone who fills your heart, and I hope you let him in. I hope you realize you don't have to do something amazing to be happy. You know, have fun, take chances. Okay. I love you, Aurora.

I knowwww, it’s cheap and unsubtle and has absolutely nothing original or revolutionary or nuanced, but I’m lame and I love it :-)

^ Also I cried in both viewings of the film when Jim first went in his spacesuit into the open and when he cried, that was a nice scene, and reminded me of the first few lines of Daft Punk’s Contact with the Apollo 17 audio. Very huge, everything in this world, people, skies, me. Somewhat related, the film’s scoring was really nice and effective I thought!

Oh also lmao Laurence Fishburne’s character experiencing  a hibernation pod failure just as the ship was showing visible signs of greater failure is the most cop-out dues ex machina ever, lame

^ this is fucking inappropriate – he’s been awake for what, 2 screen-minutes and it’s supposed to be natural for us to accept that he has already noticed Aurora’s  beauty or whatever it is that would make Jim’s position enviable? FuCK

Final thoughts cos I’m too lazy to continue properly: Sigh somehow seeing this again just brought back that loneliness that has otherwise been dormant for a while. Not just because of the 二人世界-type companionship that assaults our every senses with every scene, but I think because I’m remembering watching it with Jade, and realising how more often than not it pays to experience something with someone. I remember sitting with her and crying and commenting on the scariness of the scary scenes and the beauty of the beautiful scenes and the cosmic loneliness of the cosmically lonely scenes, and I now see how all of a sudden it has become so important for me to do things not-alone. I don’t want to say with people, because I don’t like that either, I think I am just in constant craving for a one companion to have and be with. When Aurora reflected in her travel log (presented via voiceover) that “for once in [her] life [she] didn’t feel alone”, I remembered that Saturday night a few weeks ago when I drove to Lower Pierce Reservoir alone near midnight and felt nothing but an overwhelmingly unenjoyable seclusion and how in that moment everyone who has been a big and small part of my recent reality came to my mind and how I wished any one of them were there with me. I sent a picture of the gazebo to Harshvir and told him that I was going to combust from general dissatisfaction and loneliness and then a week later as I waited in the nice cool morning air for a friend who didn’t turn up after 105 minutes I realised what is now fact:

I don’t know why I’m bringing this up, I think I’m thinking of Harhsvir because I remember speaking to him about Passengers over my usual channa masala and him being outraged that I was actually moved by it… Miss him! But yes the point is that I can’t do shit alone anymore. I don’t think this means that I would go to Jim’s extent and take things into my own hands by choosing to alter the fate of another, but…………would I? :-( Do we all have a bit of Jim in us?

So in conclusion this film is great and is bad and made me feel many feels and helped concretize some newfound learnings of my new self and I am happy to have the people that I do in my life right now because everyone adds so much on their own independently and occasionally together and my loneliness is easily quelled and I am glad that I have the gall to take steps even if it is difficult or rejection-ridden initially

And of course, everything about the technical failures of the vessel and the sheer unstoppable enormity of the universe and its natural powers is unspeakably scary. I don’t know the space genre in film well, but dare I say this was the most effective in presenting that idea of human arrogance in conquering what is beyond, and the dangers of this?

Good night world  :-)

^ me while watching Passengers with Jadey back in January, me while watching any movie with anyone ever, feeling content and comfortable and stable and warm and appreciative and blessed and in awe, except only a symbolic/metaphorical hug instead of a literal one because physical contact is not fun :~)

Umm also I think in the process of writing this rambly rubbish I have come to feel less averse to Jennifer Lawrence… So apologies for my extremely fiery hate at the beginning of this crappy review. But u gotta admit sometimes she’s really super gross………………..but not that gross. I guess :-)

Thanks for reading, love you all, bye!

[while-my-tardis-gently-weeps]

Thoughts and Predictions - Eurovision 2nd Semi-Final

And now that all the acts have finished their first rehearsal, it’s time to take a look at the second semi-final. I have to say, this is definitely the harder one to qualify out of, because there are a lot less sure bets and a lot more borderline entries. 

Serbia - “In Too Deep” - Tijana Bogićević - I went in expecting a mediocre song, and my opinion has not changed, really. She was good, but with her coming so early in the running order and more memorable entries coming up, I think this will ultimately be forgotten by the time it comes to voting.

Austria - “Running on Air” - Nathan Trent - This has become my biggest soft spot this year, especially since my top two favorites are in the Big Five. The song itself is not that special, let’s be honest, but Nathan just sells it so well with his charm and charisma, and he brings it 100% to this rehearsal. Words coming out of the press room says there are still kinks to work on with camera angle and the smoke effects, but it’s looking like it will be an absolutely lovely performance. The place of this song in the running order still means that it may be forgotten come voting time, but I think (and hope dearly) that his charm and the iconic image of the stage will carry him through (fingers firmly crossed).

Macedonia - “Dance Alone” - Jana Burčeska - I suppose the staging is nice, modern, but I don’t think anything will really convince me to really get behind this song. The idea of New York skyline behind her also makes me cringe, because even though it might be an effect of me being a resident of New York, but to me it just makes it feel cheap and starts me wondering if the stage designer was slacking off and out of ideas. It will definitely still appeal to quite a few people, but nowhere near the extent of, say, Sweden, where it convinces me that it has a solid chance of qualification despite my personal opinion of the song.

Malta - “Breathlessly” - Claudia Faniello - This one was a nice surprise. I had all but written it off completely before watching the rehearsal clip, but what I’ve seen of the staging and her performance absolutely makes it come alive and gives Malta a fighting chance. 

Romania - “Yodel It” - Ilinca and Alex Florea - This song was just a delight from start to finish, with so much energy, joy, and all-around positivity. The singer and the producing team are well aware of what the song is and are completely committed to the gimmicks and the campiness and are just there to have a good time, and it absolutely works. This will be a sure hit with the televoters, so as long as the jury doesn’t treat it too harshly it is sure to qualify. 

Netherlands - “Light and Shadows” - O’G3NES - Those harmonies man. They were good on recording, and worlds better live (as an aside, the version that blew me away was actually the short scene where they were doing a run through a cappella in the daily backstage summary video on the official youtube channel of Eurovision). The staging also compliments rather than distracts, and that’s all Netherland’s staging needs to do because these girls can *slay* with their harmonies. The jury will eat this one right up and I think quite a lot of televoters will like it too, so the question should be how far it can go in the finals rather than whether it will qualify.

Hungary - “Origo” - Joci Pápai - The rehearsal clip was underwhelming for me, and comments out of the press room also indicated that he seemed nervous and a bit stiff. I really appreciated the milk jug instrument though, I thought that was a nice cultural touch. I do think it has potentials though, and as long as they fix the kinks and Joci hits his stride in terms of confidence and connecting with the audience, I think Hungary should be safe. 

Denmark - “Where I Am” - Anja - Nothing I didn’t already expect here, really, except maybe her costume, which I sure hope isn’t what she’s actually going to wear to the semis next week. It’s a bit too “song contest winner template” for my own taste, but with a voice like Anja’s I think the odds are more for than against her making it to the finals. 

Ireland - “Dying to Try” - Brendan Murray - This was a lot better than I expected. I found his voice grating in the recording and some live performance videos I’ve seen, but in the rehearsal clip he was surprisingly tolerable. I’m not sure if I like the hot air ballon concept, but I suppose it beats having him stand there all alone with nothing but wind machines blowing. Still a bit too 90s boyband for my taste, but he’s got a good chance as long as he hits those high notes perfectly. 

S. Marino - “Spirit Of The Night” - Valentina & Jimmie - Both the song and the staging felt a bit too “generic Eurovision we’ve seen a million times before” to me. Which is not to say that it’s bad, just that it’s hard for me to pinpoint anything unique about it that makes it stand out amongst all the other amazing entries the semi has to provide. 

Croatia - “My Friend” - Jacques Houdek - How does one describe Croatia’s song this year? It’s just so over-the-top insane. I find myself in the “cringing and averting my eyes” camp, but I think many will find that it’s so camp and crazy and bad it’s good. It all feels like a more colorful and Doctor-Jekyll-and-Mr.-Hyde-esque version of Romania’s Cezar back in 2013. I don’t want it to advance, but it sure is memorable enough that I think some people will vote.

Norway - “Grab the Moment” - JOWST - It was a slick, polished performance that’s been adapted well to the Eurovision stage, and I think it’s definitely poised to do well and advance to the final. 

Switzerland - “Apollo” - Timebelle - Urgh. Way to ruin a perfectly good song with costume and staging. The vocals were quite good, but imho they threw away something perfectly good from the national finals and went for the cheap dollar store knock off of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, with pastel imageries on the LED screen to match. I was first sold on her national final performance, with the dark atmospheric background and the stunning vision of a red dress, so this was a total letdown. Actually had to double check the title of the video to make sure I didn’t accidentally click on something completely different. That said, I think it still has potentials, but personally I think it’s a long shot unless there are major changes between now and next week. 

Belarus - “Story Of My Life” - Naviband - There are still changes that need to be made, and I agree with the opinion going around that it felt a bit static and needs a greater sense of motion, but even as it is it’s vastly enjoyable, and the singers have great chemistry together. What they’ve done so far with the staging work well with the joyful, uptempo beat of the song, and as long as they work out the kinks this will be a delight to watch, in this semi-final and hopefully in the grand final as well. 

Bulgaria - “Beautiful Mess” - Kristian Kostov - Wow. His vocals were very on point, and I just love what they’ve done with the stage, making it a tighter, monochromatic space that works magic on a song that’s already quite good. I didn’t like the looks of the squiggly lines in the leaked pictures I’ve seen, but they’ve still got time to work things out on that front. This will definitely qualify, and probably go far in the finals too. 

Lithuania - “Rain Of Revolution” - Fusedmarc - Sorry, I’m sure you are all lovely people, but I still hate everything about this song. Just, no. Sorry, but no.

Estonia - “Verona” - Koit Toome & Laura - The vocals were on point, and even though it sounded like Koit Toome had problems hitting his camera marks it’s nothing that can’t be fixed between now and showtime. My main worry is their chemistry, which still doesn’t quite feel all there, especially contrasted to Belarus, but i still think they have a very good chance at a ticket to the final, especially coming so late in the running order. 

Israel - “I Feel Alive” - l Imri Ziv - It’s definitely my cup of tea, but I think it does its job well. That, coupled with the fact that it’s the closing act, makes me think it’s very likely to qualify. 

My Predictions (In No Particular Order):

Estonia, Norway, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Romania, Austria, Belarus, Hungary, Denmark, Israel

...And that was agonizing to choose. Even now I keep thinking I should have added Croatia in there but there are so many other entries that I can’t bring myself to eliminate in its place. 

#eurovision 2017 #personal opinion