#I remember only the bad and the good. the mediocre is. well. forgettable

[llycaons]

I also love seeing the popular/widely praised ones that people hate. multiple people have said yuri on ice and I respect that

the person who said death parade I am with YOU what a miserable show. god. I don't know why I stuck it out it made me so unhappy

also shoutout to the people who said jojo....yeah I hated part 1 and couldn't finish part 2 :/

#someone also said lwa which fun fact my good friend irl also hates #since I specified 'the worst anime you've seen' I can't exactly argue with anyone. maybe they don't watch a lot #or maybe they drop bad anime as soon as something seems off #soo many ppl in the notes that are like 'I have good taste so I don't stick it out for bad shows' respect #I remember only the bad and the good. the mediocre is. well. forgettable #cor.txt

[sterakraffulz78]

This is hilarious and fateful

I saw the episode, and I never really thought that wasting time like this would be a suffering that lasted too long. I'm going to get good and bad things from what I saw

first for good, okay?

1. The deaf imp

In itself, I was very surprised by this character and to tell the truth I can consider him better than the other deep and sad Pseudos that only serve to make the panties get wet because of the Fujoshits, and it is something that in this program is seen very little or is scarce in Yes, it made me tender that Fizz treated him well.

2. Fizz and Asmodeus' relationship

What can we say, the relationship itself is healthy, and superior to many of both series and when Asmodeus protected Fizz it is something nice on his part, not like a certain owl who is only interested in the red cock who is a tremendous fucking creep unable to defend his """"little""", this relationship is one of the few salvageable things in this series

Now with the bad things

3. The songs

For the love of God... why? All the songs seem forgettable and super stupid to me, it seems that the only thing this chapter does is create time and necessary filler that will never contribute or amount to anything

4. The imp hater by fizarolli

This was expected, it doesn't surprise me much to tell the truth... just imagine that you are so hurt by harmless criticism of your program that you only hope for a good change and to be guided to do a good deed, but you prefer to spend and overexploit the Poor workers who only want some money to encourage your resentment in a lively way, this is ridiculous and makes others feel sorry for Viviana Medrano

5. Mammon

This is the first most annoying, loudest and most obnoxious thing I've ever seen followed by Chaz, the only thing he knows how to say is pure rudeness in every damn sentence, it's a fucking audiovisual blister that seems to never end, apart from the cringe I feel about it, the Deadly sins of this show will never be taken seriously and more that sexist phrase about "Women are not funny" and then you're dead... Damn you Medrano bitch, can't you at least respect a simple woman even if she has a tertiary role in your shitty program? (And ironic why you make penis jokes and swear words to wait for someone to laugh and praise you)

6. I HOPE THEY FUCK YOU BLITZ

Is it really necessary to put Blitz in every episode? For the love of God, am I already sick of listening and seeing that red cringe guy making those embarrassing faces and hearing his voice why can't I listen to Brandon normally anymore without remember this abusive and manipulative guy swearing!? They shoehorned this guy in just to get "laughs" and make him stick to Fizz when he was given the biggest tragedy of his life

7. Good vs bad, hAha ​​tHeY aRe RiGht wHy tHEy aRe nExT To thE bOyS aNd uwu sOfT

As always, our wonderful writing writing the bad characters, like the black ones in this Turkish soap opera and making them caricatures for mockery and portraying them as the soft boys and uwu the good ones. These characters are already predictable, if there is a soft and sore young gay uwu, he will be the good one because he is the soft and sore young gay uwu and we are all forced to take his side, while those who have the potential to be good villains like Striker, you position them as silly, cartoonish and you are the generic antagonist of a series for children under 6 years old, for example Asmodeus against Mammon

It's good that the views are getting lower and lower, so soon we won't be able to stand this series in decline and the next more ridiculous, repulsive, mediocre, cringe and pathetic chapter written by a ridiculous, mediocre, cringe, pathetic, misogyny, sexist, Transphobic , racist, xenophobic writer who only ruined her own work so that her little friends the Fujoshits (I already saw you SatorRojas, TeaTheKook and Dani) get their panties wet and buy more panties again to get them wet because they can't stand two boys together

#anti stolitz #helluva critical #helluva boss critical #vivziepop critical #helluva boss fandom critical #vivziepop criticism #helluva boss critique #blitzo #Helluva boss

[welcum-to-sp]

season 26 rating from worst to best

before we get into it i need to say that all episodes were at least very mid and forgettable, yeaaah. this season was better than the previous but it really doesn’t mean that it’s any good😭

6. “Spring Break”

I think that this is the only episode which I can call “bad”? It’s boring, it’s unfunny, it lacks interesting characters, it doesn’t discuss something interesting. They just brought the old joke (Garrison - Trump) back. Can someone tell Trey Parker that if you tell a joke two times it won’t get two times funnier. Especially if it was never funny. Randy subplot reminded me how much Randy sucks as a character. I didn’t know that it is possible to write Randy OOC but they did it. Also god I hate so much what the writers did to the Marsh family! What is the point of turning them into a family from the 80’s sitcom? Ugh.

5. “Japanese Toilet”

I think the fact that I literally couldn’t remember what the episode was about says enough. Unfunny shit joke, some weird conspiracy about toilet paper, blah blah blah.

4. “World-Wide Privacy Tour”

Okay, I think I don’t know enough context to “get” the episode? Like I didn’t know what the Royal family is doing right now, I barely heard about the book prince Harry wrote?? I didn’t understand the subplot about creating your own brand and stuff.Like I get it in theory but I have no idea what the fuck was going on in the episode. Butters and Kyle were soo underused. Anyway maybe I don’t have enough context to enjoy the episode, even though it’s very unlikely.

3. “Cupid Ye”

This episode is not worse that the next two, honestly. It’s on third place only because of my preference. To simply put it, I don’t like Kyle and Tolkien as characters, I don’t find watching them entertaining. And this was Kyle, Tolkien, Stan centric episode. There sure are some jokes, some characters and there sure is ehh plot?? It’s very mediocre, that’s what I’m trying to say. Also I really don’t understand how tf Cupid me works.

2. “DiKimble’s Hot Dogs”

Okay, first of all the only reason why this episode is higher than “Cupid Ye” is because Butters and Cartman are my favorite duo and Butters, Cartman and Kenny are my favorite trio and, well, it��s their episode. This episode feels more well-rounded than the others, it follows the good old structure of something small (butters getting a job) turning into something big (they try to open a restaurant). Kinda sad that an episode with a plot that works gets a point from me, because it’s a bare minimum. There are some decent jokes ig. The whole thing with Cartman and mental health has got very tiring and feels kinda forced at this point. Also I kinda hate that the moral of the episode is basically “nobody wants to work these days but a few”??

1. “Deep learning”

The episode is kinda good, okay? Simple plot: boys are in school doing school stuff and dealing with their little problems. I missed it. Also thank god it’s not focused on the politics, I’m so tired. And I kinda relate to what was going in the episode? I mean, I already know a few people who cheat in school by using chat GPT, hell, I’m thinking of getting it myself! Also I relate to Stan on many levels haha. So yeah, small episode about everyday problems with a fun ending, pretty cool.

#south park #i cant believe i wrote it #compensating for barely blogging about the new season

[deep-hearts-core]

2002

originally posted 3/8/21

my formatting actually survived this one wtf

Happy new year, if there's anyone who actually reads these! It's, uh... been a while. School started back up for me in August and I got really busy, and also I got really into tabletop actual plays and got a little bit distracted, lol. Real talk, I started watching this back in January but then school started AGAIN after I'd finished the songs and then I procrastinated on watching the voting sequence for uhhh literally two months lol

Cyprus Overall this isn't a bad start? The verses seem to be too low for the main singer and I would have liked to hear some more harmonies or for the other singers to have parts. I think it's catchy, though, I especially like it after the key change.

United Kingdom Jessica definitely has a great voice, and I appreciated how simple the staging was here. Unfortunately, I really REALLY hate the part of the chorus where she sings "come back" and then the entire track stops. Maybe it's because that's the part that's always in the recap videos, but it really gets on my nerves and honestly brings down the entire song for me.

Austria I love the energy on this one, both in the song and in the performance! It's not the, like, most artfully composed song by all means but I really enjoy the instrumental and I think Manuel really brings a lot to the song. He's not the most technically perfect singer but he's performing really well, just having a great time, you can tell he's happy to be doing what he's doing and that makes what would otherwise be a mediocre song really appealing to me.

Greece The actual song sounds nice but the vocals on this are just bad. I could be persuaded to like this if they, like, had a different singer and replaced the "sagapo S A G A P O" line with something else because that also sounds dumb. I think the staging looks kinda cool and I could get behind the outfits, even, but the vocals here just suck.

Spain This is a fun one. Rosa has a really lovely voice and I almost wish they'd sent her with a more serious song to show that off a little more, but as is this is still pretty good and I like it a lot. My only real issue with it is that weird things keep happening with the key? I don't know enough music theory to be certain if this is the right word but it keeps modulating weird and going in funny places melodically.

Croatia This singer has a really nice tone when she belts, the song is okay, and she looks great in that outfit. Unfortunately, it looks like she doesn't know what to do with herself when she's not singing. They have her walking around the stage and being tryhard sexy and it just isn't working for me. I could also really do without the backing singers.

Russia My thoughts on this are really similar to my thoughts on Cyprus' entry. Idk, it's alright, the vocals suck, I like the chord progression in the chorus I guess?

Estonia I think this is really cute, really fun. I like the guitar and I'm really impressed by Sahlene's high notes at the end. My main problem here is that Sahlene's stage presence is almost too energetic or too sweet.

Macedonia The song is incredibly forgettable. Like I was listening to it and thought to myself, wow, I really am not going to be able to remember the melody at all. I also think Karolina was holding back vocally a LOT, especially at the beginning. Her dresses were nice and I think the staging was overall not bad.

Israel Sarit's voice works really well with the song here, and the backup singers blend well with her. Like I said about Austria, the right performer can really elevate an otherwise unassuming song. The build to the chorus is really good, probably the best part of the song.

Switzerland Not a bad song, reminds me kinda of Disney Fairies almost? Which isn't a bad thing, I was a Disney Fairies kid. But it fails to hold my attention, even though the vocals are good.

Sweden This is some of the best staging of the night IMO. I love a well-executed dance routine. Their voices are also a really nice contrast to the singers before them which really helps the song stand out!

Finland Considering this is a disco song performed in the 2000s, it's a pretty catchy and well-polished number. Definitely one of my favorites of the night.

Denmark This is actually pretty good. Malene doesn't seem very sure of herself onstage, both physically and vocally, but beyond that I actually really vibe with this. It's not a huge standout stylistically so I guess I understand why it placed last but in my opinion it's way better than a number of these other songs.

Bosnia & Herzegovina I love the style of the song! It gives me 50s-60s vibes even though that might not necessarily be right. It's nice and upbeat and I think Maja's voice suits the song very well. The staging was kind of weird though, everyone was weirdly spaced out onstage.

Belgium I don't dislike this necessarily, but it is really repetitive, and I just kind of get bad vibes from Sergio. Nothing more to say here.

France In terms of vocals and the melody line this song is probably the best. I'm a fan of more upbeat songs generally, unless they really hit emotionally, so this slower song isn't really my thing. But Sandrine's voice is really just stellar.

Germany Whoa. I hate this. Corinna's voice is alright and she's on key and everything but I just hate her tone, it's weird and nasal and vibrate-y. The ending is really abrupt and makes no sense, and it looks like the backing singers weren't given enough instruction on how to move, they kept doing different things and weren't at all in sync with each other and it was just a bad look.

Turkey Overall not bad. I'm not a huge fan of the traditional Turkish style of singing, it's too far back in the throat for my taste, so this one doesn't vibe with me. The English lyrics are also especially clumsy here. But there's nothing glaringly bad about this song.

Malta The appeal of this is mostly in seeing little baby Ira Losco. I super enjoyed her 2016 entry and ngl I'm a little let down by this? It just feels empty, there isn't that much going on and while simplicity is great for some Eurovision songs it just doesn't work here.

Romania I've found one of my least favorites, I think. The singers blend well together and that's about the only good thing I have to say for this song.

Slovenia This is nice. Idk, it's nice to see a drag queen in early-aughts ESC that isn't being played for a joke, you know? Like Conchita was taken seriously in 2014 but before that... nah. So this is nice to see. I also appreciated the female backing singers in their sailor suits. Good vibes all around.

Latvia Sooooo visually appealing! Not just because of the quickchanges or because Marie N is hot (although her in the white suit and little hat is INCREDIBLY gender), but just the overall staging and choreography was great here. I'm not a huge fan of the song or the vocals but Marie is just such a performer that I can totally get why this won.

Lithuania Uncertain what Lithuania was aiming for here. It's certainly wholesome. But there isn't much more I can say about it without being plainly mean about this guy's vocal abilities.

My top 24

Austria

Estonia

France

Spain

Latvia

Sweden

United Kingdom

Malta

Finland

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Denmark

Israel

Lithuania

Cyprus

Turkey

Slovenia

Croatia

North Macedonia

Russia

Switzerland

Belgium

Greece

Romania

Germany

Thoughts after watching I really had a hard time with this one, as evidenced by my having NO comments about the hosting and literally taking months to watch the votes. I don't know if it was just the audio quality or the hosts or whatever but I do think that part of it was that I had the misfortune to watch it with Terry Wogan commentary. God I hate him. 

Who knows when you'll get 2001 from me (if anyone even reads these!) but idk. Eventually. There may also be a 2021 review. [shrug]

#esc reviews

[loopy777]

Have you ever read a story that was part of a larger franchise that was either mediocre, forgettable, or even bad, that somehow had what you consider to be some of the best character moments the characters involved ever had?

Like i remember reading a completely average donald pocket story about Donald getting into business, competing with Scrooge with a medicine that cured the common cold forever, and for understandable reasons that put him in direct competition with scrooge(who sold the traditional counters to the disease), and them getting into a butter business feud fueled in large part by scrooge's spite.

Like it's a completely average donald duck comic story... Then near the end, it has a moment where scrooge is about to call someone to move into the next step of his campaign... And then he just freezes, staring at the phone.

And he just... has a moment where he Realizes what the hell he's doing, essentially trying to crush Donald's new successful business out of spite, and that he should have tried to work with donald rather than trying to screw him over just out of anger like he was Gloomgold or rockerduck.

That's not the end of the story(It has a decent, if not especially interesting, reset status quo ending) but it always struck me as a bizarrely well written, mature moment that was built on scrooge's flaws and humanity, that could have come right out of Don Rosa's writing.

It was a bizarrely good piece of writing in a story that by all accounts was just Meh, outside of it. You ever had a moment like that while reading?

Oh, sure, lots of times. I'm a Transformers fan, so I put up with a lot of bad to mediocre media with my favorite characters in it. A few examples off the top of my head-

Megatron in the 'Combiner Wars' series: This series was absolutely abysmal, combing the worst CGI animation money can buy with writing that felt like it came from a 15-year-old suburban edgelord's fanfic. However, somehow, Megatron was amazing in this. It takes place after the end of the Autobot/Decepticon war, and this Megatron has evolved past his former megalomaniacal ways. He's now a jaded old veteran with a sense of humor about life. In almost all his appearances, he's just mocking all the faux-edginess going on around him, and it's amazing. However, it’s also not really connected to anything we’d seen previously from Megatron. The build-up from this detached, performatively snarky Megatron comes when ‘Megatronus,’ the first Decepticon, returned from death or something to conquer Cybertron. Rather than allying with his inspiration, Megatron launches into an angry rant about how all of Megatronus’s teachings and legacy have led only to a lost war and death or exile or poverty for everyone who fought in his name. That is a perfection encapsulation of how a Megatron who lost and given up the fight would react to the embodiment of his old ideals, and it boggles my mind that it’s in the middle of such a terrible story.

Cliffjumper in Shane McCarthy's comics: McCarthy doesn't have a good reputation as a writer, and honestly, it's earned. I like his more comedic stuff, but the serious and/or epic Transformers stories he tried to tell were very poorly put together and usually leaned heavily on shallow imitation of the 80s cartoon but ‘matured’ up to be darker and bleaker and more violent. That said, he somehow nailed everything he did with Cliffjumper, both in a dedicated 'Spotlight' issue and a fun moment in 'All Hail Megatron.' In the latter, a bunch of Autobots are being ambushed and need to send a signal for help, but due to Reasons, they can only punch a signal through temporarily. Due to more Reasons, it won't log a real distress call or anything, it will just light up the receiver for half a second. So the only way it could work as a distress call is if someone is there staring at the machine and interprets the blip as an actual attempt to call for help, which is super unlikely. Cue Cliffjumper staring at the receiver, waiting for an excuse to go into, and sees it light up for half a second. He just grins, says, "Bingo!" and rushes to join whatever is going on. It's Cliffjumper in a nutshell, and a fun comedy moment amidst more dour and boring events.

Optimus Prime in ‘Transformers: Prime’: Although this features the return of the original voice, Peter Cullen, in the role of Optimus Prime in a TV series (as opposed to the Michael Bay movies, which were technically his first return to the role), the character is a bit flatter than he even was in the original 80s cartoon. He’s more serious, more dour, and there’s less personality in his voice performance, which tends towards an intoning, stoic delivery. I figured Cullen just didn’t have the energy he did when he was younger- until a plotline where Optimus temporarily loses his memory of the entire war. Cullen voiced this version of Optimus with the same delivery and lightness as his 80s performance, and rather than the dour, burdened version of the character, he was more like the classic superhero archetype of the 80s. It was only then that I realized everything about the character had been done on purpose, and it wasn’t just a flawed imitation. I enjoyed ‘Transformers: Prime’ overall and it had some really good bits aside from this Optimus arc, but it hadn’t been among my top stuff, so it was really surprising to see it nail something like that.

I also tried coming up with some examples from the Star Wars EU, which had so much mediocrity that I figured there had to be a case where something otherwise forgettable had a great moment, but I honestly couldn’t think of one. I might just have a spotty memory right now, or it might be more consistently mediocre than something like Transformers where a random favorite character can bring out a storyteller’s best.

[plan-d-to-i]

What's your opinion on JYL and JFM? I've seen a few say they were just as bad to WWX for not doing much to defend him, especially against Madam Yu, or like when JYL apologized to the Jins on his behalf.

I think the novel doesn't mean them to be seen as bad people just weak. I think I'm more defensive of JFM because fandom is really hard on him, while he was stuck in a terrible situation himself with his wife. The only way you can come out on top w YZY is to never fucking interact w her. To never marry her in the first place ideally. And he tried!

He didn’t like Yu ZiYuan’s conduct and felt that the two wouldn’t be an appropriate match. He had politely refused the offer a handful of times. However, the MeishanYu Sect set about multiple factors, putting pressure on Jiang FengMian, who was at the time still fairly young and had nothing to lean on. Along with the fact that, not long later, ZangSe SanRen had become cultivation partners with the most loyal servant at Jiang FengMian’s side, Wei ChangZe, and rode off into the sunset, roaming around the world, Jiang FengMian finally gave up.

Meishan Yu literally schemed behind the scenes to force JFM to marry this bitch so rip JFM you really pulled the short straw in life. Once he married she's not the type of person he can tell what to do.

Madam Yu, “What am I doing here? What a joke that I am asked of such a thing! Sect Leader Jiang, do you still remember that I’m also the leader of Lotus Pier? Do you still remember that every inch of the earth here is my territory? (Chapter 56)

Much like how JGS can't stop Madam Jin from beating the shit out of JGY... JFM tries to end WWX's punishments early, but he's doesn't seem capable of banning YZY from punishing him entirely. Although JFM is kind to WWX I don't see any favoritism. Correcting jc's behavior when it's wrong is not in fact showing favoritism towards WWX. & ultimately as WWX concludes later on regarding the Wen sibs:

Just as Wen Qing said, if Wen Chao truly wanted to kill anyone, it was unlikely for Wen Qing to be able to stop him. Perhaps she’d be affected as well. After all, children of others could never compare to children of one’s own.” (Chapter 60)

No matter how much he likes WWX, WWX is not his own son. JFM's last interaction with WWX is to ask him to care for jc.

As for YanLi I wrote about her more at length here. I think a lot of ppl in this fandom project really hard on her, so they get very defensive over what is a kindly but mediocre person who benefits from a heaping helping of privilege and WWX's rosy view. To be clear I don't think you're supposed to hate her in the novel. I think she's forgettable. The person who didn't quite catch WWX when he jumped from the tree. The mother of Jin Ling and the person who consistently showed WWX some crumbs of warmth in the Jiang household.

It's this fandom that made her into a soup goddess of goodness lmao. Personally I think it's absurd when they act like YanLi's not responsible for her own ignorance or choices. Like someone locked her in the attic and she didn't know what money or war refugees were. They try to blame the society she was raised in for why her ass only knew how to make soup and it's like... Her mother is YZY. Can't stand YZY but there's no way in hell she wanted her daughter making soup and not training or educating herself. Or that JFM was tyrannical and wouldn't let her do what she wanted. All this to say it's YanLi's own flipping choice to stay not knowing. So she'll always fall short in my eyes, compared to Wen Qing or Mianmian. And again people act like she was so helpless and no one would let her speak, yet:

“Jin ZiXun’s face was dark, but he didn’t respond. There were two reasons. First, he had never seen Jiang YanLi step up and talk before, so he didn’t know how strong his reply should be. Both Madam Jin and Jiang Cheng held Jiang YanLi in high regard, and he didn’t dare rashly go against them." (Chapter 73)

“The people who gathered around Jin ZiXun had on the same dark faces as he did. Yet, taking into consideration Jiang YanLi’s background, they didn’t dare talk back to her directly.” (Chapter 73)

“If the one currently saying these words wasn’t Jiang YanLi and instead some random person, Jin ZiXun would probably have come at them with a slap already. His face was almost black, but he kept his mouth shut.” (Chapter 73)

Ahhhh... look at all that privilege. No one reprimands YanLi for speaking up. Sharp fucking contrast to Mianmian. YanLi just doesn't want to speak up. She wants her wedding to go off without a hitch. She wants WWX to exclaim over her pretty dress and play nice with jiang cheng and probably stop w his foolishness w the Wen Remnants. Ig she thinks the mental image of her in her wedding dress will be much more filling than meals or funds. Ironically when jc, WWX & the other disciples were headed to the Wen indoctrination camp she loaded them w snacks, so maybe she gets how supplies work. She just didn't think WWX would need any when he was possibly starving on the corpse filled mountain.

Jiang YanLi saw them off, staying with them road after road. She filled everyone’s arms with all sorts of snacks, afraid that they’d starve at the QishanWen Sect. Clothes brimming with food, the twenty boys set off from Lotus Pier. (Chapter 51).

guess she's not sheltered enough to not understand how starving works... interesting. Luckily it's not my eyes she's being judged through and WWX certainly remembers her fondly. However he's not wracked with guilt about her death as fandom often portrays him- and rightly so bc it was her own harebrained ass that stumbled on a battlefield unarmed, and untrained and asked the guy everyone was attacking to stop fighting.

#mdzs #answers #Jiang YanLi

[ingrid-marie]

My eurovision 2022 ranking

Because I have nothing better to do and I love making lists 😌 💅🏻

I have sorted them in the categories: bad, ok, good, great and the best.

🤬BAD🤬

40. LITHUANIA: This just so boring to me. A strong contender for the perfect bathroom break song.

39. BULGARIA: Just very very mediocre and boring. I just feel very indifferent towards it. They do have a cool guitar solo though, I'll give them that.

38. SAN MARINO: Not my thing. I think the verses are okay but the chorus falls completely flat and feels very unoriginal.

37. MOLDOVA: I usually love fun and easy-going songs but the difference with this song is that it's just not... good. It's a bit too all over the place.

36. DENMARK: Very forgettable and doesn't stand out, I feel like I've heard a song like this before.

35. FINLAND: I don't find it very original and just like Denmark, I feel like I've heard a song like this before. And the singer makes me a bit uncomfortable, ngl.

34. AZERBAIJAN: Also very forgettable. The chorus is decent but other than that it's just pretty bad.

33. ISRAEL: James Charles (derogatory) vibes.

32. BELGIUM: He has a good voice but other than that... There's nothing wrong with the song, it's just not for me.

31. AUSTRALIA: So sooo boring. The bridge (the one part where something actually happens) is good but otherwise I just don't like it.

😐OK😐

30. ROMANIA: It's very repetitive but it feels like something you'd find at eurovision in like 2002, which is a good thing for me because I love nostalgic stuff. But the song feels very flat otherwise.

29. NORTH MACEDONIA: This is very forgettable, but still better than many of the other (plenty) forgettable songs this year.

28. GREECE: I don't like that the instrumentals doesn't kick in until like halfway into the song, because that is when the song is actually good. And I don't love the lyrics, I don't find the song as romantic as I think it is intended to be interpreted.

27. MONTENEGRO: In my head this song is called "Unforgivable". I think the song is alright, but as many other songs this year, I find it forgettable. I think the music video is really cool though, even though I have no idea what's happening (Broken faces? Flying books? Ballet?).

26. ARMENIA: I usually like this type of music, but I can't get into this song for some reason. It's just pretty boring.

😏GOOD😏

25. SLOVENIA: I find them so adorable, and I like the vibes! This is the type of song I would listen to while cooking and jamming in the kitchen.

24. SERBIA: I was very skeptical (and still is in some ways) when this song was first released and put it last straight away. But after some more listening I have warmed up towards it. The chorus is really catchy, but I'm not completely sold yet. I'm excited to see what she will do live!

23. UNITED KINGDOM: This is good to be the UK tbh. At least it's memorable, in comparison with the last few entries (I can't remember a single entry in the last five years while writing this). It's fun! But not something I listen to a lot.

22. ESTONIA: I like the cowboy aesthetic just as much as anyone else, but I am still on the fence about the song (and I don't quite get how it can be connected to cowboys). But he has a really great voice.

21. ALBANIA: This song is a lot, and contains like five different genres. That means that it doesn't get boring, but it doesn't make it great either.

20. CYPRUS: I love the chorus, the verses not so much. I would prefer it if it was entirely in greek, the english ruins the ethereal feeling a bit.

19. AUSTRIA: As an half Austrian I love that they are sending an unexpected song like this, and that it is so well perceived! I think the song is good but nothing I listen to a lot.

18. SWITZERLAND: I like the old school Disney vibes I get from this and I think it will be beautiful live. But it's not something I listen to much.

17. MALTA: I think I'm the only one who prefers this song over the other one. Yes, it's very generic but that doesn't always have to be a bad thing!

😎GREAT😎

16. IRELAND: It's a little bit silly and cringey, but also pretty good!

15. PORTUGAL: This is beautiful and the overall mood is great. Sometimes feels a little bit boring though, but I'm sure it will grow on me.

14. FRANCE: I did not like this at first, but it has been a grower! I think it's really exciting and the chorus is so good. I also appreciate France sending something different than what they usually send!

13. GERMANY: This is really good but at the same time it's not. It reminds me of 21 Pilots (derogatory) which is very nostalgic (affectionate). 16 year old me would love this, which is why I have a soft spot for it.

12. UKRAINE: I think the song is amazing, except for the rap parts, which sucks because that's like half of the song. If it weren't for the rap this would easily be in my top 5. But it's still a really good song and I like their performance, it feels very natural and just like them hanging out and having fun. Hopefully they will bring the same energy to eurovision.

11. ICELAND: God I want to be the fourth sister so bad. They remind me of HAIM. I think the song is so cozy and I want to listen to it on a roadtrip in the evening when everyone else in the car have fallen asleep.

10. SPAIN: This feels a little too down with the kids/TikTok inspired, but I can't deny that it's a catchy song.

9. NORWAY: I love jokey songs and I don't care who knows it. For me that is what eurovision is about and what I love most about this show. This song is fun! It's weird! It makes me want to dance! What more can you ask for?

8. GEORGIA: Unpopular opinion but this song has the best chorus this year. It's like drugs to my brain. It feels timeless in some way? I can't explain what this song does to me. I'm so excited to see what they are going to do live!

7. POLAND: I love every song that is about wanting to float down a river (because I want to do that too). His voice is stunning, and even though I don't love the chorus (it doesn't feel as ethereal and magical as the other parts) it's one of the strongest songs this year.

6. ITALY: I didn't like this at first and compared it to Soldi (which I think is a stronger song). But after listening more I have realized that it's not fair to compare this to Soldi since they are two completely different songs. I just like the atmosphere the song brings, I feel like I should sit on a rooftop watching the sunset while listening to it.

🥰THE BEST🥰

5. CROATIA: Am I the only one to have this in my top 5? Probably. It just gets me in a good mood, and it's really catchy. I hope she brings a similar performance from the national final to eurovision.

4. CZECH REPUBLIC: This was one of the first songs released and I knew right away that it would probably be one of my favourite songs this years. I just love her voice and it makes me want to go out on a run (and I hate running).

3. LATVIA: Again, I love jokey songs. I love this song completely unironically. I know that is is a super sexual song masked as an environmentally conscious song, but that doesn't make it bad. And I think we should have more songs about going down on people.

2. THE NETHERLANDS: This songgg...... I cannot get enough. It just hits the spot. I love how it goes from being a bit slow in the verses to gaining so much power in the chorus. The OOOO-AAAAH parts makes me scream and I can’t help but singalong to the entire song even though I don’t speak Dutch. Everything about the song just makes sense. This is pretty much tied as my number one. But I'm scared that it will be hard to stage.

1. SWEDEN: Listen, I am not one that usually roots for my own country. I do think that Sweden has an unfair advantage and our entries usually gets points just for being Swedish. But this song is actually good! And Melodifestivalen was so crap this year so I'm so happy that one of the few (if not only) good songs won. I always get chills when the first chorus hits, and if I were in the middle of a breakup I know that I would not be able to listen to this because it would feel too real lol. Just the perfect, emotional, song I never knew I needed.

#if you read all of this….heeey :P <3 you are amazing #this took me so long lol #also I’m really curious to see other peoples lists so let me know what you think!! #eurovision #eurovision 2022 #me talking

[hopelesshawks]

Love and Admiration Part 10- Mediocrity

18+ Bakugo x fem!pro hero reader

Summary: (Y/n) has known Bakugo since middle school, admired him since high school, and had a crush on him since the first time they met. Even now, a top pro hero in her own right, she can’t shake her school girl crush. Too bad Bakugo literally has no idea she exists. Well that’s not entirely true… He does know pro hero Mercury exists, but (y/l/n) (y/n)? Never heard of her.

Masterlist Help Lulu <3

It’s a little surreal sitting in your old classroom at one of the desks, your head pillowed atop your arms. All that’s missing is your old uniform and it would be exactly the same as all those years ago: you holding back tears in a classroom as you ponder your own mediocrity.

You’d shooed away most of the girls but Mina had insisted on staying, a steady presence leaning against the desk you’re sat at. You hear the door open but make no move to look up. “What are you doing here?” Mina asks icily. “None of your business Raccoon eyes,” Bakugo fires back defensively. Your hands tighten into fists as you hold back an embarrassed groan. It’s bad enough you’re apparently so forgettable that Bakugo didn’t even realize the two of you had known each other for about a decade now. The last thing you want is his pity. “I think it is my business actually,” Mina huffs above you, she and Bakugo in an apparent stand off. “Ashido please,” Bakugo finally grumbles. You can practically feel your friend’s hesitance so you finally lift your head up from your arms. You probably look a mess, eyes red and makeup slightly smeared but you still scrounge up the courage to sigh “It’s fine Mina, I’ll text you when we’re done.”

Mina looks between the two of you hesitantly before finally giving in and leaving you two alone. Bakugo’s hands are shoved deep into his pockets, his shoulders hunched forward. “Look, I’m sorry,” he huffs out, unable to look you in the eyes. That only causes you to groan, dropping your head back into your arms. “What?” he bites out defensively. You turn your head to peek at him, your cheeks heating up in time with your rising mortification. “I’m not mad Bakugo, I’m fucking embarrassed,” you confess and the confusion that flashes across his face shouldn’t be as cute as it is. You sigh and lean back in the chair eyes trained to the desk as you finally admit out loud why Bakugo’s failure to remember you particularly stings. “I don’t... I don’t have a flashy quirk like you and a lot of our other classmates, y’know? I’m not even surprised you don’t remember me. I was mediocre in middle school, I was mediocre in high school, and I’m sure by next hero ranking season everyone will realize I’m still mediocre and I’ll slink right back out of the top ten,” you sigh. “That’s not-“ “Don’t patronize me. I don’t need you to lie just cause we went on one patrol together and you pity me or whatever,” you cut him off.

You jump as Bakugo suddenly slams his palms down on the desk, having moved directly in front of it, his carmine eyes now boring into yours. “You fucking insulting me now cause you wanna throw yourself a fuckin pity party huh?” he sneers. “What?” you ask, blinking at him. “You think I waste my time pitying random fucking extras?” “Well I guess not but-“ you start but Bakugo is quick to cut you off again. “Then what the fuck are you on about calling yourself mediocre? You think you know better than everybody else? That all of Japan’s fucking wrong about you? That I’m fucking wrong about you being an incredible hero? Cause if so that’s conceited as shit.” You can only stare at him in shock, surprised at the vehemence with which he’s defending you. “Who gives a shit if some asshole from your high school doesn’t remember you. You’re a top ten fucking hero with an incidence resolution rate rivaling those of the top 5, so I don’t wanna hear any bullshit about you being mediocre. Got it?” “Ok.” “Good,” Bakugo huffs, finally leaning back against the seat behind him and exiting out of your personal space.

You should look away but you can’t help but stare at Bakugo a little longer as you process his whole spiel. “What?” he finally demands gruffly. “I think that’s the most aggressive pep talk I’ve ever received,” you admit with a disbelieving shake of your head. “You got a problem with it or somethin’?” he asks. “It was perfect,” you reply. His eyes widen in shock before he hurriedly looks away with a “tsk” but you still notice that his cheeks and ears have gone slightly pink. “I appreciate the words of encouragement but you really didn’t have to come find me. Like I said, I wasn’t mad just embarrassed. I would’ve gotten over it eventually,” you tell him. “Yea well, the whole reason I fuckin came up to you that first time was to talk to you idiot. Can’t very well do that if you’re cryin in some random ass classroom,” he scoffs. “There’s no one else here you’d rather catch up with? Like someone you actually remember?” you ask incredulously, causing Bakugo to scowl again. “That’s what I said ain’t it?” he shoots back. “Ok? Anything in particular or?” “Well I guess I got ten years of shit to catch up on right?” “It’s gonna take a minute to get through ten years and the reunion ends in like an hour,” you joke but Bakugo doesn’t laugh. Instead his eyes stay trained on some point to his right as he says “Then let’s just fucking get out of here.”

That is... not what you were expecting. What parallel universe had you somehow dropped into where it was possible for Bakugo Katsuki to comfort you and then invite you to leave with him? The longer it takes you to respond the more self-conscious Bakugo gets. “Look, if you don’t want to it’s fine, I’ll just get fucking Raccoon eyes back in here or round cheeks or something. Just figured I should make it up to you or some shit since I made you cry or whatever but-“ “I’d love to. Masahiro’s again?” “Nah, that place’ll be crowded as shit. We’ll just head back to mine.” “Oh ok, let me just let the girls know.”

A/N: BAKUGO WOULD BE THE KING OF AGGRESSIVE BUT GENUINELY REASSURING PEP TALKS AND NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE

Taglist: @pixelwisp @oliviasslut @larkspyrr @heroacadema @kozukatsuki @captaincyberqueen @undead-nyx

#hopelessla #bakugo smau #bakugo x fem!reader #bakugo x y/n #bakugo katsuki

[algernoninwonderland]

Hello, I was wondering how you feel about the "Cat Blanc" ML episode? It thought it strange for reasons I can't really articulate so I was hoping to read your thoughts. I am not that good at analysis but I love your episode reviews. They are very insightful and usual help me understand why I liked/didn't like a certain episode.

A belated review/analysis of Chat Blanc! Here we go!

So, Chat Blanc… It wasn't all that great, now, was it?

The good:

Gabriel's motives are made crystal clear once more, which makes his pushing them to their very limits all the more shocking. The Agreste family vault looks impressive, almost church-like, it's some pretty strong imagery. Not outstandingly original but pretty good stuff nevertheless.

Angry Rose is funny.

Marinette's “Know what I won't take for an answer?” and a smash cut to Nathalie's “No.” That's good comedy.

Ladybug goofing around in the Burrow. It's harmless, she's a kid, these different points in time look interesting.

Chat Blanc's future looks eery and white and blue and it really works, we rarely see post-apocalyptic landscapes like this one, usually it's all muddy and dark and this isn't the case here. I appreciate that. The first wide shot in which the camera spins around Montparnasse tower is great.

Chat Blanc's animation is really creepy and for the most part, it's intentional.

if you’re a sucker for mid 2000s evil sadboys aesthetics, you’ll love this.

Have a montage of Adrienette being sickeningly cute.

I’m watching this in French and let me tell you, Benjamin Bollen might have to work with terrible lines but he’s doing a damn fine job with them

That shot in which the debris and Ladybug break the water’s surface, the bubbles and all… It looks great. I don’t know who is in charge of this but it looked genuinely great.

Chat Noir’s akumatisation and his trying to control his power and not hurt anybody is pretty great, as a concept.

The final scene is a nice parallel to the one earlier in the episode. Repetition with variation is an easy way to make me like things and it works nicely.

The bad:

The Girl Squad bullying Marinette is… Eh.

Stalkerish obsessed Marinette is a joke that overstayed its welcome by that point. Had this been an early season 2 joke, it would have worked. It's a late season 3 joke, it's honestly a bit creepy at this point.

That reveal is fanfic-worthy. It feels really light, and not as big a deal as would have been the case if that episode had any consequences. You can already tell this'll be retconned by the end of the episode.

Bunnyx's burrow. It's unimpressive. It's neither bizarre enough nor flashy enough to really work for me. And that TARDIS joke made me roll my eyes.

If you hate mid 2000s evil sadboys aesthetics, you’ll hate this.

They re-use the same two cars for Ladybug to jump on and it’s pretty obvious. There are smart ways of recycling assets. This isn’t one of them.

Wow, that’s a terrible first kiss, the shot is… Pretty bad.

Gabriel being an asshole and breaking Adrienette up for the stupidest, most selfish reasons feels unfair and that’s the point… But also that scene at the bakery is pretty lame, it doesn’t flow very well, the characters are oddly static and not expressive enough for it to be striking, the lighting doesn’t work with the mood of the scene at all. It feels abrupt, yes, but also cheap.

“It was our love that did this to the world milady.” What a stupid, edgy line.

Bad low-res textures being stretched are clearly visible in quite an awful lot of shots.

Wow. Destroyed Paris is the exact same city as usual, just as empty, only this time they replaced the sky with a “water surface” animation loop. It’s… Underwhelming. You had a great concept and this is what you do with it?

Can you believe they made destruction on a cosmic scale look so bland? How do you mess up that bad?

That confrontation between Hawk Moth and our heroes. This should be season finale material. It’s considerably cheapened.

The ugly:

With the few exceptions listed above, the rendering is not good at all, the lighting is flat and inexpressive which could give everything a kind of otherworldly feel if only used in some sequences (and that would be clever!)… Only it's off, all of the time. Chat Blanc is the only character that looks okay in his timeline.

The animation is off when it shouldn't be, outside of the exception listed earlier. Everything is much too stiff, characters' expressions are off, the timing is off. It's a shame, really. The action sequences are decently boarded but look pretty bad.

“Just because I know her secret identity doesn't mean she has to know about mine.” That's a terrible line. And we're supposed to be rooting for that kid. That's not how healthy relationships work, the episode never addresses that because Adrien is perfect, he's just sad and understandably troubled by these revelations.

Do you remember when Gabriel was shown to care for his son, the complex character drama that could have arisen from that? Well it sure as hell ain’t there.

That Guy boarded that episode. He has a weird, err, fixation on a 14yo girl’s butt and makes sure to include a shot in which it is shoved at the viewers’ faces. Seriously? What is wrong with you? If you so badly want to sexualise characters, it’s not like there aren’t any adults in Miraculous.

Perfectly good ideas are skimmed over in a matter of seconds because this episode is only 22 minutes long. The audience is bombarded with pretty major turning points in a matter of seconds and can barely process any of them.

If the point of your episode is, “it’s better if it doesn’t exist” then you obviously shouldn’t be making this episode… Right? Seems pretty obvious to me, but apparently it isn’t since Chat Blanc exists.

That end card has Hawk Moth look like he’s rolling his eyes and so was I by the end of this episode. The overwhelming feeling of all of this for nothing but the reassertion that these two are “made for each other” which, yawn.

Perfectly good ideas wasted on an episode with mediocre writing and bad animation and rendering.

It's a pretty forgettable episode, funnily enough, I had to rewatch it to be able to write this review.

Hope this helped, Anon! Thanks for the compliment!

#ml #miraculous #ml critical #ml criticism #chat blanc #ml salt #ml writers salt #ml canon salt #ml season 3 #ml season 3 spoilers #i guess

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Mulan (2020)”

I am still waiting for that all Asian cast American movie that will be the "Black Panther" for the Asian community. So far the only proper all Asian cast American movie is Crazy Rich Asian and that was a rom-com about rich people which isn't what I am looking for. The Disney live-action remake of Mulan (1998) is a proper big-budget all Asian cast movie that aligns with what I am looking for. However, Disney live-action remakes have been mostly a miss apart from "The Jungle Book" and "Cinderella". Mulan (2020) is directed by Niki Caro who won lots of awards for her movie Whale Rider(2002) but it does make me wonder if they couldn't have just hired an Asian director but whatever.  The trailers though seem to suggest that this remake was actually attempting to do things differently from the original which intrigued my interest. Unfortunately, due to coronavirus, this movie got delayed and then shoved to streaming with a hefty price instead of going to cinemas. I actually avoided watching the original Mulan recently just to make myself go into this movie with a more open mind and to have a sort of first time watching experience again. Therefore, I am going to avoid comparison with the original in this review. So after watching this, did the movie live up to the expectations? Note: unlike my previous reviews there is going to be a fair amount of minor spoilers here so be warned.

Firstly, visually the movie is quite beautiful. There are some gorgeous shots in this movie such as the martial art practice by the lake, Mulan running on the rooftops and even the war itself was quite visually pleasing. The cinematography isn't "Roger Deakins" level of stunning but it is definitely really good looking. This is also elevated by the really good set design and costumes. The set design allows for great scenery and the costumes feel authentic. These really help pull the audience into the movie and the era that Mulan is set in.

Secondly, the score by Harry Gregson-Williams who has done the score for movies like Shrek and The Martian does a pretty good job here as well with Mulan. They use a lot of wind instruments that are heard from a lot of Chinese movies and pretty much use them here. The score generally works and it really helps create the atmosphere for each scene really well. Also, the orchestral cover of Reflection from the original Mulan is used in this movie and is just really awesome,

Now my gripes with this movie. Firstly, is the lack of emphasis on emotional moments. It feels like the movie brushes over a lot of what I would consider quite important. The scene where Mulan makes the decision to go to war is one of the important decision she makes. However, the movie just has her pick up a sword and then the next scene she is in armor and off to war. We don't get any emphasis on how important this decision was and the sacrifices she had to make until halfway through the movie for some reason. This happens a couple of times as well such as when there is a destroyed town which shows the horror of war but they only spend a couple of seconds here with minimal reaction from the characters and it's then just off to the next scene. Another being a character dying and it's just whatever. The movie feels really lacking in a lot of humanity but there are a couple of banter moments between Mulan and "friends" that have some fun in it.

On that note of characters, the supporting characters are rather bland. Honghui (Yoson An) acts as a love interest, rival and ally for Mulan which is all there is about him.  Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) sort of mentors Mulan and knew Mulan's dad but that's really it. The Emperor (Jet-li) is a badass and wise emperor who barely appears in the movie. Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) who is the main villain also barely appears in the movie despite being the bad guy who started the war. The Witch (Gong Li) who is probably the worst character in this entire movie is like Mulan but bad. These are all the relevant supporting characters but there are others who are so forgettable I don't remember if they even had names.

The character arc which is part of the story is not great either. Mulan's decision to finally be true to herself and not hide that she is a woman just sort of happens because she got beaten up. Instead of it happening in a dramatic way it just feels rather random. Also, Mulan is special because she got lots of chi which ruins the message of the movie. Instead of feeling like she earned her place in the army and gaining the recognition of her comrades through her efforts it instead feels like she only got it because she is the chosen one. So the message is now "be true to yourself only if you're the special one". The Witch also goes through a character arc as well but it is extremely rushed and dumb. She makes choices that don't even make any sense such as divulging the main villain plans or sparing Mulan constantly or the really dumb choice at the end of the movie. Her addition to Mulan is pointless and if anything took away all the screentime from the main villain instead.

The action scenes are also mediocre which is such a shame. Asian movies have always nail action scenes with their amazing choreography but in Mulan it is BORING. The trailers made it seem like it might be in the veins of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" withs it floaty yet elegant style of fighting. However, it instead really plain and overly edited with many cuts.

On that note of edits, there are some weird edits in this movie that make it feel like there were important scenes that were cut. Minor spoilers but there is a scene where Mulan is riding a horse towards the enemies army in an open field but then the next scene suddenly has her behind the enemy hiding behind a rock with no explanation whatsoever. There is also a scene where after Mulan has decided to be true to herself in which she saves an ally but makes a choice to disappear into the fog. The next scene is then showing her dramatically coming back to her allies seconds later. It is so weird and took me out of the movie for sure.

I also have to talk about our main lead actress Liu Yifei who plays Mulan. She sucks. She plays Mulan with no charm or charisma or even a personality. The tone in her voice is always the same and the only real change in her voice is when she is pretending to be a male with a deep voice. She also makes no expression whatsoever, it always feels like she has the same neutral expression in every moment even when someone died its the same expression. At least Donnie Yen and Jet Li are good in their roles though.

Overall, the movie is not the all Asian cast American movie I am waiting for. It is just another inferior remake from Disney. It has none of the fun that was in the original so the movie just ends up being boring. There are some things you can enjoy in the movie with some pretty good moments sprinkled in there. Additionally, it is still pretty much a retelling of the original Mulan so the overall story is still there. It just isn't as good it could have been. Such a shame...

#movies #movie #Movie Reviews #disney #mulan #donnie yen #ip man #marvel #film

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Cinderella (Spoilers)

Disclaimer: I am posting this review the day after the movie airs on Amazon Prime, so if you haven't yet seen it don't read on until you do.

General Reaction:

It is slightly weird to think of another movie studio taking on one of the classic fairy-tales that isn't Disney, because, as I am sure is the case for a large portion of the mainstream audience, Disney have almost claimed fairytale adaptations as their own.

However, as identified, Cinderella, is a fairy tale and one created long before Disney came about. As such, other studios are allowed to put across their own interpretation of these classic stories that we have seen a lot of times adapted at this point.

That being said, we have seen many different adaptations of Cinderella at this point from the classis Disney Animation version and it's live-action counterpart, to modern-day reworkings like A Cinderella Story of the mid-noughties starring Hilary Duff.

It's quite an easy story to tell and adapt to a variety of different settings, and what this 2021 retelling does with the story blends the old-fashioned with the modern. Does that mean it is set apart from the others? Well in my opinion yes and no.

While this is a Sony movie, it plays a lot like a Disney Channel Original Movie. From the comedy to the settings to the costuming and the music, it plays like the best of those types of movies. I'm talking the High School Musical franchise and the Descendants franchise. It is by no means bad or corny, but it isn't even on the level of the 2016 live-action Cinderella.

While that version was pretty much a straightforward live-action version of the original animated version, the style of the movie outweighed the substance.

Here however, there is a great blend of both style and substance. The story takes the classic elements of the original Cinderella fairy tale but tries to inject a modern and feministic twist that the recent live-action Beauty and the Beast tried to do.

In terms of whether this version of Cinderella stands out in the crowd of Cinderella movies, I would say it does. Not only is the titular character race-bent and the setting she is in seemingly plays into that, but the reworking of the Fairy Godmother as the Fab G as well as giving the Stepmother a more humanised backstory allows for a more compelling take on a classic.

Cast:

Because this is just the one all-in review I'm not going to do an in-depth character analysis and instead group the characters as who were my favourites, who did a passable job, who was bad and who were for some reason just there.

Favourites:

I have a top 3/4 favourite characters in this movie. Idina Menzel's Stepmother Vivian, Billy Porter's Fab G, Minnie Driver's Queen Beatrice and additionally Beverly Knight's Queen Tatiana.

Idina Menzel was always going to be fantastic in this movie, but to see her portray what is traditionally the villain character in the movie as a sympathetic character as part of the movie's feminist agenda was an interesting twist. No cat for a start, I don't know if Lucifer was a part of the original fairy tale but of course in the Disney adaptations Lady Tremaine is always accompanied by her faithful feline, but also the fact that her backstory parallels Ella's current story and the fact Vivian was so willing to have Ella reject her passion to do what is expected of her just as was forced on her was actually great motivation.

In truth I have only ever seen Billy Porter in one other thing aside from this movie and that was American Horror Story: Apocalypse. I have never seen Pose though I have heard good things, but from what I understand, Billy Porter only really has one speed. However, as the character's name states, that speed is fabulous. I loved Fab G in this movie, the fairy godmother is usually one of my favourite characters in the movie and every interpretation I have seen has brought something different and memorable. If this version of Cinderella is remembered for anything it will be for this very modernised take on the Fairy Godmother, not only gender-bending and race-bending a traditionally white female character, but with Porter choosing to make the character non-binary and that outfit speaks for itself, Fab G was simply a fabulous character.

In both Disney adaptations, I have never heard mention or reference to Prince Charming having a living mother...or a dead one for that matter. So to not only have the Queen being in a chunk of this movie, but also having her own story branch tying into the feminist agenda running through the movie and being portrayed by Minnie Driver, I was in love with this character.

Pretty much similar to the Fab G, if you've seen Beverly Knight's one second in the trailers you've pretty much seen her in the movie. She contributes to Ella's story in the movie and only appears in the latter half of the movie in 2 maybe 3 scenes but she makes an impact because she's Beverly Knight. My only gripe with her is she does not sing in the movie, you have Beverly Knight with not even a solo in a group number?

Passable:

Unfortunately the star of the movie Camilla Cabello is just passable in this movie as Cinderella. She does have some humour about her and her singing is great despite maybe being autotuned because I know how she can sing, but she doesn't feel like Cinderella to me, it actually feels more like a version of what Emma Watson was doing with Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast rather than Cinderella but at least she tried.

As for Nicholas Galitzine, he's definitely more engaging as a modern-day Prince Charming, Robert is definitely more engaging a character than Ella unfortunately, which to be fair is still good as the 2015 Cinderella is the only other adaptation to really make the Prince interesting, but I can't quite put my finger on exactly which movie it is but there is another movie I have seen where the Prince Regent doesn't want to be king but the Princess does and has to fight for her right to be it...that's pretty much this story for them.

Also Pierce Brosnan as the King, despite jokingly singing towards the end, did a great job at being the archetype of old-fashioned values with his on-screen wife Minnie Driver's queen pushing him into a modern-day thinking.

Bad:

As for who's bad, I have to say it pains but the British comic relief characters really let the side down in this movie.

In the three mice defence, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster are somewhat funny but unnecessary. James Corden however is abismal in this movie. I get he produces it, but particularly after Cats I do not understand 1) Why he'd want to portray another CG animal or 2) Ever think that one shot of him changing back from human to mouse with his head on a mouse body was funny...it was terrifying.

Also this movie is supposedly a family-audience movie...so why include a crass joke of Corden's character talking about peeing out of his front tail?

Additionally to the three mice, Rob Beckett has a surprising role in this movie as a potential suitor for Vivian's daughters, but he simply portrays such a creepy, cringe-worthy character it's almost uncomfortable to watch.

New Additions:

So as well as the two queens and the British comic relief there is also the addition of Princess Gwen to the movie who is the sister of the Prince and the one who wants to be ruler. It's kind of the same story as Jasmine's in the live-action Aladdin as wanting to be Sultan but being a woman isn't taken seriously, however here it is treated more comedically as every time there is a serious moment with the King trying to force Robert to grow up and be King, she always tries to interject with "Would this be a bad time to tell you about an actual real reason why I would be a good ruler" and they make sense but she's always dismissed until the very end.

Then there's a town crier, who is also inserted as a musical number while he's reading his proclamations but as a rap. Honestly I don't know Doc Brown as an artist but I did happen to enjoy what he contributed.

Music:

Which brings us on nicely to the music of the movie as this is a musical and I usually break down the songs. Again this time I will be doing groupings of best to worse.

Honestly my favourite number is probably "Shining Star" mostly performed by Billy Porter with verses by Camilla Cabello and, unfortunately, James Corden.

I also enjoyed the two original songs of the movie, "Million to One" which is Cabello's "I Want" song of the movie and used a lot through the movie, and then also "Dream Girl" which is Idina's main other song but also sung by basically the women of the movie, it's Idina Menzel if you don't give her an original song it's an insult.

Idina's other song is a cover of "Material Girl" and honestly it is a lot of fun, Nicholas Galitzine's rendition of "Somebody to Love" was also fun and surprising as I did not think this guy could sing that well.

The group numbers were fun and well choreographed but they are also somewhat forgettable. The song at the ball of "Whatta Man/Seven Nation Army" was probably the most memorable but still just mediocre.

Recommendation:

So with all that said, would I recommend watching Sony's Cinderella? Honestly I would say it is worth at least one viewing, and I do recommend watching all the way through just to get the full experience. I do think it will do better as a streaming movie than it would have done as a theatrical release, but I cannot pinpoint a market for this movie.

I don't think this will go down as one of the great adaptations, but there are moments and aspects of the movie that sets it apart from the crowd.

Overall I rate this movie a 7/10, it's not as fantastic as I feel the trailers were making it out to be, but having seen the movie twice there are definitely elements of the movie I looked forward to watching the second time around.

So that's my review of Sony's Cinderella, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

#cinderella #cinderella 2021 #camilla cabello #nicholas galitzine #pierce brosnan #idina menzel #minnie driver #romesh ranganathan #james corden #james acaster #billy porter #rob beckett

[maxwell-grant]

OK, I know this will probably be painful, and I may be a bad mutual for asking but...would you be willing to identify what, in your opinion are the bottom five worst Shadow adaptations, and give a detailed breakdown of why they were so lousy?

Oh christ, okay. I don't think you're gonna get as much of a detailed breakdown for these compared to some of the others, because I take more issue with adaptations that do have good qualities but also big or deep problems to talk about.

For example, I can't include Garth Ennis's Shadow in this list because the comic has a lot of strong points to it, despite a deeply, deeply detestable take on The Shadow's character, where as the rest of the Dynamite run doesn't reach neither the lows or highs of his run. Likewise, Andy Helfer's run has a couple or a couple dozen moments every issue that make me want to tear something to shreds in frustration, but it's also at many points a really good comic with great art and some occasionally very inspired writing. Really, I'd just be repeating myself talking about what I hate in those.

But, fine, let's list some of the others.

I think I'm just gonna have to get the elephant in the room out of the way here, and address that I won't be including Si Spurrier's 2017 Dynamite mini in this list, and I think at least some of you might be angry it's not Number 1 by default. I'm doing this because I intend to one day really revisit it, think about it and it's reception and what it was trying to do, and talk about it on it's own, now that it's been 5 years and everyone has moved on and we can maybe talk about it without kneejerk hatred driving everyone nuts (your mileage may vary on how warranted it was).

I'm also not going to be talking about James Patterson's new novel, because I haven't read it. It seems to be considered a forgettable potboiler by mainstream critics and a resounding failure by everyone who likes the character whether they've read the book or not, and frankly I don't have it in me to learn what the fuzz was about anytime soon, I got my hands way too full as is.

And I won't be including the Batman x Shadow crossovers here, because again, they do have a lot of virtues that put them far ahead of some of the really worst Shadow media, and I've talked enough about how badly I think they mangled The Shadow, which is really the big problem I have with them (well, that and Tim Sale blatantly copying a Michael Kaluta cover, that was really shitty). I don't really hate them anymore, I just get tired and frustrated thinking about parts of them, I said my piece as is. Really, my frustration over this comic is what inspired me to start writing about The Shadow here, so I guess in a way I do owe it at least that much.

5: Archie Comics's Shadow

I think some of you might be wondering why this isn't ranked higher, but to be honest, I don't actually harbor any hatred towards this. I mean, I have to include it, but I find it kinda silly that some people even today actually care about the existence of this comic enough to hate it.

For fans back then? Oh yeah, obviously, but this dropped to such instantaneous backlash that it never really got to live past 6 issues. Really, everything wrong about it can be understood immediately from the covers, and I've actually read the comic in it's entirety to see if there was anything worth taking. I found only a couple of things of note but, no, this really is just a painfully mediocre superhero comic that happens to have a couple of Shadow names in it. If anything, it gets too much credit.

The actual contents of what it is are never going to justify it's reputation, but the existence of it and the disproportionate response to it is the funniest and most enduring legacy it could ever ask for. This whole comic is The Shadow's version of Spongebob's embarassing Christmas photo.

4: David Liss's The Shadow Now

This is another "The Shadow as an immortal in modern times" comic and I think you may have noticed the pattern with those by now. I may revisit this eventually and I do have some moments from it saved for reference, but overall: It sucks, and it doesn't even suck in a way that lets me talk much about it, it's a diet version of Chaykin's Shadow. If Archie's Shadow is a generic mediocre superhero comic wearing The Shadow's name, this is a generic crime story playing beats from movie. The Shadow is an asshole and not even a grandiose or sinister one, he just feels like a sleazy douche in a costume. The art is a 50/50 coin toss between appropriately moody and "Google images with a filter on them", I don't remember anything about the plot other than Khan had a bomb again and he had a daughter, and there were new versions of the agents and the Harry stand-in turned evil and Lamont shacked up with Margo's descendant which, uh, no. I don't really hate this but I really have nothing nice to say about this comic other than Colton Worley's art is nice sometimes. I can't really muster anything else to say here.

3: Invisible Avenger

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZ...

...uuh, wha-

Yeah, I remember nothing about this one other than it's painfully boring and nothing about it, nothing at all, works in the slightest and I drift off to sleep even now trying to give this a rewatch. To be honest pretty much every other Shadow serial not starred by Victor Jory sucks and I don't really have anything to say about them, this one is just the worst of the lot. I dearly wish there was a good Shadow tv series but, if it was going to be like this pilot? Good riddance.

2: Harlan Ellison's The New York Review of Bird

This isn't really a Shadow story as much as it's a Harlan Ellison story that happens to feature The Shadow, but man am I glad that Ellison's "Dragon Shadows" was canned, because holy shit what a goddamn nightmare Harlan Ellison writing The Shadow for real could have been, going purely by the one time he ever touched the character. New York Review of Bird is a purely farcical parody story that wears real, real thin even before "Uncle Kent" shows up, and we get to see in it what is by far the most detestable and irredeemable take on The Shadow ever put on print, and not even in a critique or deconstructive way or anything that could be remotely worth discussing.

I don't hold any particular affection for Harlan Ellison and his writing (despite liking some of it) and I've come to notice the major red flag that is finding someone who looks up to Harlan Ellison in any capacity as a person, and this story in particular really feels like Ellison aggressively trying to channel his jackass tendencies through every line, just him being nasty because he built a personal brand on being nasty. The only reason this isn't Number One is because it's a very short story that saw zero influence or reputation, and thus it only exists as a brief mention in The Shadow wiki, and a brief mention is all it really calls for.

1: Howard Chaykin's Blood & Judgment

I'm guessing most of you already knew this one was in the top spot before I started writing.

I would actually rather not write a big piece on Blood & Judgment, because I think (or at least I hope) it's influence on The Shadow has waned a lot over the years and I would prefer to draw it the least amount of attention possible, but if I HAVE to talk about this, I guess I'd rather just vomit this out of my circuits now instead of giving it it's own post.

I would prefer to use a less unpleasant image on my blog, but if I'm going to talk about this comic, there's no image to better convey it than this drawing of macho asshole Cranston holding a sexualized mannequin at gunpoint. By leaps and bounds, Blood & Judgment is the most misogynistic Shadow story I've ever read. It's ironic that Chaykin justified the rampant misogyny he gave The Shadow with the idea that this is just a man from the 30s would act like, when he admits in the same breath that he never even touched the stories, and he wrote a story more sexist and demeaning to it's female characters than anything, literally anything, written in the Shadow pulps. It's almost impressive even.

I'll paste some segments from Randy Raynaldo's review

In Flagg, he intended to present his own point of view on American society while keeping his work tongue in cheek and acessible. But this vision dimmed, and Flagg had become a vehicle by which Chaykin could play out fetishes and portray gratuitous and stylish violence.

In The Shadow, stripped of the political and social veneer which was supposed to make Flagg unique, Chaykin's sensibilities and excesses become disturbingly apparent. For all of his liberal posturing, Chaykin's work demonstrates zero difference from the same kind of mentality exploited and made popular by similarly violent popular culture icons like Dirty Harry and Death Wish.

More than half a dozen individuals are indiscriminately and violently murdered in the first issue. Although the victims are characters who played major roles in the myth of The Shadow, we feel little sympathy for them, even for those of us who knew these characters at the outset. Who dies is unimportant, it's how they die that is the fascination.

Chaykin uses sexual decadence as a means by which to establish villains, and undercuts this device by making the protagonists as promiscuous as the villains. For all of Chaykin's seemingly liberal leanings, he demonstrates very little sensitivity in his portrayal of women.

Because everything works on rules of three, this comic also follows the pattern with other works mentioned here, as this isn't Howard Chaykin writing The Shadow: it's The Shadow reimagined as a Howard Chaykin character. He looks and acts exactly like Reuben Flagg and the typical macho protagonist of Chaykin's other works, he's a cynical sleaze with an entirely new origin who half-assedly dons a garb to machine gun people, and I already wrote a separate piece on why the machineguns are kind of emblematic of everything wrong with this take.

I understand that Chaykin has, or used to have, a big following of sorts, and I've tried to wrap my head around this for years, but I genuinely still don't get why Shadow fans stomach this comic unless they happen to be Chaykin fans first and foremost, I really don't. Everything, fucking everything Shadow fans hate about modern depictions of the character can be traced right back to this. The parts that stuck and changed the character for the worse, like him being defined as an immortal, bloodthirsty warmonger who got all his skills and powers from a magic city in Tibet, or Lamont Cranston being a coward who fears and hates the Shadow, or his agents being expendable slaves, stuff that has been ingrained into the mythos through this and the Alec Baldwin movie and other comics, to the point that people now think of it as the norm, that it's the baseline of what The Shadow is, and I hate it, I genuinely fucking hate it,

I hate it so much that it's a big part of the reason why I created this blog and why I want so badly to get to write The Shadow, because I plainly couldn't stand not having ways to tell people that this is all wrong, that this is actively shooting down the character's odds for success, and that they are missing out on something really great, because the well has been tainted with garbage that won't go away and everytime I read the words Shambala in a Shadow comic, even an otherwise good or great one, I get just a wee bit cross.

The only semi-redeeming aspects I can think of for this comic is one or two cool moments, like when The Shadow hijacks a concert using his Devil's Whisper or when he tames dogs with a stare. Just breadcrumbs of "not garbage" amidst an ocean of anything but. I hate that talking about why I hate this comic in-length can almost feel like I'm still enticing people to check it out of curiosity, but if you wanna do that, fine, just know this: The worst part of Blood & Judgment, even if you don't care at all about what it did to The Shadow, is that it's boring.

It is a deeply boring comic. If you like Howard Chaykin to begin with, you'll probably like this okay (although even Chaykin fans told me that this is his weakest work and that even he seems to agree). If you don't, I plain don't see what you could get out of this.

The comic itself is just nothing. It's the comic book equivalent of a pre-schooler trying to get a reaction by swearing. It has nothing whatsoever other than half-assed attempts at shock value. The plot isn't there, the ideas are stale, the dialogue is needlessly oblique and comprised entirely of unfinished sentences, interrupted conversations and one-liners without build-up. The characters are all unlikable and uninteresting stooges with no personality, or joyless cartoons. There's no heart or emotion or logic, and it isn't even funny enough to succeed as just an outrageous exercise in 80s excess. There's nothing in here.

I get "why" it was popular enough at the time, a rising star creator penning a modern revival of an old character based on controversy that pissed off the old fans, it's an old story that still gets repeated today. But manufactured controversy is not a replacement for storytelling and it rarely ever exists to benefit the people who actually want to enjoy the stories, it only benefits those for the crude benefit of those who want to sell you something out of the controversy.

I guess they got their money's worth back then.

------------------------------------------------

Phew, okay, I did it, I finally vomited out a piece on Blood & Judgment and some others, allright, let's put this piece of negativity behind us now.

#replies tag #the shadow #pulp heroes #shadow comics #shadow films #dc comics

[tsuzuruchipalace]

rating mankai company based on character design

Note: I will take into account hair, color scheme, sprite poses, mostly outfits that are not from plays or scouts, and memorability. This is half an objective view and half my personal opinion.

Disclaimer: I curse a lot for comedic effort. I am mean because I am funny. No, you cannot disagree.

Spring 🌸

sakuya: you get what you see. a literal spring babey. his hair and color scheme’s a little generic, but he’s mankai’s poster boy, so that’s understandable. speaking of generic, his main pose is just this emoji 🧍‍♂️ his outfits tend to be kinda basic, but any outfit with a mostly pink top gets him bonus points. 6/10

masumi: okay his hair is elite. probably one of the most memorable character design aspects among the cast. his mole and eyes also make him very pretty. love my boy’s dark color scheme. unfortunately, points must be docked for baiting us with the emo fit, then as the story progresses, he starts dressing like the trust fund kid he is smh. 9/10

tsuzuru: i love you tsuzu but. my mans is so basic. if he didn’t have such a great personality, he’d be as bland as untoasted white bread. the saya of a3. his best design aspect is the fact that he doesn’t dye his roots. his outfits look comfy, but not necessarily eye-catching. 4/10

itaru: everyone who starts a3! with no knowledge of these characters has one (1) thought about itaru. sec sea man. so obviously there’s something appealing/good about his character design. i think part of the appeal is his fuck-all demeanor. obviously, his eyes and hairstyle are attractive, but the way the artists draw him gives him an air of not caring, which is also attractive in a way. his dyed tips are also nice. he looks kinda lame when he dresses professionally, but his casual outfits hit. especially the ones with light pink. 8/10

citron: although i’m not a big fan of the “character is foreign and therefore must talk and dress different and be funny” trope in these types of media, his fashion does make him stand out from the other characters who tend to have more basic clothes. citron’s summer, travel, and autumn outfits SLAP and anyone who says otherwise has bad taste. his hair and eyes are interesting, but his overall color scheme can be a bit repetitive. 7/10

chikage: i hate this guy’s fucking bowlcut. fucking salad bowl lookin ass. every outfit is the same turtleneck and sneakers in two alternate colors. his outfits are so plain. only thing i like is his casual outfit glasses. HOWEVER. that’s the point. he’s supposed to look boring and blend in because he’s a spy. it’s a smart design, i just don’t like it so im docking points. stay mad about it. 5/10

Summer ☀️

tenma: im yawning. you think tsuzu was boring? this guy has orange hair and i still find his design boring. that’s how you know he’s basic. he’s got generic messy shounen protag hair. he could be from any property. if i drew fanart of him, people would ask where he’s from. he either dresses like your slightly homophobic frat boy classmate or a grandfather who gets his shit stolen by the asshole kids next door. 2/10

yuki: he has the r a n g e. all of yuki’s casual outfits hit. they’re all different, but cute in their own way. to no one’s surprise, one of the best styled characters. though i like his general color scheme, i’m personally not the biggest fan of his hairstyle. it’s okay, but a little plain at times. but i think it suits him well. 7/10

muku: i love him. muku’s design is what i love about this game. you see him, and you immediately know what his character archtype is supposed to be. he’s the soft, cute boy. and if this was a mediocre series, that’d be all muku is. but since this is a3, he’s so much more than that. he’s smart, passionate, sensitive to others’ feelings, and protective. a3 does a great job designing characters that look exactly like their archtype, but having a much more developed personality than that. getting back to the actual subject at hand, i love his hairstyle and color, as well as his outfits. you can never go wrong with light pink hair. i may be biased but fuck you. 10/10

misumi: another great memorable design. his eye shape and hair style are really unique. his outfits also elevate his design. street fashion is always a plus for me. though sumi’s design is special in the world of a3! where most of the characters are just. guys. regular lookin dudes. i think that outside of the game, his design would not be as unique. 8/10

kazunari: personally, im a fan. maybe it’s cause i have an affinity for blonde anime boys. but his hairstyle is pretty unique and his trendy looks set him apart from most characters, even outside this game. and he has a pretty lovable expression in his sprites. his fatal flaw is that his fits are either a hit or miss. they’re either really cute or wtf. at least he’s memorable. 8/10

kumon: i love that he reminds me of an owl. his hair and eyes are very cute and his color scheme is great. and i think they did a great job making him look related to juza, but still very much his own character. but he dresses like your classmate from middle school that looks like a nike-sponsored highlighter. yeah, he’s the sporty one, and i like the windbreakers but... i cannot excuse his summer fit. also, i find his design a little tame compared to some of the other characters in the game. 6/10

Autumn 🍂

banri: i hate his hair. i hate it so much. i know in canon it’s nice and he takes good care of it, but it looks so fucking greasy. the style makes him look so greasy and it makes me mad. he looks like an asshole. i mean, he is, so it fits. if this dumb bitch changed his hair more often, i’d like his design so much more. you saw this coming; his love for cheetah print is fucking repulsive. BUT, maybe unpopular opinion, minus the animal print, his sense of fashion is not bad. why do yall clown on it. if the fit is fresh, the fit is fresh. anyway, he looks like an ass, but objectively his design is kinda eh. 5/10

juza: im sorry im DEADLY fucking biased when it comes to juza, but he’s so handsome. his hair is a such a rich, pretty shade of purple and his eyes are so mesmerizing. his hairstyle is so attractive. his face is so pretty. yeah his design isn’t crazy unique, but the simplicity just works. im so sorry im this man’s whore i didn’t choose this life... but i can stop being a simp for one second to say that he has a boring fashion sense. i mean it’s kinda hot how simple his outfits are but his travel fit is good-- wait a minute i just remembered the fucking sandals. docking one point. 9/10

taichi: okay shut the fuck up i LOVE taichi’s design. so eye-catching and fun. as i’ve said i love street fashion, and taichi’s lil e-boy fits are right up my alley. that shade of bright red goes so well with his fashion sense, making a really cohesive design. with his main outfit, you can tell he purposely dresses like that to be trendy and it’s so smart. 10/10

omi: im sorry omi stans but his design is kinda,, boring. i legit had such a hard time identifying him when i first got into this game. the scar saves it a bit. but... only a bit. he’s just got. hair. and a dad outfit. i mean his tits are huge, but i don’t think i can call that a character design aspect. kinda forgettable design. i don’t dislike it though, so he ranks higher than tenma did. 3/10

sakyo: im not sure why but i really like sakyo’s design?? the contrast of his light hair and his dark clothes is nice. also, megane rights. even when i thought he was an npc during my first playthrough, i really dug his design and thought he was memorable. i actually cannot pinpoint a reason why. i wish i had more constructive things to say... but upon thinking about it, he has a karen haircut, which kinda dampers my thoughts on his design. i like his moles, but i honestly did not notice them until the game pointed them out. 7/10

azami: azami has a damn good design. i don’t think anyone can deny that. the long hair, the contrast of black hair and bright blue eyes, his eye shape. all very eye-catching design aspects. and the street fashion style strikes again. the color scheme matches well with everything. this review is lame, but there’s really only good things i can say about his design so. 10/10

Winter ❄️

tsumugi: it’s so late and im so tired of looking at these sprites. anyway, tsumugi’s design is okay. i think his color scheme’s a bit limited and his outfits are a bit meh. he has a more respectable bowlcut than chikage, but it’s still a bowlcut and it’s still boring. i think the best part of his design is his eyes, they’re very soft and kind. but other than that, tsumugi looks pretty basic. 5/10

tasuku: tbh, i didn’t even realize that the godza member tasuku was the same character as the winter troupe guy in the game’s opening until the middle of episode 3... yeah. im slow. ooooooor... tasuku has the worst fucking design in the game. yeah i said it. come at me, but tasuku’s design fucking sucks. i literally thought he was a minor character until they forced me to realize he wasn’t. his fashion sense is... questionable at best. i look at that man’s hair and think he doesn’t shampoo. he looks so bland i could dry up from looking at him. im sorry but his tits do not make up for the sheer fucking snorefest of his character design. he’s so boring i won’t elaborate anymore. 1/10

hisoka: ya get what ya see part 2. i like that i can tell he’s the sleepy and mysterious character just by his design, but honestly, that’s a character trope im generally not a big fan of. so i wasn’t thrilled by hisoka’s design at first. but it’s effective. i like the hairstyle with the white hair, but i’m not too fond of his color scheme. his outfits look comfy and soft though. it makes sense, but it’s nothing too memorable if you compare him to characters outside the game. 5/10.

homare: ah, now this is a memorable character design. his hairstyle annoyed me in the beginning, but now i love it. it’s so unique and fun. and i like the purple. i also like his outfits. very classy. but honestly, most of his charisma lies in his face. i think that the pure eccentricity of the hairstyle is enough to put him in the top tier without considering any other element. you really could not find this design in any other media. fuck it. i don’t need to consider anything else. 9/10

azuma: i’ll be honest. im not a fan of long-haired anime men. especially the pretty, flirty types. i don’t know, i just don’t vibe with them. originally, i didn’t like azuma’s design, but now i do. i don’t know how, but i think it’s because azuma is just that powerful. his ponytail makes it more bearable for me and i like the way his bangs frame his face. he just has pretty eyes and face. unfortunately his color scheme is a little too repetitive for me and his casual outfits are a little boring. 6/10

guy: maybe it’s because he looks dead inside, but i love him. i don’t even know this character that well yet, but i think his deadass expression is great. the darker under-eyeline sets him apart from the other characters and i love how he dresses. i think his hair is kinda eh. i personally like it, but objectively, it’s meh. it’s a solid design, but ngl it’s nothing special when i really think about it. 6/10

#for legal reasons this is a joke #this entire post should be underlined with a /lh #i love them all very much im sorry for being mean #except for chikage he deserves it #long post #a3! #a3! act! addict! actors! #A3! Actor Training Game #mod tsuzu talks

[obtusemedia]

Ranking Lady Gaga's albums, from worst to best

Being a Lady Gaga fan can be an exercise in frustration.

Gaga is far more ambitious than most popstars — I doubt we’ll ever see Ariana Grande or Ed Sheeran make an album as left-field as Born This Way or ARTPOP. But she's also far less consistent, with numerous misbegotten projects.

Gaga's undeniably successful, with five #1 hits, an Oscar and multiple iconic music videos to her name. But her messy album rollouts and tradition of underperforming lead singles make her feel like an underdog compared to the more polished, precise careers of her contemporaries like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé or Bruno Mars.

Gaga is kind of a mess. But she's our mess. This album ranking will cover some records I can't stand — albums that make me constantly hit the fast-forward button, or albums I ignore altogether. But there isn't a single record on here that wasn't a bold move. Even the "back to basics" albums made strong aesthetic choices.

So let's dive into the career of the most fascinating Millennial popstar.

#8: Cheek To Cheek (2014)

This really shouldn't count. It's a Lady Gaga album in name only. But, technically it's a Gaga album, so here we are.

I've got nothing against Gaga having fun playing Rat Pack-era dress-up with Tony Bennett. She's a theatre kid at heart, and I'm sure every theatre kid would kill to make a Great American Songbook covers record like this. It sounds like she and Tony enjoyed themselves, so I'm happy for them!

...but I'm sorry. I can't be objective about Cheek To Cheek, it's the opposite of my taste. There's only so many bland lounge ballads I can take.

BEST SONGS: I have to pick one? "Anything Goes" is cute, I guess.

WORST SONG: "Sophisticated Lady"

#7: A Star Is Born (2018)

Let me first make this clear — A Star Is Born, the movie starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga? It's a masterpiece. It's electrifying and tragic and I'm still upset it didn't sweep the Oscars that year. There's even a cute dog! You won't hear me say a bad word about it.

But A Star Is Born, the accompanying soundtrack? It's extremely hit-and-miss.

Yes, it includes arguably Gaga's best-ever song and one of the greatest movie hits ever written, "Shallow." And there's plenty of other great tunes in the tracklist too — "Always Remember Us This Way," "I'll Never Love Again," the "La Vie En Rose" cover.

Even the country-rock songs from Bradley Cooper (who, reminder, is not a professional singer) are mostly good! "Black Eyes" RIPS, and "Maybe It's Time" feels like a long-lost classic.

But sadly, there are so many mediocre filler tracks on this thing. The second half of A Star Is Born's hour-plus runtime (Gaga's longest!) is padded with generic songs like "Look What I've Found," "Heal Me" and "I Don't Know What Love Is." The only good one out of the bunch is the silly, intentionally-bad "Why Did You Do That?"

In the movie, these filler tracks serve a point – they're meant to show Gaga's character selling out. They work in the movie when you hear them for a few seconds and see Cooper make a drunkly disappointed scowl. But I don't want to listen to them, and sadly, they make up half the album.

In other words — A Star Is Born would've made an incredible six or seven-song EP. But as an 63-minute-long record? It's a slog.

BEST SONGS: "Shallow", "Always Remember Us This Way," "Maybe It's Time"

WORST SONG: "Heal Me"

#6: Joanne (2016)

After Born This Way and ARTPOP, I get why Gaga needed to make a more lowkey, back-to-basics album. I also understand that many of these songs have extremely personal lyrics for her.

But is a down-to-earth album what I really want from our most outré popstar? Not really.

Luckily, Joanne is better than that description suggests. Yes, there are some bland acoustic ballads and awkward hippie-era throwbacks (two styles that are really not in Gaga's wheelhouse), but there's also some Springsteen-style heartland rockers! And those go hard in the paint.

Joanne works best when Gaga works the record's dusty aesthetics into her brand of weirdo pop, like on the sizzling "John Wayne," the winking "A-YO" or the delightfully extra Florence Welch duet "Hey Girl."

The record also has "Perfect Illusion" — a glorious red herring of a lead single that sounds nothing like anything else on Joanne. It's a roided-up mixture of woozy Tame Impala production and hair metal histrionics, and it rules. It might be Gaga's best-ever lead single! (at the very least, it's her most underrated.)

And there is one slow tune that's unambiguously great: "Million Reasons," another solid Gaga lighters-in-the-air power ballad pastiche.

Despite what some Little Monsters may tell you, Joanne isn't a disaster. There's some great stuff in there, and even the worst songs are just forgettable. But it's still far from her best.

BEST SONGS: "Perfect Illusion," "Diamond Heart," "Million Reasons"

WORST SONG: "Come To Mama"

#5: Chromatica (2020)

When Chromatica was released near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been seven years since Gaga had released music in her classic gonzo-synthpop vein. I can easily picture the record serving as an "ugh fine, I'll give you what you want" response to the many Little Monsters annoyed with Gaga's half-decade of folksy ballads and Julie Andrews cosplay.

I'll say this about Chromatica — outside of The Fame Monster, it's her most consistent record. There's not a single track that's a glaring mistake. And the three singles — "Stupid Love," "911" and the triumphant Ariana Grande duet "Rain On Me" — easily stand among her best tracks.

But although "all bangers, no ballads" album sounds rad in theory, it doesn't really succeed in practice. Chromatica is solid, but it's also a very same-y record. It feels like Gaga had one really great idea for the album ('90s club music with super-depressing lyrics) and repeated it over and over and over again to diminishing results.

There are some songs that are able to separate themselves: the three singles, of course, as well as the goofy "Babylon" and "Sine From Above," the Elton John duet that's the closest Chromatica gets to a ballad. But by the end of the album, you feel more worn out than electrified.

Also — and this is probably unfair, but still — Chromatica came out just a couple months after another retro-dance blockbuster pop album: Dua Lipa's magnum opus, Future Nostalgia. That's not a flattering comparison.

BEST SONGS: "Rain On Me," "Stupid Love," "911"

WORST SONG: "1000 Doves"

#4: The Fame (2008)

Out of all of Gaga's records, The Fame is most like a time capsule. It REEKS of late '00s/early '10s pop — which isn't an entirely fair criticism, seeing as Gaga popularized that era's sleazy, synthy aesthetic. It's also not a bad thing! I don't mind a little nostalgia!

As you already know, The Fame's singles are masterworks. "Just Dance," "Poker Face," "Paparazzi" — these tracks have titanic legacies for good reason. And although it's probably the least-beloved of this album's hits, despite being a total banger, "LoveGame" should still be commended for having arguably the most Gaga lyric ever (you know, the "disco stick" line).

And even though those tracks are front-loaded on The Fame, there are some gems deeper in the tracklist. "Summerboy" is basically Gwen Stefani covering The Strokes (so obviously, it's great). "Eh, Eh" is adorable. "Starstruck" is the most 2008 song ever recorded, with aggressive Auto-Tune and Flo Rida showing up to make Starbucks jokes.

Sadly, The Fame still feels like Gaga before she became fully-formed at certain points. The back half has a number of songs that feel like generic club tracks forced by the label, and "Paper Gangsta" is one of the clunkiest songs in Gaga's catalogue.

But at the very least, the bad songs on The Fame at least serve as little nostalgia bombs for that era of pop. And the best songs are untouchable classics.

BEST SONGS: "Paparazzi," "Just Dance," "Summerboy"

WORST SONG: "Paper Gangsta"

#3: ARTPOP (2013)

For much of Gaga's career, she's been ahead of the curve. She tries something, and a year or a few years later, other popstars try something similar to diminishing results.

That doesn't just apply to the successful stuff, like Gaga's extravagant music videos inspiring many copycats from 2010-2013. It also applies to the mid-late '10s trend of legacy popstars making a controversial record with risky aesthetic or lyrical choices that backfired: reputation. Witness. Man of The Woods.

Gaga did this first, with ARTPOP — arguably the most abrasive, and bizzare major label album released by a major modern popstar. And she did it better, because unlike Swift, Perry and Timberlake, Gaga's weirdness was for real. And it was in service of some prime, hyper-aggressive bangers.

ARTPOP isn't Gaga's best work — some of her experiments on it are major misfires, from the obnoxious "Mary Jane Holland" to the bland Born This Way leftover (and Romani slur-utilizing) "Gypsy."

But when ARTPOP is on, it's ON. The opening stretch in particular, from "Aura" to "Venus" to "G.U.Y." to "Sexxx Dreams," is chaotic synthpop at its finest. Those songs took Gaga's classic sound to an apocalyptic, demented extreme, and they're fantastic.

"MANiCURE" is a great glam-rock banger, "Dope" is another classic Gaga piano ballad, the title track is some sikly-smooth dreampop; even the misguided, clunky trap anthem "Jewels N' Drugs" is bad in a hilarious, charming way!

Trust me: ARTPOP will go down in history not as a flop, but as a gutsy, underrated record from a legend. Less Witness, more In Utero.

BEST SONGS: "G.U.Y.," "Venus," "Sexxx Dreams"

WORST SONG: "Gypsy"

#2: The Fame Monster (2009)

Objectively speaking, this is probably the best Gaga album.

It's her one record with no fluff, no filler — only 34 minutes and 8 tracks, all of them stellar.

It's the record that took Gaga from "wow, this new woman is a fresh new face in pop!" to "this woman IS pop."

It's the record with her signature track, "Bad Romance," which was accompanied by arguably the greatest music video of the 21st Century. (It also has my absolute favorite Gaga track, the relentlessly catchy "Telephone.")

I don't think I need to explain what makes mega-smashes "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and "Alejandro" great, nor the accompanying legendary deep cuts "Speechless" and "Dance In The Dark." They speak for themselves.

However — the sleek, calculated perfection of The Fame Monster, while incredible, isn't something I return to often. It's just not the side of Gaga that's my favorite. That honor would have to go to...

BEST SONGS: "Telephone," "Dance In The Dark," "Bad Romance"

WORST SONG: "So Happy I Could Die" (but it's still pretty solid)

#1: Born This Way (2011)

One of my favorite podcasts is Blank Check. The concept of the show is to analyze each movie by a famous director — in particular, those who had big success early on and then got a blank check to make whatever crazy passion project they wanted. Here's a great example: because Batman was a massive hit, Tim Burton got to make whatever Hot Topic-core movies he wanted to for decades, from Edward Scissorhands to a creepy Willy Wonka remake.

That long-winded tangent is just to say: Born This Way was Lady Gaga's blank check. By early 2011, she had conquered the pop universe, notching hit after hit after hit. Every other pop star was copying her quirky music videos. So the label let Gaga do whatever she wanted — and she didn't waste that opportunity.

Born This Way is wildly overproduced. It's both extremely trend-chasing (those synths were cutting edge at the time but charmingly dated now), but also deeply uncaring about what the teens want (I don't think Springsteen and Queen homages were big at the time). And I love every messy, overblown second of it.

From the hair-metal/synthpop hybrid opener "Marry The Night" to the majestic '80s power ballad "The Edge of Glory," Born This Way starts at an 11. And Gaga never takes her foot off the pedal for the album's entire hour-plus run time. Clanging electric guitars, thunderous synths and Clarence Clemons (!!!) sax solos collide into each other as Gaga champions every misfit and loser in the world. It's gloriously corny in the best way possible.

Born This Way is also the perfect middle ground of pop-savvy Gaga and gonzo Gaga. It doesn't go quite as hard as ARTPOP, but the hooks are stronger. And the oddball moments are tons of fun, from the sci-fi biker anthem "Highway Unicorn" to the goofy presidential-sex banger "Government Hooker" ("Put your hands on me/John F. Kennedy" might be the greatest line in pop history).

Born This Way will always be my favorite Gaga album. It's armed with nuclear-grade hooks, slamming beats, and soaring anthems. Although it's not as untouchably pristine as the Mt. Rushmore of '10s pop classics (for the record, that's 1989, EMOTION, Lemonade and, of course, Melodrama), Gaga isn't best served by meticulousness. She's proudly tacky and histrionic, and so that's what makes Born This Way an utter joy.

BEST SONGS: "The Edge of Glory," "You and I," "Marry The Night"

WORST SONG: "Bloody Mary"

[goldenkid]

doctor who rant time

literally the ONLY redeeming thing abt chibnall’s doctor who is that 13 is hot and that’s just me being gay but like. where’s her personality. like mr chibnall can we PLEASE see a personality that isn’t awkwardly forced speeches or not very funny one liners or cobbled together traits from previous doctors like a less likeable 10/11 with none of the...you know...heart/soul and personality.

and then there’s the companions. ryan is cool, dude got lucky with at least 3/4 of a personality and a sweet arc w graham in s11; speaking of graham what did he contribute in s12 except for comic relief and like 1 (one) nightmare about his dead wife (remember her??). and yaz........yaz. cardboard cutout half hearted queerbait who nobody bothered to give a personality or like...ANYTHING to do. at all. for 2 seasons. she just stands there and says a line that could’ve been ryan or graham’s once in a while. oh she was depressed? nice tidbit to throw in 1.5 seasons into her being a companion and then never elaborate on. love the character arc she had....oh wait. oh yaz yeah she’s so--uh....policewoman? brave i guess? she has cool hair that counts for something i guess

and ofc i don’t dare go near the mess of the plot. sure, there were a couple decent episodes, one or two solid plots and side characters who weren’t blander than cardboard cereal, but everything else is some of the most badly paced, forgettable, token-activism-with-weird-centrist??-messages, boring pile of plot points that go nowhere and suggestions at character development that make you want to yell at the screen to make these characters do something!! put them through something!! make them learn or at least get sad for more than half an episode!! can we get some meaningful interaction in here pls?? and no mr chibnall that doesn’t mean one long speech with the moral of the episode awkwardly shoved in and then everyone going about their business. like moffat plots made no fuckin sense half the time but at least they were fun!! at least the characters were dynamic and the situations were interesting!! like moffat may not have done good overarching plots or simple concepts/down to earth characters but he could like...write an entertaining story.

and then i literally can’t go into shit like the timeless child...nazi master...weird message of kerblam...13 being like ‘no guns!!1’ and also kinda indifferent to suffering...like what were you GOING FOR HERE? do you think doctor who fans watch the show for the lore?? of course not we watch it for the stupid shit and space and emotions. and also if it’s not too much to ask, for the gay characters who don’t die.

and basically at the end of it, s11 and 12 were just straight up not much fun to watch. i’m more invested in doctor who than the average person and i was always several weeks behind with s12 because i didn’t care to catch up. i’ll watch the new season but for the first time ever i’m not actively looking forward to it coming out. i’m not expecting it to get much better. or at least not enough to make me invested in these characters that i’ve tried REALLY HARD to love. i spent all of s11 overlooking flaws and persuading myself the episodes were good, but the doctor being a hot lady can only tide you over so far. i didn’t really like s12. it’s mediocre tv. good actors can’t make bad writing into fun tv. or they can, but not for two entire seasons.

idk. i had high hopes for chibnall, for a female doctor, for 3 companions for new doctor who but i’m probably the most disappointed i’ve ever been. i’d rather rewatch season 6 than this, and i still don’t know what the fuck was going on that season. but at least it was fun to watch!! unlike this, which is boring. it all comes down to doctor who not only being bad, which is excusable, but being dull as well. and that just sucks

#doctor who #anti chibnall #i guess lol #i love doctor who so much and being consistently disappointed by it hurts so much #and god i had such high hopes for jodie whittaker's doctor #also i think all the actors are great not bashing them #just...yeah i really really really tried to like it #and i'm a bit let down #'''a bit''' #hmm #i'm tired #i'm gonna go to bed now #goodnight

[fefeman]

BNA review

Okay, so here are my thought on BNA by studio Trigger.

my grading: 10 = excelent, 9-8 = very good, 7-6 = good, 5 = average, 4-3 = mediocre and underwhelming, 2-1 = bad, 0 = I feel personally insulted (as in: Gate).

Plot: 6/10. The plot isn’t exactly bad in itself, but it certainly feel quite shortened. The show was meant to be 24 episodes but was reduced to 12. This mean the end start moving very quickly, and some developments seem to come out of thin air. The plot itself is pretty standard Trigger story, with plot twist and conspiracy going around.

Themes: 5/10. Themes have always been a huge issue for Trigger. Either they downplay it to get a cool action scene, or they try to have one character (or group of character) represent too many things, not all of them compatibles. This was an issue with the Burnish in Promare, and this is somewhat of an issue here. By the end of the series, the Beast peoples are allegory of two things that, while not exclusive, cannot be talked about in the same way, and thus the message is weakened.  However, if you take those two themes individually, they aren’t handled that terribly. The second (that is revealed toward the end) in particular is something anime and comics books rarely get right. The first, while somewhat invalidated by the end plot-wist, still manage to pass. Those two theme could have worked rather well if they had been separate seasons of the same show. So I’ll advise not to expect great profound thinking from this show, but it isn’t malicious and doesn’t carry a harmful message.

Characters: 8.5/10. I loved the characters of this show. The protagonists were interesting without being overly complex, and bounced rather well on each others, without being dependent of each other to be interesting. The secondary cast is also interesting as well, and don’t feel like cardboard background for the protagonists. While the antagonists are VERY obvious, they are consistent enough about it to be entertaining.

Animation & Art: 9.5/10. The series is VERY pretty. This is Trigger forte, and once again they delivered there. Be it the character design, the many transformations present in the show, the fight scenes, and  the more casual interactions. 

music: 6/10. Don’t get me wrong, the OP and ED are excellent. But the music is rather forgettable most of the time. I can only remember the antagonist theme. 

My opinion: 8/10. Yes, this is higher than what the average of the previous notes would be. I’m a sucker for Trigger animation style and chara design, and the interactions between some of the characters were a critical hit for me. 

It’s a good show, not a masterpiece but still enjoyable, and I’ll recommend it if you like furry (duh), cool actions sequences, ambiguous character situation, rekindling friendships and shitting on eugenicist.

Some others +: - I really liked that there was no romance involved, the show focusing mostly on friendship. Not that you aren’t allowed to ship certain characters, but I tend to prefer when romance is in the hand of the fans. - Pedophile being called creepy and getting his ass handed to him is always good. - I loved how two friends were in the middle of a “friendship breakup”, but still constantly tried to ensure the safety of the other and clearly cared about them. - Most handsome bird of all time. - Also, handsome wolf. - The way the main character move was a treat, especially toward the end. - “Eugenicist are idiots and evil” is a great message, fight me. - Trigger doesn’t go to space

Some others -: - The weasel/mink doesn’t have enough screentime. - While I love them, a certain character still got away relatively too lightly for some of their mistakes. - While it’s said the beast peoples have their own culture, apart from their religion, their society look too similar to humans IMO. - There is the wolf equivalent of a Cats (2019) character and its never gonna leave my memory now. - Trigger doesn’t go to space

#BNA #Brand New Animal #Studio Trigger #review #BNA review #anime review