Review - Blog Posts

Tutorial (Pixel Animation Tutorial) Review!

In this blog I’ll be reviewing my pixel animation tutorial from my UCA workshop!

To kick things off, I just wanted to say that I’m not very good at explaining myself in most situations, tutorials included... So at the start I was a tad worried it wouldn’t be up to scratch... However I soon learnt that by making the steps short and easy to follow would make the tutorial better, as well as adding a friendly tone to it!

From this tutorial I learned how to give a friendly tone to the steps, as well as how to make it easy to follow! However I found that writing out the steps and explaining them was quite difficult.

I enjoyed adding my own little bits and pieces into the tutorial, as well as drawing out the steps! It’s really nice for me to see others taking my advice and turning it into something beautiful!

Finally, for the next tutorial I do, I’ll probably try and add in more detail to the steps and maybe not have so many steps in there in the first place!

My review on the new Sonic Movie! *SPOILER WARNING!*

For a start, I just want to express how grateful I am for the redesign Paramount worked so hard on! They took their monstrosity and made it look more like the modern sonic we know and love to this day! 

Another thing to note about the redesign is how much more emotion and expression it holds, the enlarged eyes show more emotions and give the animators in this project more to work with. Not only that but by getting rid of the “human” teeth, the design appears less uncanny and more cartoon-like. I also think that the CGI is immaculate as throughout the film I didn’t see the model do anything rigid and the model seemed unnatural to earth but still seemed semi-organic. 

*THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT*

The story of the movie is easy to follow and quite fast paced in my opinion. There are some cringe worthy scenes, such as the moment when he flosses after defeating one of Robotnik’s robots and near the end when he get his new bed.

The beginning of the film shows Sonic’s childhood and why he must stay hidden in order to protect his power and himself. This bit of the movie is a tad cliche with having the parent figure perish whilst protecting the protagonist. It then timeskips to the older and current version of sonic, showing how he lives and interacts with the other characters. It also shows us that Sonic is lonely and tired of having to hide. During him playing a baseball game with himself he snaps and causes a massive power outage which alerts the government, causing them to send in Dr Robotnik who is played by Jim Carrey. Whilst Sonic is looking for a place to use his rings he is accidentally tranquilized by Tom who then takes him to San Francisco whilst avoiding Robotnik.

The story has many memorable moments and like I said earlier, easy to follow. One of my favorite scenes is the bar fight. It was comical and had a couple of surprises and by looking at it I can feel that the actors had fun with it. The editing in this scene was also really smooth and pleasing for me in a way.

The characters in the story were also memorable and had a nice feel to them. Each one stuck out and had their own quirks! In my opinion the best character was Robotnik by far, not only was he comical and an interesting villain but also had a great personality and made didn’t fall into the category of being “too generic”. Jim Carrey did a great job at capturing Robotnik’s personality and incorporating it into his acting.

However not everything about the movie was perfect, like I mentioned earlier I hated the fact that Sonic flossed in the movie, it seemed out of character for him and was a cheap tactic to keep the kids interested. I also thought that the movie was quite cliche in some parts and cringe worthy.

The music was a mix for me, there were some bits of it that were really nice to listen to, especially the reboot of the green hill zone theme towards the end and having the music from the sonic mania trailer at the beginning (one of my favorite music artists composed that)! However not all the track was too memorable and didn’t have much of an affect on me.

 Apart from that I feel this movie was a good one and as much as I’d like to say I’d recommend it to anyone, I think major Sonic fans and children would enjoy this film the best.

Sonic Frontiers Review: Aptly Crossing a New Frontier.

Sonic Frontiers is the latest 3D platforming game to be released in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, following the releases of Sonic Forces, Sonic Colors Ultimate (SCU), and Sonic Origins, their previous three 3D platforming titles. Forces, SCU, and Origins’ releases were met with a lot of criticism due to not meeting the fanbase’s expectations for a variety of reasons, so in the days before Frontiers’ released, I was excited but chose to keep a healthy level of skepticism just in case the game wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Suffice to say, the hype for the game was extremely well earned, as I had an absolute blast playing through Frontiers. To help me get all my points across as to why I like this game so much, I’ll be dividing this review into two parts: the gameplay segment and the story segment. I’m doing this for two reasons: the first being that I believe both need to be talked about separately so I can really dive deep into what makes them so good, and the other is so that people who only want a gameplay review aren’t spoiled on some of the more major plot points of the game. With that being said, here are my thoughts on Sonic Frontiers!

Future Updates

As I was in the process of putting this review together, Sonic Team revealed that over the course of 2023, the game would be getting a series of 3 free updates, and the last of those updates would contain a story update involving more playable characters, showing pictures of Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Obviously, this is massive and very exciting, but since it’s not out I can’t exactly factor any of what’s coming in updates into this review. Hopefully if I have the time and remember to do so, I’ll make an addendum to this review or separate posts going over each update. Anyways, NOW this review can start!

Gameplay

Sonic Frontiers sets out to tackle a new style of gameplay it calls Open Zone gameplay. Sonic Frontiers takes place on a series of islands, with each island being an open zone. As soon as you unlock the island, you’re able to go anywhere on the island right from the start, defeating minibosses and collecting Memory Tokens wherever you please, but more on that in a moment. The zones are fairly big in size, giving you plenty to explore at Sonic’s mach speeds and never really feeling cramped.

While exploring the islands, Sonic will be able to find rails, springs, and other such platforming obstacles that you’d find in your typical Sonic level. These will lead Sonic into short platforming segments, and by completing them he can earn Memory Tokens, which are essential to completing the game. Think of them as bite-sized levels. They’re typically pretty fun, though some of them lock you into playing in 2D, which kind of defeats the point of an open zone, but outside of that I enjoy these small chunks of platforming.

Memory Tokens are used not only to progress the story, but also to have smaller, more bite-sized interactions with other characters. Engaging with characters doesn’t take away any Memory Tokens from you, so if you have enough to initiate a conversation, go have a chat with them! However, every island has a different type of Memory Token, meaning that tokens you collect on the first island won’t help your progress on the second. Sometimes collecting the tokens felt like a pain, but I enjoyed the experience of exploring the islands regardless.

Scattered around the island are various puzzles that, as a reward, give you seeds. These seeds can be taken to an NPC to increase your attack or defense, depending on the type of seed you have. While I’m sure it isn’t necessary to raise your stats, I’d highly recommend doing so, as some enemies towards the end of the game are quite difficult.

The Cyloop is Sonic’s main new ability in this game and it’s used for puzzle solving and combat. The Cyloop is essential to solving many puzzles in the game, and using it on enemies can put Sonic in an advantageous position during combat. Simply drawing a circle will give you rings and drawing an infinity symbol will give you infinite boost in the open zones!

Exploration in this game is a breath of fresh air for the franchise, helping to break up the monotony of just playing level after level after level. I keep finding myself thinking of how cool previous games in the franchise, namely Forces, could have been if they had tried a similar Open Zone system. I hope the development team behind future Sonic games try and implement Open Zone gameplay into their future games, as I had a blast with it in Frontiers.

There is one more ability that Sonic has to use to help him explore, and that’s the Dropdash. I think it’s really cool that it’s in this game, even though I don't think it contributes a ton as I rarely found myself using it. The one oddity about it though is how it handles speed: the Dropdash uses momentum similar to how the classic games do, as in when you go down a slope, you gain speed, and when you go up a slope, you lose speed. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint! It’s fun to roll down various hills to see how much speed can be built up. But if they’ve implemented that kind of design for the Dropdash, why can’t the whole game play this way? Why limit it to exclusively the Dropdash? I know that this is definitely more of a nitpick but as soon as I noticed it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Shifting focus more on combat now, inhabiting the islands are many strange looking robots for Sonic to take on with his myriad of new combat abilities, and by defeating them he can earn skill points to unlock more abilities. The only ability essential to beating the game is the Cyloop, but the others can help speed up combat in very flashy manners so long as you know how to combo them together properly.

The combos in this game are incredibly stylish and perfectly fitting of the blue blur, it’s always a blast to experiment with linking different skills together against different enemies. You can tell that the developers really put a lot of thought into making these skills and their effort certainly were not in vain.

One skill you don’t need any skill points to unlock is the ability to Parry. Parrying lets you deflect any enemies attack right back at them and counter with a flurry of your own. While having the ability is nice, it has a very noticeable flaw: you can hold your parry for as long as you want. In my opinion, this does ultimately take away from the combat as it means that as long as you hold your parry, you’re not in any real danger. Holding it in midair also causes Sonic to awkwardly float which, while funny, definitely looks just a little strange.

While exploring the islands you’ll encounter named opponents that serve as minibosses, one such example being found in the gif above, named Ninja. Being minibosses, they’re naturally tougher than the generic enemies Sonic will run across in the open zones, but defeating them is essential, as they drop Portal Gears. The bosses come in many different shapes and sizes and will attack Sonic in many different ways, so you should be ready for anything. These can range anywhere from incredibly fun to just a slog to fight (looking at you, Tank).

Overall, the combat in this game is incredibly flashy and fun, and I hope we see more combat like this in the future. There are a few key areas where it can be improved, such as the aforementioned issues with the parry and some of the less enjoyable minibosses, but ultimately it’s a very well done system that I hope makes a return in future games.

Oh yeah Big’s fishing is also fun and the theme that plays is an absolute vibe, easily the most important part of the game.

Story

Alright, story time. If you don’t want to get spoiled about the story, now’s the time to leave. The story of Sonic Frontiers is 100% best experienced blind and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I’ll also be omitting gifs from this section as well.

So I’m just gonna pad this out a little bit in case someone scrolls a little too far on accident.

Ok, still here? Cool, I’ll just dive right in then.

The story of Sonic Frontiers is, without question, the best story we’ve gotten since SA2 or Unleashed. The characters are written absolutely incredibly in a setting filled with unique mystery that culminates into some of the biggest lore developments the series has ever gotten. I genuinely believe that this is the best that these characters have ever been depicted, and the addition of Sage to the cast of characters is one of the biggest Ws the franchise could have possibly gotten.

The dynamic between Sage and Eggman is one of the best parts of the story by far and it really spices up Eggman’s characters, something that he’s been needing for a long, long time. You can really feel the connection the two of them have together, from the way Eggman talks about her in his memos to his scenes at the end of the game. Watching Eggman look up at the falling stars, hoping to see his AI, his daughter, return to the planet and watching him realize that she’s not coming back almost made me  genuinely cry. Then watching him work to restore her in the final scene after the credits and seemingly succeeding was such a good moment for the doctor. I hope Sage comes back for future games, it’d be such a shame if she didn’t.

The Ancients not only being from space, but bringing the Chaos Emeralds with them from their homeworld and being the ancestors of Chaos is an interesting development to the lore, and I’m excited to see if they go anywhere else with it. The Ancients being related to Chaos was pretty obvious by just looking at their appearance, but them bringing the emeralds from outer space was a development I definitely was not expecting. They’re still a very mysterious civilization that we may never learn more about, but what we do know about them is absolutely fascinating. They did so well with integrating the Ancients into Sonic’s World.

Unfortunately, this is where the story admittedly falls apart a little bit. The End is interesting, to say the least. I don’t think it’s ever made clear whether it’s a god or a mortal, but what we do know is that it’s powerful enough to destroy the Ancients’ home. Then it follows them to Sonic’s World and forces them to trap it inside an entire digital dimension showing that despite how advanced their technology is, they couldn’t even kill it, which makes this thing feel menacing. So with the reveal of The End being the villain, I was really hoping that the boss battle would be the best we’ve ever gotten. It was… not that. The boss battle itself was unfortunately a let-down, which was a massive shame because Frontiers’ has absolutely incredible bosses at the end of each island. There’s a lot in game that points to The End being rushed, such as Sonic’s speech to the Ancients he gives just before the fight itself, and the instruction screen telling you to fight with the Titans, plural. It seems like they really wanted to do more with The End but for whatever reason couldn’t, which is a big shame. It’s definitely not enough to sour the whole story for me, just a bit of a let down.

Sonic Frontiers’ story heavily relies on the mystery of the Starfall Islands, and it uses said mysteries to craft an absolutely incredible story only held back by the gameplay of its final boss. This is the type of story I hope we get to see more of from Sonic games in the future.

Final Rating

If I had to rate the game on a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a very solid 7. The team behind the game’s development very clearly listened to what people wanted from the franchise and gave it to us, and while it’s not perfect by any means, it’s 100% a step in the right direction. If the development team behind Sonic Frontiers keeps giving us games of this quality, I'm sure that the future of the franchise is a very bright one.

One of my favorite screenshots I've taken to this day 😂

The Ritual | ☆☆☆1/2

spoilers ahead

I just finished watching The Ritual and it was definitely one of the more unique horror movies I've watched so far. I've only just dipped my toes into the horror genre, but I've been surprised by how creative they can be. The Ritual wasn't a show-stopping movie, but it was definitely chilling and spooky when it needed to be.

The monster design was phenomenal and they revealed it very well in the end.

SO. COOL.

I loved the concept of the monster being the "bastard offspring" of Loki and how it can manipulate your dreams and trick you. It was really fun putting the pieces together and I was glad that my theory (the people that lived in the forest were hikers that went missing and worship the god in exchange for their lives) was right.

The acting was phenomenal all around. Whenever I try to think about whose acting really stood out, I can't think of just one of the main characters. Hotch's scream was seriously a scene stealer though, super chilling.

There were moments in the film that really reminded me of the Blair Witch Project. I like found footage style movies even though they're literally terrifying, so The Ritual wasn't a pleasant surprise.

Was it a life changing movie that made me think? No, but it was good because it was really entertaining and well done. It delivered what I wanted it to: a solid horror movie that was a little scary with a cool concept. Also, the cinematography was a 10/10 and I will definitely be rewatching it again (because me and my sister were cracking jokes the whole time, so I have to get in a scared mood by myself with the lights off).

Solo Leveling | ☆☆☆1/2

Hi! I binged seasons one and two of Solo Leveling last night and I have to give kudos to the animation team that carried the entire story. Solo Leveling has been hyped up for me for a long time, especially in a family who watches anime, but I was surprised when the show kind of fell flat. I LOVE an underdog story and I really loved how Sung Jinwoo powered up throughout season one, but after he became stronger it just kind of...becomes a bit boring plot wise.

Still, I can't deny that the show is addicting. I couldn't stop watching because I loved the amazingly animated fight scenes and it's always really entertaining to see the mc beat up bad guys. It just gets to a point where the bad guys are just there to make Jinwoo look good and the other powerful main/side characters are there to just marvel at Jinwoo's power.

I was watching it with my sibling and he says, "This is just aura leveling."

And oh my GOD, it really is just aura leveling. Everyone is fighting each other's auras and Jinwoo becomes edgier and edgier throughout the anime. Sometimes scenes would feel corny because you know that Jinwoo is going to win, but he starts screaming and yelling about how he'll never lose. Really, the fatal flaw with this anime is that we know he's going to win and become even more ridiculously strong, so his epic comebacks end up feeling a little bit over the top.

just had a feeling throughout the show that Solo Leveling was written by someone who wanted to feel really cool

Still, the world building is VERY interesting. I was confused in the beginning of the show because there were people with medieval armor fighting dungeons, but then it cuts to modern city scenes. The explanation of the gates popping up in random parts of the city is so cool, especially when we learn that the world relies on Hunters to keep them safe.

Then, there's the politics surrounding hunting that really fascinate me. Especially, when a character says that S-rank hunters are pretty much above the law. I literally said, "WHAT?!" out loud. It makes sense because hunting is a relatively young business, but it was shocking nonetheless. I could go more into this, but there's just too much to analyze and not enough room.

In the end, Solo Leveling just felt like a lot of mc dick-stroking and aura maxxing with a smidgen of plot.

Hey, this wasn't me trying to yuck your yum though. People prefer shows where the mc is a total badass and I respect that. Personally, I just prefer a more flawed main character who loses and rises back up. I want to feel and believe the desperation of Sung Jinwoo, but when all he does is win, it's hard to cheer him on.

I'm really enjoying what little plot I'm getting though and I can't wait for Jinwoo to solve the mystery of the "System" keeping him alive and the mysterious monsters that glitch and seem to have a past. Who knows, maybe it'll save the show for me and Solo Leveling will get a higher rating!

Anyways, we left off on a cliffhanger, so I'm excited for the next episode to come out! I have a feeling though that Jinwoo is going to save the day...again...and do it relatively easily...and people are going to stare in awe at him and main characters are going to be reduced to damsels in distress...and so on and so on until the show ends...

Tales of the Empire review, the problem with Filoni

Spoilers for "The Path of Anger" below

So, to start off with the obvious, Dave Filoni has never read a single Cannon Thrawn novel. The timeline of events in this episode made no sense for the timeline of the novels. Thrawn was an admiral, yet he was already accompanied by Rukh and Pallean, whom he wouldn't even MEET until he reached grand admiral status. At this point in the Cannon novels, he would have been accompanied by Eli Vanto, not Pallean. In fact, he wouldn't even meet Pallean until the events of Treason. The choice by Folini to overhaul this story erases the conical nature of the "Cannon" Thrawn novels.

Before I get into my real point on the problem with how Filoni writes, I'll give my review of the episode as a whole. It was fine, not much to write home about. The animation was beautiful as to be expected, and very expressive. The writing was... just ok. The empire was depicted as cartoonishly evil, though it is a cartoon so, maybe that's justified. For a short that was supposed to teach us more about Morgan and her motivations, I feel like we didn't learn much about her that we didn't already know? She's good with ship design, she wants revenge and power, etc. Nothing new. Personally, I found the pacing of the episode to be quite boring, it was very slow despite the short runtime. Overall, I don't know if I would recommend it, though I thought the episodes following Barris were quite enjoyable.

Now for the real problem I have with these episodes: Filoni's insistence on his own version of cannon at the cost of others' work. I don't deny Filoni is a good writer and director, Rebels is one of my favorite shows of all time! But he's been on this power trip after being essentially being handed the reigns to Star Wars. There was a period where Star Wars was a collaborative effort between a ton of creatives working on something they loved, the second golden age, that made it into a beloved franchise for a new generation. But now it's just Filoni, and he decides what part of other creative works he'll pick and choose to tell his own story. I feel so bad for Zhan. He created this beloved character, and wrote AMAZING NOVELS, only to have his incredibly complex character be forced into a 2d stereotype. Filoni needs to do better because if he keeps going down the path of writing he has been Star Wars is going to be a shell of its former glory.

Made the thumbnail for my upcoming video on the 8BitDo Zero 2.

attack on titian review

In the early 2000s, a college student named Hajime Isayama was working in a café when suddenly someone grabbed him by the collar violently. It was this, “the fear of meeting a person I can't communicate with,” that inspired a brilliant idea of writing what now would be the best anime of the decade. Attack on Titan is a dark fantasy manga (Japanese comic) that got turned into an anime. The anime gained a lot of popularity very rapidly and for a good reason. The show hurt me, it broke me in the most beautiful way, every episode left me with so many unanswered questions, every episode left a big impact on me as a person, it changed my sense of morality, the way I view life, it truly took me the whole new perspective.

Now theirs a lot of reason A.O.T is good but some of the main ones are:

The main storyline:

The anime/manga is set in a world where humanity lives peacefully inside cities surrounded by three enormous worshiped walls that have been built for a century, these walls protect them from a gigantic man eating creatures called titans, one day unexpectedly a titan larger than the 3rd outer wall (wall Maria) breaks it causing chaos destruction and fear leaving other titans to enter, titans start devouring humans at high rates as the main character Eren Jagear and his friends try to find his mother so they can enter the second wall and seek coverage but it’s too late, he watches as his own mother gets eaten alive, her shoe drooping symbolizing her leaving her son behind, in that very moment Eren swears that he’ll take revenge and slaughter all titans and give humanity hope for freedom since he’s always looked at the walls as if they are cages blocking him from the outer world ( it’s pretty ironic since the walls are what used to protect them ) then the real story begins following him entering the scouts regiment building relationships with other characters, and very unexpected plots that will change the whole course of the story.

  The well written characters:

Attack on titan by far has the best written characters. each character has their own unique personality, different interest, different point of views, a motive and a dream, weaknesses and strengths, yet they all are relatable and have one thing in common; they all are trying to survive or save their loved ones at least. We always see them learning and improving from each other, even balancing each other.  For example Armin lacks physical strength yet he has a good head on his shoulder while Eren is the opposite, he tends to let his emotions and humanity take over him. And in one scene Eren was refusing to kill Annie even if it was self defense thinking it was inhumane as he heard those words “To surpass monsters, you must be willing to abandon your humanity.” – Armin Alert. The story is also shown from every character point of view and that left us wondering if maybe Eren is in the wrong, maybe he’s the bad guy . Yet in the same time he’s the hero? The story is the same yet the point of views are changed and the audience are left to think for themselves, and the change of him from being the oppressed to being the oppressor was brilliant. The whole story was a big example of ‘’I can’t blame you nor you can blame me’’.              

As Armin once said “A good person? Well… I don’t really like that term. Because to me, it just seems to mean someone who’s good for you. And I don’t think there’s any one person who’s good for everyone.”

Diversity and awareness:

growing up it was hard for me to relate to characters, there wasn’t any diversity whatsoever. Male characters were superior while female characters were never taken seriously, not mention they always had to live up to the white beauty standards that were limiting to so many children. In attack on titan  they empowered all genders, personalities, bodies, races , and they did it in a proper way to show awareness for example every female character wasn’t sexualized nor objectified like most shows do and were written as proper humans with feeling and motives they were also respected an seen as equals with the male characters sometimes even stronger , as for appearance we see both woman and men with different unique features , a lot of the characters have a hooked/roman  noses, the strongest character is also the shortest,  Onyankopon is a dark-skinned man with black hair styled in a short crew cut and when someone asked him why his skin was dark showing ignores he simply answered by saying: because our creator thought it would be interesting if there was a mix of people, we got created cause we were wanted. The anime also explores other issues like parental abuse, in one seen a character was screaming calling out to her father apologizing while getting eaten by a titan and screaming this was a sign of trauma caused by her father’s abuse in the past. In other scenes we see parents manipulating their children or guilt tripping them into doing what they want for example historia and annie, Another thing the show raised awareness towards governmental corruption the show showed people abusing their authority multiple times and in one seen a  we see a soldier with access to governmental equipment selling them illegally. The government also had a history of lying to the citizens and hurting those who were brave enough speak the truth (Erwin’s father was killed) In season 2 the government falsely accused the 104 cadets by committing crimes against the crown and they sent people to kill them illegally just because they were discovering the truth. The list goes on and on of the governments greediness.                                                                                                                

The dark themes and mixed emotions:

“The world is merciless, and it's also very beautiful.”- Mikasa.  as I said before the show showed some serious problems and the dark realistic sides  the world in general and with these situations we are bound to get a lot of emotions like regret , feeling used, hopelessness, feeling stuck, losing touch with humanity, losing sight of you goals , betrayal, and more yet in the same time the show showed that in darkness there’s always some light , you see people stuck in a conflict find that they’re actually very similar to each other and becoming lovers, we see Armin achieving his long dream of wanting to see the ocean in with his own eyes , we see characters improving to the best version of themselves . The anime ended with our lovable main character dying and getting buried under the same tree he would sit under with the person he loved the most before the war, which was truly a bittersweet ending.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Attack on titian was very bittersweet and an emotional roller-coaster and it hurt me in the most beautiful way possible, it changed my morals, my views on life, it helped me learn valuable lessons. The anime is a masterpiece and I recommend it for everyone Possible.

HotD episode 4 was marvelous, it once again denoted the importance of symbolism, no matter how subte it cues and in doing so, kept my attention solely on the screen for its entire duration.

This episode has left me with a bunch of thoughts and speculations to be made:

We start with the image on Rhaenyra toying with the necklace gifted to her by daemon, even during the tour to select her suitor which set the stage for the rest of the episode quite splendidly.

The scene which took my breath away was actually the one in the courtroom, right when Daemon enters while Rhaenyra stands in the crowd. We see Daemon moving towards the throne in plain sight while Rhaenyra walks towards it in the crowd (making her approach out of the public eye), but in the end, they share a frame and move together. This, once again illuminates the subtle imagery and symbolism.

Daemon clearly showed Rhaenyra the play as a test of her tenacity and determination (you can't change my mind) but at the same time, I think he wanted her to actually open her eyes to observe the realm and not follow Viserys' stead to become a ruler blind to what occurs around him.

I somehow feel that the scene in which Daemon withdraws from Rhaenyra is a great insight to what he's feeling at the moment. It somehow starts as disbelief, verging on regret and later manifests as anger?? Following it, the scene where Daemon asks for Rhaenyra's hand (with a dagger to his throat, commendably) reminds comedically of bridgertons I have to marry you to protect your virtue.

I loved how Viserys didn't spare Otto any agony and embarrassment, and made him spell each bit of the rumor, (painstakingly so).

And, him calling Otto out for spying. Although, it was funny how Viserys called Otto's schemes 'obvious' while failing to notice them for the past 4 years. The bit where Viserys takes away the pin was GLORIOUS.

(I can rewatch this scene a billion times)

The PARALLELS throughout the episode were amazing!

The first one we observe is that while intimacy with Viserys is clearly a means for Allicent to survive despite it making her feel lifeless, (and helpless, all the same). We see Rhaenyra seeking Daemon's touch as it seemingly makes her feel alive and in control of her life.

This also throws light on the subject of free will, while the conversation between Alicent and Rhaenyra already established how Rhaenyra was privileged to receive a choice regarding who shall win her hand, Alicent wasn't. We see the same yet again, when Rhaenyra approaches sir Criston.

Another parallel this episode draws is an ironic one where Viserys tells Rhaenyra to let go of her desires and choose duty while he was the one who refused to marry Leana Valarion in order to marry Alicent. Which highlights the disparity between the genders, once again.

(I have not read any of the books and all these are based solely on my interpretation of the show.)

And he knows a single ninjujutsu 😫

Rock Lee vs. Gaara went SO hard and was so memorable, it unintentionally tricked an entire generation into thinking Naruto's underlying theme was that effort and hard work ultimately triumph over natural talent. Naruto was, in fact, not about that. It was the opposite, in fact.

Azur Lane schizo discuss.

I don't particularly goon or do anything like that, but eye candy waifus have always been curse, I HATE IT. I love it.

FUCK!

Waifus can be very sexy but gacha really pushed themselves to add as plently as possible in short process.

But quite from the majority, I prefer Azur Lane. To me, it is the better waifu game. I am just used to already have decided that it is better. Sorry!

Oh my muscles.... sorry I need to go get prtoein asap... holy shit

Ranking them, what makes the hottest waifus? Let's qualify it in different characteristics.

I think even with all other shit added, physical appearance plays major role in her "waifuness" aka sex appeal and it is what is true for gacha as well. Basically, no matter where you look waifus often are the ones who are sexually appealing characters and psychologically positive, these two together create a great waifu for the gacha game.

So, wide hips then big boobs, then skeleton - the jaw has to be round and short, its important that it is lower than 30% in idle position, collarbones are inversed and slight posture. A lot of times manga artists fail some of these parts and make female characters unattractive, anyway..

If you did it, you already have proper female character. (idk if anyone, but muscular women do look a bit like men outside of pelvis and jaw snca)

The next factor is the character background, it plays major role and divided into some simialr traits that give it waifuness. the character must be cute and be positive and friendly towards the "master" or something, she has to be feminine in personality aka helping cooking or gifting presents. In other words things like being capable mother and showing nurturing personality, and she has to have quirks that give her meaning as character, for example having allergies, being NEET nihilist ass hol or something like that or hating omelets or being good swimmer, or prankster or always sweating for no reason, well there are many traits you can add to them.

Note if she doesnt love children and is self centered, anti-waifu than it'd be practically improbable to turn her into one ever at all even in fan art.

Now comes out major important decision - how do characters interact and build sexual tension? If they don't, then they can just stay as eye candies. Otherwise, they can build tension through baiting, that forces male character to act or think lewdly, in other words it is sort of like how else you have villains who come back at the last second or how they get defeated at last second, when things get turned around - a plot twist, so in erotic way you can add a twist of... You know what, it's so long to explain that. Basically, there needs to be danger and chance of failure, I'll explain it that way.

Make it so that the sexual plot twist is shocking, or that the male character needs to be in conflict, something like exterior elements of the story, it's not always conflict but it is a form of something that is shameful but also shock.

Anyway, now that we resolved general path to waifu body - cute traits - feminity - character personality - sexual shock baits

we can look at different gacha and compare them.

Starting with Azur Lane, we have ambigious very cool concept of characters based on ships with random quirks, that already puts it pretty high, to add to that costumes are abstract which means they can be anything you desire including fantasy. That means there is no limit to how waifus can be transformed in doujin environment or anywhere else. I can take one of the characters and change the setting and the character will still remain the same personality, anyway. That gives a lot of hard potential. But Fate and Sennen Aigis have established characters with some storylines, which means youi cannot just imagine them differently plus the story tends to be clusterfuck and way too developed, again it devours ability of creative freedom. That said both excel at fantasy and specific designs, which means for example characters can wield weird weapons like magic swords or historical artifacts, something that they are innately attached to. That said, in sennen aigis it shows more dramatically. As there are plently of classes of different types of characters who all have very different design. That means that if the game has both mages, maids and nurses as class three cannot be truly mixed. Fantasy cannot exist if someone already made it for you and I think its big fault with fantasy titles, especially sennen aigis and taimanin which basically has written the characters half assedly in non-interesting manner.

Because there is so much of the lore that sucks and does not bring any satisfaction, it takes away both the creative freedom and interesting plot, instead pictures - is all you really get, and a little bit of text although it might be possible to make a doujin of sennen aigis and fate they might be difficult due to already existing story.

It makes me feel like there is no story because there is no genuine focus and therefore no interesting waifus but very boring outside of design.

Another thing to note is the clothes characters are wearing, it makes major part of the character that makes you think "oh yeah they have to wear this" unfortunately this is very common in fantasy worlds where the outfits symbolize major character theme implying limitation on character himself, i mean what else will they wear if not ninja clothing or knight armor?!.. Would you really make character change clothes are you put so much effort in making them for him? This is another thing that in my opinion Azur Lane is better at and has more fan-freedom in doujin.

if I were to write doujin for sennen, I would probably stay as inaccurate to it because there's no way to write it with these simple plots, I wonder if it'd be cool to add something to churro where people can roleplay and have their own dnd thing... It'd be pretty fun and I was thinking too about that stuff. Too bad its hard to force myself to do anything that is not short term entertainment or benefit.

Bistro 82 Review

I am literally crying.

Chicken Emoji Review

Pretty standered boi...face looks a bit small and where are his wings?? He looks to realistic to not have wings 5/10 give him wings

The head is...really small for his body. Other then that he’s cute 6/10 reminds me of hei hei

The thick lines make the tail look off...and his head is a bit awkward 4/10 tail looks like a hair comb

A pretty cute bean. Would give pats 8/10

This....looks very off...the colours seem weird and....his wing looks to far back and seems awkward. The tail is off as well... 1/10 could be better

This.....is a babie....tail could be a bit longer and less sharp. Maybe round out the wing slightly. 9/10

What.....what is this....why are they so blurry and wonky????

0/10 they need help :(

Love this simple style so much!! 10/10 They a babie

A better version of the twitter bean 10/10 love their face

Handsome boi!! Love the colours and detail!! Feet are a tiny bit wonky tho 8/10 love him

(SPOILERS) My review on Hazbin Hotel (Episodes 1-4)

(Ps. I had early access and watched the 1st 2 episodes on the 12th and watched episodes 3 and 4 on the 18th on Prime due to my timezone or smth)

Episode 1

. I liked the songs, but there is one scene where Charlie is talking and then she immediately starts singing her I want song. I felt like there should have been a small melody that played before she started singing or something.

. I like the characters they’re fine with except Adam and Angel Dust. Adam (as many others have pointed out) is just Chaz as an angel and he’s just kinda annoying. Angel Dust is also kinda annoying makes sex jokes every 5 seconds, but he’s ok I guess.

. I liked Alastor in this episode, he was cool

. I honestly feel like Vaggie needs more screen time, cause compared to Angel Dust, she gets little screen time

Episode 2

. I liked Sir Pentious in this episode, he did great

. I liked both songs, but I feel like the song with Charlie and Sir Pentious should have just been a duet between the two instead of Angel Dust and Vaggie being in it, and personally I feel like the song should’ve been a bit longer.

. No hate to Joel Perez, but his accent keeps switching from American to Hispanic, and I honestly wish it didn’t switch like that

. I like Vox, he reminds me of Ratchet from the Robots movie ngl

. Alastor was also good in this episode

Episode 3

. Sir Pentious is good in this episode

. I enjoyed the new characters. Carmella Carmine kinda sounds like La Muerte from the book of life movie ngl imo

. I like Zestial, he’s chill

. the first song was ok, the second one was mid imo

. Alastor is also good in this one

Episode 4

. That ‘one’ scene was something else and I felt a bit at unease when watching it, ‘‘twas honestly sad

. I liked the duet between Husk and Angel Dust. Best song in the show so far only in front of the Charlie and Sir Pentious song

. Valentino’s voice keeps changing like I mentioned before

. I liked the brief Vox cameo

. Keith David’s singing as Husk is amazing

gideon the ninth / harrow the ninth

i read gideon last night and could not put it down!! (i am in love with these girls.) picked up harrow from the library today & am very excited— i haven’t read this much at once since i started university! full reviews to come when i finish harrow ♥︎

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

☆☆☆☆☆

An absolute must read.

"Long before she was the terror of wonderland, the infamous Queen of Hearts, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love."

This novel brings readers excitement and illicit romance between two star crossed lovers.

The protagonist, Katherine, is the daughter of a noble and only wants to open a bakery to share her love of pastries with the folks of wonderland. But fate has other plans when she is suddenly told of the foolish King's desire to marry her.

I found this novel to be painfully beautiful because as the reader we already know that she is going to marry the king. We know how the story ends. We know and yet we hope stubbornly that she will succeed in her quest to follow her dreams by opening a bakery and be with the one she loves. And when she ultimately fails we can't be surprised; we knew this was coming.

I give this book 5 stars because I will be crying over this book 'till the end of time.

not so quick pitch 

Light on Me (2021 - Korea) 

Rating: 10/10

Foundational Romance Trope: friends to love triangle

There were some who thought this BL slow, and I get that, but really it’s just subtle and quiet. With Light on Me, Korea gave us an honest to goodness high school set BL with some classic old school yaoi tropes almost like they were doing a bit of a, 

“now that we’ve hit our stride, let’s perfect the vanilla sheet cake BL style.” 

It was great, of course, but very refined and elegant which some found off putting. It made me think of something like this… 

It’s what Korea does, repackage and perfect vanilla cake into this pretty glowing confection of precision joy. I’m cool with that. By all means, please include BL in the Hallyu take over. This is the K-pop of BL En-Hyphen style, manufactured super-powered cute but… restrained. 

But that doesn’t make it any less gut wrenching to watch. In fact, it makes every subtle tentative movement of care that ShinWoo attempts that much more telling. It makes every fear of exposure that prevents DaOn from taking action that much more traumatic. It makes every moment of TaeKyung’s brutal honestly and blunt communication that much more powerful. 

It’s like that intense moment of focus on the hand flex in an Austen adaptation - we are awaiting every crack in the sugar sculpture with bated breath. 

The filming in this show was precision engineered. The frame was kept uncluttered, characters appeared exactly in the center, there was little visual noise, and the lighting was full on, even in night shots. To me this reflected the character of TaeKyung - honest and almost stilted in his mannerisms. I feel like the director filmed this series as if the show itself were TaeKyung: careful and clear and specific. 

This may come off as one-note or simplistic to a casual viewer but it’s actually quite difficult to film something so precisely and still make it interesting to watch. It forced the viewer to focus almost entirely on the actor’s faces, their nuanced emotion, and their interpersonal relationships to the exclusion of all else. Lucky for us those actors served the lens beautifully. 

There is literally NOTHING distracting about this directing style. It’s like the camera was a neutral white room, a well-lit gallery in which the narrative hung suspended for us all to stand and stare at in hushed silence.

A love triangle has never before looked so perfect or been executed so perfectly, and it never will again. All BL love triangles that come after Light On Me (and we will get them now) are going to be unfavorably compared to this show. 

When I posted about Korea’s history with BL, I talked about how strategic and clever they are with tropes. Light on Me is a master class in how to use tropes to manipulate audience sympathy so they can’t decide which pair they prefer. Korean BL never just throws in a trope without purpose - they calculate its impact on story structure. Basically, LoM used this technique to infect fans with Second Lead Syndrome. It’s SO GOOD.  

So yes, Light on Me was cleverly engineered, but it was also SPECIAL, and here’s why:

This show gave us a small cast of beautifully acted complex and sympathetic characters and dwelled on their different motivations, communication styles, and narrative roles. It gently explored not what it means to love, or even be in love, but what it means to act on love, and what that says about integrity and emotional courage. In doing so, it managed to treat its characters with integrity too. And not just the three main characters but the mentor, the faen fatal, and the best friend support characters too. 

This show felt very fair. Fair to its characters. Fair to its story. And fair to us, the watchers. 

For me this BL was classy, a real winner, not the least of which because they NAILED the landing, including the final kiss. Korea is DOMINATING 2021. Like seriously. What’s going on here?  

Full analysis of the love triangle trope under the context of the second half fo this BL here. 

Bravo, Korea.

(source)

I got a sponegbob krabby patty meal (my brother got one for me) it was alright. I was excited to see spongebob packaging but there wasnt anything it just kinda felt like a regular wendy's meal. Sauce wasnt very flavorful either. Thankfully I'm a ketchup fan so i slapped some on there and it was yummy. mightve been because it was the double but still. Overall Ig my belly is full. Double patty krabby patty meal costed a cool 12+1 dollars so overall not worth it at all, even for the novelty since there was nothing cool about it. The frosty just tastes like regular frosty with la croix levels of pinapple flavor too, and they dont mix it so you have to mix the syrup in there. Fries were also just regular fries, added ketchup to them. I will say the wendy's ketchup tastes better than the ketchup at my house so thats something. 6.5/10 atleast i went out with my brother to get it and it filled my stomach

TRACKS ( Deluxe ) War for Cybertron KINGDOM

Sono ormai tre anni che questa trilogia War for Cybertron è una vera e propria rimpatriata G1, alla quale anche i Beast Wars/Biocombat si sono autoinvitati con la scusa di festeggiare il loro venticinquesimo compleanno. E nel “minestrone” della terza parte KINGDOM può addirittura capitare di incapparsi in personaggi che non c’entrano nulla col cartone animato Netflix ma che comunque hanno fatto la storia dei TF G1 come Inferno, Huffer, i ripescati dal film del 1986 Cyclonus e Galvatron... e persino questo TRACKS, famosissimo guerriero/detective Autobot un po’ modaiolo e un po’ Narciso, protagonista delle memorabili puntate Sulle tracce di Tracks e Auto-Rock della Stagione 2. Nonostante la popolarità, di lui abbiamo avuto solo un’altra comparsata in animazione (Stagione 3 Animated, in forma Cybertroniana), così come pochissimi modellini prima del WFC, a parte il modellino originale del 1985: si conta l’Alternator, ma anche il Generations del 2010 che però era un remold di Wheeljack, per poi passare al rispettabilissimo Masterpiece del 2014 reso famigerato per lo zaino fin troppo vuoto. E il KINGDOM Deluxe che stringo tra le mani sarà forse all’altezza del predecessore?

Innanzitutto, come da tradizione, l’altmode del nostro Puma è una CHEVROLET C3 CORVETTE STINGRAY, automobile che più Anni 80 non si può: bellissima, elegante, slanciata e riconoscibile dal cofano lungo. Oddio, non è esattamente una riproduzione dell’auto reale – per quello esiste il Masterpiece, comunque – ma come appare nel settei del cartone animato originale, ovvero semi-realistica e col simbolo Autobot sul cofano racchiuso in uno “scudo” rosso uniforme che dovrebbe imitare il motivo fiammeggiante giallo e rosso tipico del giocattolo G1. Inoltre, qui di simboli Autobot ce n’è uno solo, quello del cofano appunto, e si è evitato di riproporlo anche sul tettuccio in quanto questo costituirà lo zaino del robot. Il Masterpiece invece risolveva in parte questo inconveniente nascondendo il suddetto simbolo con un pannellino a scomparsa perché l’intero abitacolo formava il busto di Tracks.

Per quanto riguarda la colorazione, in generale è un tripudio di un bel blu brillante, tranne nella plastica trasparente celeste dei vetri (lunotto, parabrezza e finestrini), nel nero delle ruote e del radiatore frontale e nell’argento dei cerchioni; a parte quello non si vedono ulteriori dettagli dipinti eccetto nelle due righe bianche sul retro... che in realtà, come vedremo, sono i timoni della Modalità Volo di Tracks, e mi dispiace che siano sì nascoste e a filo con la carrozzeria ma antiestetiche, mentre nel Masterpiece erano sottili come carta e non rovinavano le linee del modellino. E a proposito del retro, anche qui nessuna traccia di colore nei fari o nella targa, ma volendo il perno metallico sul fondo potrebbe essere scambiato per una terza marmitta dell’auto o il propulsore della modalità volante.

Trattandosi di WFC, Tracks si presenta con almeno tre/quattro porte per le armi: due sul retro e due all’altezza dei parafanghi anteriori. Qui è possibile innestare l’iconicissimo doppio lanciamissili, purtroppo completamente bianco e non con la base nera e adesivi annessi come in passato, e a sua volta presenta un foro in cima, quindi si può riporre lì anche la pistola di Tracks – il cui design è una via di mezzo tra il G1 e il Masterpiece, ovvero nera come il giocattolo ma sputata al settei. E sempre di Masterpiece si parla guardando il disguise da dieci e lode, poiché effettivamente non vi è alcuna traccia del robot neanche se lo si guarda da sotto... caso più unico che raro in modelli di questa linea! 😍

Ovviamente Tracks non sarebbe quel Tracks senza la sua celeberrima MODALITÀ VOLO, che consiste nel sollevare i timoni bianchi dal retro dell’auto, sganciare le portiere ed estrarre i moduli prima in fuori e poi paralleli ai fianchi, avendo cura di separarli dalle ali e di ruotarli di 90° (quindi con la decorazione gialla e rossa verso l’alto). In questa forma il nostro guadagna altre due porte per le armi – essendo le future braccia del robot – e l’estetica in sé è una fotocopia del Masterpiece, che a sua volta ricalca il settei. L’unico neo, parafrasando il mio collega @jazzluca, “di tutto questo ben di Primus” sono i timoni e le ali non dipinti: cioè, è troppo chiedere qualche dettaglio colorato in più per richiamare gli adesivi del G1 o, al limite, i dettagli stilizzati visti nel cartone? E non sarebbe stato un crimine, come nel Masterpiece, aggiungere dei perni per assicurare le braccia/prese d’aria ai fianchi dell’auto invece di lasciarle “penzoloni”? 😒

Vabbè... passiamo ora alla TRASFORMAZIONE, che di fatto è un copia-incolla semplificato di quella del Masterpiece. Partendo già dalla Modalità Volo, le braccia sono praticamente belle che fatte – basta solo ritrarre i timoni, ruotare in fuori le mani e portare in su le ali. Ora sganciamo i parafanghi anteriori per avere più gioco nella separazione del cofano, quindi solleviamo e ripieghiamo su se stesso l’intero blocco della cappotte, ruotiamo il tutto di 180° e agganciamolo sulla schiena. Apriamo gli stinchi e ruotiamo di 180° i piedi e i parafanghi stando attenti a non incastrarci nel bacino, quindi distendiamo le gambe e – una volta aggiustati i piedi – assicuriamo i pannelli tramite un mini-perno dietro al ginocchio. Ruotiamo il busto di 180° e slittiamo in avanti il finto petto del robot; per concludere, collassiamo il tutto via doppio perno e blocchiamo le metà superiore e inferiore tramite una clip e un perno sull’“ombelico”.

Come ROBOT Tracks, è proprio il caso di dirlo, è un piccolo capolavoro. Sputato al Masterpiece di sette anni fa con le tecnologie attuali e nella taglia di un Deluxe che è in scala con tutti i suoi colleghi WFC – tanto per essere pignoli, è alto un pelo in più dei Fratelli Lamborghini Sideswipe e Sunstreaker ma allo stesso tempo rispetto a un Optimus Prime Tracks arriva almeno sotto i pettorali. Non si tratta di un errore, anzi: il fatto di essere alto e magro rientra nei canoni del personaggio, e anche in questo caso Hasbro ha pensato bene di fare affidamento alla scala ufficiale dell’85 – quindi, direi che siamo nella media. E a proposito di settei, Puma qui sembra effettivamente uscito dal cartone animato con la tipica livrea blu-grigio/nero-bianco e la testa col casco bianco e il volto rosso fuoco, ma ha la licenza poetica dei piedi neri, mentre invece sappiamo bene che sono bicromatici grigio e blu. Inoltre, presenta dettagli scolpiti degni del G1 classico ma non colorati (come le ginocchia, i piedi o le ali, per esempio); viceversa quelli degli adesivi sui guanti e sulla cintura sono ridotti ai minimi termini; nulla da obiettare sul classico riquadro giallo col simbolo Autobot rosso sul petto, comunque! 😅

Non noto alcun difetto estetico grave, a parte il solito vuoto dello zaino... che, per carità, è già di suo abbastanza compatto e schiacciato, quindi non dà neanche tanto fastidio. Può semmai storcere il naso quello delle caviglie e delle braccia, ma ancora una volta sono difetti “funzionali”: nel primo caso, il piede non avrebbe abbastanza spazio per la trasformazione delle gambe nel cofano dell’auto; nel secondo è una caratteristica comune di molti Deluxe WFC, perché in quella cavità vanno riposte le mani durante la trasformazione. Per quanto riguarda la posabilità, il nostro può benissimo essere spacciato per un’action figure: degni di nota in tal senso, infatti, i balljoint su collo e caviglie, perni a braccia, gomiti, gambe e ginocchia (questi ultimi due possono piegare in avanti sollevando un poco il gonnellino) e, come ciliegina sulla torta, la rotazione del bacino.

E come spesso accade con questi Bot, anche Puma è tutto “bucherellato” per via delle numerose porte per armi. Dando per scontato i soliti fori alle mani, già abbiamo visto quelli sui guanti, sulla schiena e sulle gambe/parafanghi, ma dobbiamo pure menzionare anche quelli presenti su ciascuna spalla, in modo che la pistola possa essere brandita come un cannone à la Sideswipe o Wheeljack, e anche quelli immancabili sotto i piedi. Oh, e anche il foro sul cappuccio in cima alla testa, ove installare il doppio lanciamissili come vuole l’iconografia classica del personaggio.

Tornando alla domanda iniziale... sì, questo è sicuramente il meglio che Hasbro ha tirato fuori per Tracks, dopo il bel Masterpiece e l’umile Generations 2010, e ancora una volta i fan delle auto “stilose” come questa saranno sicuramente contenti di portare a casa una versione moderna della bella Corvette tanto da guardare quanto da maneggiare, con pregi che sovrastano sui difetti. Ebbene sì: il buon vecchio Puma è tornato in città, e anche stavolta ha spaccato l’obiettivo col suo stile elegante e impeccabile! 😍

Rise of the Titans przypomina mi plac zabaw czy karuzelę. Najważniejsze jest, by się dobrze bawić na przejażdżkę. Wszystko co się dzieje ma być cool. Dzieje się dlatego, że jest cool. Nawet postacie które obserwujemy tak uważają. Film bardzo mi przypomina o innych dziełach, jak Spy Kids albo nawet We Could Be Heroes.

Z tym podejściem jest jednak wiele problemów.

Po pierwsze, nikt nie podszedł do tego filmu z taką myślą. Całość stara się być dramatyczna i poważna. Stara się poruszać ważne wątki. Ten film się stara.

I wszyscy oczekują, żeby się starał, bo to jest Trollhunters. Seria, która dostała nagrody, która ma reputację, która zaczęła to wszystko. To nie jest tylko jakiś spin-off.

No i na koniec. Ta seria zaczęła się w 2016. Pięć lat temu. Nie możesz kierować czegoś z taką historią tylko do dzieci, a nawet głównie do dzieci. Musisz to zrobić "dla wszystkich". To musi być coś, co widzowie dorastający z serią będą w stanie z zadowoleniem oglądać.

Przez to wszystko, karuzela wygląda jak dom, który się rozpadł. Pojawiają się kompletnie bezużyteczne wątki, postacie znikają, a niektóre wydarzenia przestają mieć wagę. Zaczynasz zadawać sobie pytania, których nie powinieneś.

Niestety, nie byłam w stanie wyłączyć myślenia na tyle, by się na tym filmie bawić. Wyglądał prześlicznie. Sceny walki były zrobione przepięknie, i gdy ktoś jest w stanie się choćby na chwilę zagubić w świecie przestawionym i nie zadawać niepotrzebnych pytań, to mógłby się na tym filmie dobrze bawić... Jeśli wyłączy, kiedy zegar pokazuje 15 minut do końca.

Bo zakończenie psuje jakiekolwiek pozytywne wrażenia można mieć z tego filmu. To coś, czego nie da się moim zdaniem zignorować. To, że nie ma absolutnie żadnego sensu, niszczy cały dramatyzm filmu i pokazuje środkowy palec wszystkiemu co nam powiedziano nie tylko w Wizards, ale także w Trollhunters, serii, do której to ma być ostateczne podsumowanie, to tylko czubek góry lodowej problemów. To najgorszy pomysł jaki się przytrafił temu filmowi i powinien zostać wśród fanfików. Nic nie jest w stanie go uratować.

Resenha Resident Evil: Cidade dos Mortos - S.D. Perry.

Terminei de ler semana ante-passada, mas como tava no final do semestre da minha faculdade de letras, acabei usando o tempo mais para estudar e relaxar.

Além disso, no final da semana de provas peguei um resfriado. Agora to com nariz entupido e precisando entregar dois trabalhos até dia 2/amanhã.

Bom, mas fora tudo isso, posto aqui a resenha e minhas opniões do livro 3 da S.D. Perry. (E talvez aproveito para aquecer a escrita do trabalho que tenho de terminar.)

Começando, ja destaco que este foi o meu livro favorito dentre os três na qual li até o momento. E interessantemente, foi o livro que acabou me deixando em duvida pois teve certas partes, que me pareceram não muito desenvolvidas.

No geral como adaptação do Resident Evil 2 de ps1, achei maravilhosa, pois conseguiu dar uma leve profundidade aos personagens e conseguiu desenvolvê-los de um jeito na qual só um livro ia conseguir.

A narrativa é excelente, mesmo com as leves alterações que fez na história do jogo. Apenas achei que faltou explorar os ambientes mais a fundo. Como exemplo, os enigmas e chaves dentro do jogo tiveram apenas uma leve aparição, onde serviram mais como referência do que parte da história.

Em contrapartida a história foi divertidissima de ler, sendo toda a parte nova acompanhando a Ada Wong virando a joia do livro pra mim. E não podendo esquecer a Claire cuidando da Sherry, que sinceramente foi melhor que o jogo original e o remake.

De todos personagens, só o Leon me pareceu o menos desenvolvido. Não foi ruim, ele só não tinha muito a se explorar na história, e o que tinha, sendo todo o enredo com a Ada, acabou mais pesando para o desenvolvimento de personagem dela do que o dele.

Sem Spoilar muito, recomendo extremamente ler o livro. Principalmente se é fã do jogo e essencial se leu os dois primeiros livros. Da para comprar o E-book por uns 30 reais na amazon, além de ser um dos que ainda se pode conseguir fisicamente se procurar bem.

Spoilers e umas opiniões minuciosas minhas:

- O livro ia ser ainda melhor se tivesse 50 páginas a mais.

- O Mr. X, junto com boa parte dos mutantes do jogo tiveram um papel bem menor do que gostaria.

- Diferente dos livros anteriores, não tem praticamente nenhum enigma, e enquanto fez a narrativa fluir melhor, acabou tirando um pouco o aproveitamento do cenário. (Que talvez seja irrelevante, ja que os jogos ja fazem isso perfeitamente.)

- A Ada ganhando sentimentos e imaginando um futuro onde ela se casa com o Leon e vão morar no subúrbio americano em uma casa branca com cerca me quebrou muito rsrsrsrs. Principalmente que meu irmão brincou disso antes mesmo de aparecer ksksksks.

Ok so I've finally finished watching The Witcher (Zaklínač)

and......... I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT

The actors, costumes and the CGI were fantastic, but I was also blown away by the soundtracks and by Jaskiers songs.

I heard Toss the coin & Burn Butcher in multiple languages and I would like to say that every dubbed version is beautiful.

I like to watch movies and TV shows in their original languages but I decided to watch The Witcher in the Czech dubb. And I wasn't disappointed.

And also you know me..... I really adore Jaskier. He's such a sweetheart ❤️ I really want him to be save and to Geralt to protect him at all cost.

So I hope that at the end of this show we will get a wedding between Jaskier and Geralt. Honestly they deserve it.

Just look at them.....

They are destined to be together!!

Anyway thanks for reading this post and sharing my love for The Witcher series and Geraskier 🖤

Another anime that completely changed my life.

I really can't explain how fucking clever is this anime, because I don't have enough brain cells to do so.

The plot is unique, the characters are well written and likeable (well some of them)

I saw Death note in eng dub and I am planing to watch it again, but in a japanese dub. Because let's be honest both of these versions are fucking gorgeous.

The characters: OK I actually like almost every of them.

But

I really dislike Misa.

I'm sorry, but she is just so annoying and whiny. Always complaining about something and is so naive and stupid it hurts.

I have even more respect for Light now. God, if I was Light I would kill her the very first moment she opened her mouth.

And she is rude to L and Matsuda (and everybody who isn't Light)

The fun character is Ryuk, which I love so much. He's sarcastic and I really enjoy his relationship with Light.

And his voice actors are fucking masters. I mean his rough voice is scary and entertaining at the same time.

Lawlight - okay this is the ship that I am obsessed with now. I just can't help it. The chemistry between these two is to much. They had better relationship then Light and Misa (but I guess I can't compare it like that, because Light manipulated with Misa. The thing is that I think that Misa know that Light was with her because he didn't have a choice.)

L' death broke my heart. And at that moment I was angry at Light, but in the end I still hoped that he will win. Because let's be honest Near was great character and detective, but he was too cold for me. L was more like awkward and unsure of how to act and interact with other people.

And there is also Mello. Which death did not hit me that much, but it still saddens me. Mello is the complete opposite of Near and I wanted more scenes between them. I wanted more development from their already unstable relationship.

Death note is just perfect, but there is a one character which I wanted to know more and that's Lights sister. (I don't even know her name anymore) We actually don't know anything about her other then that she is Lights younger sister. I hoped there would be more scenes between her and Light. And also her last moments in the show are sad.

Funny question : what happened with Lights Mom?

(I have no idea. So if you know, please write it down.)

So If you haven't seen death note, then go in your room and start watching. And enjoy the ride.

(and as always I am sorry for any mistakes I made in this post) ❤️☕

March + April Reading Wrap Up

Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan - Novel (4 stars)

Like many, I read the Percy Jackson series as a child and was amped when I discovered that before the PJO series, Riordan wrote an adult crime series. Big Red Tequila focuses on Texas native Tres Navarre as he relocates to his hometown of San Antonio to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend, Layla. However, shortly after he arrives, Layla goes missing and Tres uses his skills as a private investigator to find her. As the investigation continues, Tres discovers Layla’s disappearance may be connected to his father’s mysterious homicide years before. 

I liked this book. It took me a while to get into it, but by the time the third act came around all three of my brain cells were synced up and I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t feel very connected to Tres or the other characters, not in the beginning. We get to know the characters as time passes, but I prefer to feel attached to a character before the action really amps up. I like to know about their personality, I want them to feel like a real person, and Tres, to me, felt like a cardboard cut out of a Brad Pitt-esque loser/detective/action hero. It wasn’t bad, though. I bought the second novel, so we’ll see how this series pans out. 

The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman - Short Story (4 stars)

Backman is a writer I’ve heard a lot about on BookTube and this short story was discounted on Amazon, so I decided to give it a shot. I read it while reading a longer non-fiction novel, partly because I finally wanted to get some use out of my Kindle, which I haven’t been using much recently. The Answer is No is a short story about a guy named Lucas who wants to be left alone. That’s the whole plot. It doesn’t sound like much, but this was a funny, sweet story that will live rent-free in my brain. Sometimes I thought the humor was getting too obnoxious, but as it breached that line it always seemed to reel back in right after. This story is short and sweet, so I’d recommend giving it a shot. 

Mindhunter by John E. Douglas - Novel (4 stars)

This was a tough one to read. Mindhunter is a memoir by John Douglas, an FBI agent who helped form the behavioral science unit. It details what led to the creation of the unit, as well as anecdotes and stories throughout Douglas’s career. It was an interesting and eye-opening novel, but be warned, details of grotesque crimes are recounted in this book. You’ll like this novel if you’re a true crime buff. 

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka - Novel (5 stars) 

My first five-star novel of the year! I was looking forward to reading this book for a long time and it didn’t disappoint. Notes on an Execution details the life of serial killer Ansel Packer as he waits to be executed. His life story is told through the eyes of the lead detective on the case, Ansel’s estranged mother, and the sister of one of Ansel’s victims. This novel was so layered and complex. Every character had a little bit of good and a little bit of bad in them, which made them feel like real people. Ansel was very similar to real-life serial killers, and if you’re a true crime buff, you’ll recognize similarities in his story with the real-life stories of serial killers all over the globe. 

My favorite thing about this book was that it focused on the aftermath of Ansel’s crimes rather than the crimes themselves. The novel showcased how peoples’ lives were changed by Ansel’s actions and how Ansel viewed himself, his crimes, and the people around him. It also focused on Ansel’s misogyny, which I liked because the majority of serial killers are misogynistic and kill women to feel powerful. Kukafka definitely did her homework before writing this novel. The language used was poetic without feeling too flowery. I recommend this book a million times over. 

The Corpse Exhibition and Other Stories of Iraq by Hassan Blasim - Novel (3 stars) 

My thoughts on this book are conflicting. The Corpse Exhibition is a series of short stories set in Iraq. They are all very dark, but this novel has the same problem that the majority of short story collections do, which is that some of the stories are much better than others. The stories in this collection ranged from deep, poetic, and profound to twisted and confusing. You may enjoy this book better if you know a lot about Iraq, as there was some commentary I didn’t fully understand since I’m not well-versed on what it’s like to live there. It’s still an interesting read. I might reread it and see how it makes me feel. 

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King - Novel (3.5 stars)

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is about a girl named Trisha who gets lost in the Appalachian woods while hiking with her family. This book has been on my shelf since 2018. I’ve begun reading it multiple times only to get distracted by something else. Before any of you come at me, my complaint about this book isn’t that there aren’t any monsters or supernatural mayhem occurring. I did enjoy it, it just wasn’t for me. Honestly, I don’t have any intense feelings about it. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it, I’m just glad I finally finished it so it will stop glaring at me from my bookshelf, ridiculing me. 

Fall of Hades by Richard Paul Evans - Novel (2 stars)

I initially gave this 3 stars, but it doesn’t deserve it. Fall of Hades is the sixth book in a series that follows Michael Vey, a teenager with superpowers, and his friends as they attempt to stop Elgen, the company that gave him his powers, from dominating the planet. 

I’ve got complicated feelings about this series. I started it when I was eleven and, by the time I was thirteen, I decided to take a break from it. There were two books left in the series at the time, and I wasn’t ready to let go of it, so I reread the first four books repeatedly. I tried to count how many times I read the first book and lost count after eleven. I decided that this was a good year to finally finish the series, especially since I was looking for books that were lighter to read after Mindhunter and Notes on an Execution. 

Fall of Hades is similar to other books in the Michael Vey series. The villain is over the top and comically evil, and Michael and the other main characters are the same variation of “Don’t kill people! That’s wrong! Take me instead!” Also, there was a lot of pointless bullshit backstory about one of the minor characters. There was a huge secret throughout the series that was finally revealed in this book and the reveal underwhelmed me. Five books is such a long time to wait just to be disappointed. Also, the ending was the most comical thing I’ve ever read in my entire life. 

On top of everything else, everyone rides the main character’s dick so hard in this novel. Taylor, Michael’s girlfriend, gets way too jealous any time any female even breathes in Michael’s direction, and one particular character is so enthusiastic about giving his life for Michael when literally nobody asked him to do that, and the situation did not demand it. 

Anyway, I don’t recommend this series. 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - Novel (5 stars)

If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know what the Hunger Games series is about, just look it up. I doubt there is anyone who doesn’t know what this series is about yet. 

Like everyone else, I am bitten by the Hunger Games bug now that the new book is out. I have a confession to make - I never finished the original trilogy! I started it when I was eleven, just like the Michael Vey series, so I decided to hop back in. I had already read the first book, but for some reason, I didn’t really enjoy it that much. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the first movie so many times? Who knows. But my experience with this book was much better. It is such a layered novel. Anyone could’ve written a stupid YA novel about teens fighting in a deadly game, and many have. But it takes a very special writer to craft an amazing critique of elitism and oligarchy. The games in this novel are much deadlier than the previous book. It’s emotionally complex, it’s well-written, it’s amazing. If you read the first book but are on the fence about continuing the series, please do. It’s splendid. 

The Fireman by Joe Hill - Novel (5 stars) 

My Joe Hill tour continues. I’ve read this novel in the past but decided to go through it again in preparation for his new novel. Dragonspore, a deadly virus that causes the host to burst into flames, is sweeping across the globe. Nurse Harper Grayson and her husband, Jakob, promise to end their own lives if they catch it however shortly before Harper contracts the virus, she discovers she is pregnant, and she is determined to live long enough to deliver her child. After Jakob abandons her, Harper meets John Rookwood, a fireman who not only has the virus but has learned to use it as a weapon. Harper must learn Rookwood’s secret before the virus can kill her. 

This is one of my favorite novels. The characters are realistic and lovable, the stakes are high, and it’s a real page-turner. Reading it makes me cry every goddamn time. It has wonderful critiques of cliques, church culture, and the human condition. It’s a lovely novel that combines elements of the Lord of the Rings, the Stand, and Ferenheight 451. Read it. Right. Now. 

The Final Spark by Richard Paul Evans - Novel (2 stars)

I did it! I finished the Michael Vey series! And it only took me ten years! The Final Spark is the last novel in the Michael Vey series. It was pretty predictable. It confirmed a suspicion I’ve had since I was eleven. I skimmed the first third of the novel, as there was a lot of pointless bullshit. I’m a little sad I didn’t enjoy it. I loved this series so much as a child, and I'm sad wasn’t able to enjoy the ending the way I enjoyed the rest of the series. Also, it was weird that Michael didn’t show up until the final three chapters. 

Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill - Comic (4 stars) 

Another work by Joe Hill! Basketful of Heads is a comic that follows June Branch who is trapped on an island during a storm with four dangerous criminals who have kidnapped her boyfriend. Luckily for June, she’s discovered a mystical axe that leaves the victim alive after decapitation. This was a fun comic and didn’t take too long to finish. It was bloody and comical, and June was a great final girl. Highly recommend. 

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - Novel (5 stars)

I did it! I finished the original trilogy! Now I can read a Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes! Mockingjay is the final book in the main Hunger Games trilogy. This book was horrifying, more so than the original two. Like Catching Fire, it has some wonderful critiques, but also offers a lot of character development for Katniss and Peeta. Wonderful book, 10/10, made me cry. 

Funny Story by Emily Henry - Novel (4 stars) 

I loved this book! I don’t usually like rom-coms but this one was pretty solid. Funny Story is about Daphne who was recently dumped by her fiance, Peter, for his girl best friend who she was told to not worry about. With nowhere else to go, Daphne moves in with Miles, ex-boyfriend to Peter’s new girlfriend. After an awkward encounter with Peter, Daphne lies and tells him that she and Miles are now in a relationship. This was such a fun novel. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was brilliant. The characters felt real and lived in, the spicy scenes were well-written, and the whole book deserves one big chef’s kiss. If you like rom-coms you’ll love this book. 

(I just found out Emily Henry, like me, is from Ohio, yet continuously writes about Michigan? BETRAYAL! She is no longer welcome in the Buckeye State.)

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - Novel (3 stars) 

Dungeon Crawler Carl follows a Coast Guard vet of the same name and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they’re subjected to a video game-style reality show, in which they must win the game or forfeit earth over to an intergalactic corporation. If this sounds like a fun concept, it was! But honestly, I was a little disappointed. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but something about this missed the mark. I gave it four stars, but honestly, I think it might be closer to 3. There are two more books in the series, and I’ll probably get them from the library. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins - Novel (5 stars)

Finally! Now I can read Sunrise on the Reaping! The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy and features Coriolanus Snow as the protagonist. The novel takes place during the tenth annual Hunger Games and this year the gamemakers are trying something new. They’re going to give each tribute a mentor to help them survive the games, and as a trial run, Coriolanus and his classmates will serve as the mentors. 

This is an interesting read because Snow is such a bad person it’s not even funny. But it also gives us a glimpse of what drives Coriolanus and the circumstances that have helped craft him into the villain he is. I’m not saying Coriolanus is an anti-hero because I believe he is 100% a villain. In any other story, Coriolanus could’ve been the misguided protagonist who learns the errors of his ways and changes for the better, but he seems to believe that everything wrong in his life is the fault of the districts and the rebels, when really the Capitol is to blame. It’s an interesting read, but beware, it’s hard to get through due to Coriolanus’s inner monologue being the most batshit I’ve ever read. 5 stars! 

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak - Novel (4 stars)

This novel follows Frank, a UPS worker in his fifties who has just been invited to the wedding of Maggie, his estranged daughter. After meeting Maggie’s fiance, Aiden, and getting a glimpse into Maggie’s new life, Frank suspects there is more to Aiden and his family than it seems, but he’s afraid to rock the boat and risk alienating his daughter forever. 

This is a great mystery novel. I finished half of it in one day BECAUSE I HAD TO KNOW! It’s solidly written. Some of the plot twists I predicted, but I think that’s because the plot twists made sense to the story, which was refreshing. I hate it when the plot twists come out of left field. When I discover a plot twist, ideally I’d like to reread the novel and say to myself, I can’t believe I didn’t see it! Because effective plot twists don’t come out of left field, they’re hinted at, and this story did such a good job. 

I liked this more than Hidden Pictures, which is another Rekulak novel, because the theme of the story was effective and I enjoyed Frank’s character arc and the troubling situation he’s been placed in. Great novel! Four stars. 

Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton - Novel (3.75 stars)

This story was recently made into a film with Robert Pattinson, which is how I knew about it. I didn’t plan on reading it for a while, but then I discovered I had a twenty-dollar reward at Barnes and Noble! 

Mickey 7 follows Mickey Barnes who is an expendable on a colony mission on the planet Niflheim. Mickey has a really shitty position as expendable. Expandables are individuals who endure suicide missions. Need to patch a hole in the ship? Call Mickey. Need someone to test out a deadly virus? Wake Mickey up. Need someone to dick around in the scary wastelands plagued with monsters? Mickey’s your guy! After Mickey is killed on these suicide missions, they clone his body and upload a save-state version of his memories and personality. However, after the seventh Mickey is mistakenly presumed dead, they print out Mickey 8, and since multiples aren’t allowed, one of them has to go. Of course, neither of them wants to die, so the only solution is to keep Mickey 7’s existence a secret. 

This was a really interesting novel. I gave it 3.75 stars, but looking back I might’ve been too critical. My hopes for this novel were through the roof, but the reality disappointed me a bit. I liked Mickey’s character arc, and I liked the moral dilemmas it raised, but something about it left me dissatisfied. I might read it again in the future to see if I change my mind. 

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - Novel (5 stars)

Holy shit. I mean it when I tell you I had no clue where this story was going. It was the wildest shit I’ve read in a while. 

This story is about four Indian men who did something pretty fucked up and on the verge of the tenth anniversary, something decides to take its revenge. I refuse to tell you anything more. You have to go in blind like I did because holy shit! 

My heart was banging against my ribcage the entire time. Wild novel. 10/10, please read. 

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck - Novel (Did Not Finish)

I’ve decided to include a DNF since I got pretty far into it. Shark Heart is about Lewis and Wren, a married couple who live in a world where sometimes people mutate into animals. Some turn into zebras and some discover they’re pregnant with birds, and Lewis has recently been diagnosed with a rare mutation that will transform him into a great white shark. You may think this sounds like a humorous concept, but believe me when I tell you this book is anything but humorous. 

This concept is not treated like a silly thing that happens sometimes but is treated realistically. This mutation, in this world, is similar to cancer or schizophrenia or worse. Lewis has to accept the fact that the last year of his human life will be very painful and isolating and end with him losing himself entirely. Both Lewis and Wren have to accept that they will never see each other again, never have children, and never grow old together. This is especially challenging for Wren, who has never trusted love in the past and already has experience with degenerative diseases afflicting the people she cares about. This is a beautifully written story, and so worth the time you’re going to invest in it. 

But Rick, if it’s so good, why did you DNF? Because I wasn’t strong enough. This was a beautiful novel, and I might return to it at some point, but Jesus Christ, man. I couldn’t do it. The last day I read it, I cried so hard my stomach hurt like I was doing ab crunches and I decided to give another book a try. I DNF’d at 40%. I might come back to it, maybe another month when I’m feeling a little too happy. 

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree - Novel (4 stars)

After Shark Heart, I needed something a little lighter, something that would help me relax and rewind, so I read Bookshops and Bonedust, which is a prequel to Legends and Lattes. It follows Viv, the protagonist of the first book, who gets gravely injured on a mission and while recovering, falls in love with a tiny bookshop on the coast. 

I liked this book, but I had a hard time getting into it. Part of the reason is that I currently don’t have much to do right now, I’m in between jobs and my classes don’t start back up until the end of the month, so free time is one thing I got plenty of. Because of this, I’ve been reading books that capture my attention or are easier to get through. This book is a slower-paced novel with lower stakes than what I’m used to, so part of me had to fight to get through it, even though I finished it in a couple of days. I gave Legends and Lattes five stars and part of that was because at the time I had a part-time job, was struggling with classes, and my mental health was the worst it ever was, so I needed a reprieve. 

In many ways, it improved upon the last installment. I liked the side characters better, and the pacing felt more fluid. I liked the character development and how it naturally leads into L&L. The ending was very sweet, but had I known what my experience was going to be, I might’ve saved this book for a rainy fall day, or when I was stressed out and needed something lighthearted. 

Thanks for reading. I read six books in March and ELEVEN in April. Dear God, I can’t wait for my classes to start. I’m sorry for the lack of essays. I’m working on another book review that I hope to have ready soon. See y’all later. 

Jan + Feb Reading Wrap Up

I will be the first to admit that it’s a little late for a February wrap up when it’s nearly April, but I wasn’t planning on doing one until recently, so fuck off. 

Ushers by Joe Hill - Short Story (4 stars)

I’ve been a Joe Hill kick recently, since his new novel comes out in October. Ushers is a short story that follows a young man who can see grim reapers, and this ability affects his life in both positive and negative ways. I gave this story 4 stars. It was okay, but I don’t really like short stories for the simple reason that they are too short! It was creepy, it was well written, and an overall interesting read, so if you want something spooky, you want to give Joe Hill a shot, or you just have a free lunch break, take a gander at it. 

The Pram by Joe Hill - Short Story (3.5 stars)

Another Joe Hill short story, this entry follows a husband who comes across a supernatural pram and, as you can imagine, creepy chaos ensues. This was a fun read. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Ushers. I don’t enjoy stories that are particularly hopeless, and I also don’t fully enjoy stories where the main character is evil, an unreliable narrator, or crazy, because it tends to make me sympathize with them less. It was well written, just as Ushers was, and I would like to know more about the lore of the story. The background of the story seems so much more interesting than the story itself. 

Ancestor by Scott Sigler - Novel (3 stars)

Ancestor follows a team of experts as they attempt to craft a brand new species with the specific purpose of xenotransplantation. In the process, they create hungry entities that stalk the humans they were created to help. You’ll like this novel if you enjoyed Jurassic Park. It has a healthy balance of likable and unlikable characters. This was a fine novel. I gave it three stars. I wasn’t angry, I read it, but had I known what my experience would be, I probably would’ve gone with something else. Ancestor has the feel of a big budget action movie that you go to see on a weekday because nothing else is playing that evening. Or better yet, some random action thriller you found on Netflix that you turn on while you clean the house. It’s fine. My only major problem with the story is that the monsters weren’t scary to me. The descriptions made them sound like mutated chickens, and the image was more surreal than it was scary. I don’t know if I can recommend this. I don’t think I’m in the target demographic. You’ll probably like this novel if you enjoy James Patterson or Michael Crichton. 

Stones to Abbigale by Onision - Novel (0 stars) 

Holy shit. This was the worst book I've ever read. Ever. I’m not kidding. I read this as part of a reading challenge, and I have so many regrets. The only good thing to come out of it was my new skill of being able to stop reading books that I hate. If I start a book and I don’t jive with it, it’s a DNF now. I can’t ever get the time back that I wasted reading this garbage. At one point, I crumpled up a page, threw it in the toilet and pissed on it. Click here or here for more details. 

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - Novel (4.5 stars)

I’ve been hearing about Brandon Sanderson for years so I was excited to read his stuff for the first time. This book was good, had some really solid worldbuilding, but I’ll warn you, it is long and it is part of a series. The final 15% made me feel like I was on drugs and I was losing my goddamn mind. Trying to explain the ending to the uninitiated is like trying to explain Endgame to someone who has never seen a marvel movie. It would be five stars but I didn’t enjoy the pacing of the novel. For a more in-depth review, click here.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - Novel (0.5 stars)

Annihilation follows a government funded team as they enter a mysterious land afflicted with paranormal activity known as Area X. I didn’t like this book. The issue is that I don’t enjoy ambiguous stories and I didn’t know that’s what I was walking into. Who is that? What is this? What does that mean? Why is this happening? How does the story end? Who knows? Who cares?! If I’m going to devote my time to a novel, I would like to A) relate to the characters, B) understand what is going on, and C) know that there was a point to what I just read. Even stories that aren’t inherently deep, like the Fast and the Furious franchise, have a point. And the point of the Furious franchise is to entertain. The Hunger Games is a critique of elitism and power structure. A story should be about something and if it’s not about anything, it should at least try to entertain. I didn’t know what Annihilation was about or what it was trying to do. My problem with ambiguous stories is that a lot of them are pointless meanderings masquerading as deep and complex story telling. You can write virtually anything and say, “Well, it’s not supposed to make sense!” When I finished Annihilation I was left no different than the start of the story. It made me feel nothing. 

And this is a side tangent, but what is with the Snowbird thing? For the uninitiated, the main character’s husband had a nickname for her, and the nickname was Snowbird. He kept repeating it over and over again in every flashback and it annoyed me. A part of it made have been the fault of the narrator, as I listened to the audiobook and her drawl on the word made me want to slit my wrists. 

I’m left asking, what was the point? It was a six hour audiobook, why did I devote so much time listening to that when I gained nothing? Not even entertainment? I was bored and annoyed. The climax was confusing and lackluster. I saw the sequel on sale this week for 1.25 and I had to remind myself how much I hated the first book, but come on! A 1.25?! Can you think of a place where you can get a book for a 1.25? I might go back and see if it’s still there. For a 1.25 I’d buy twelve more Onision books. 

Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham - Novel (4 stars)

It should surprise nobody that I am a Gilmore Girls fan. When I discovered Lauren Graham had a memoir, I jumped at the chance to read it, and it was splendid. The novel includes dozens of anecdotes (funny, sad, and everything in between), focused on Gilmore Girls and the overarching structure of Graham’s career. I highly recommend this if you like Lauren Graham or Gilmore Girls. It’s funny, it’s touching, and I just discovered that Graham has written a fiction novel which I will be reading very soon. 

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare - Novel (3.5 stars)

Clown in a Cornfield follows Quinn Maybrook, who, after moving to a small town, finds herself trapped in a cornfield with her new friends and several chainsaw-wielding psychopaths wearing clown costumes. This was a good book, though I was a little disappointed. If you’re on BookTok, you know people have talked up this novel, and I was expecting a little more. For one thing, I didn’t feel very connected to the protagonist. We know how she feels and we know about her past, but we don’t really see a lot of her personality. In larger conversations, it feels as if she’s just a bystander. Other than that, things were okay. It was enjoyable, and I wasn’t really creeped out while reading this. It is classified as a horror, but I’d say it’s closer to a suspense novel. There’s a sequel, but I probably won’t read it. This could be a standalone novel if you don’t read the epilogue. 

Thanks for reading. I may do these monthly or bi-monthly, I haven’t decided yet.

I Read the Highest and Lowest Rated Books I Own

2/21/25 

I love buying books more than I love reading them. The oldest books on my shelf are from middle school, and some of those elite remain unread. In October I had a realization - if I continued to read and buy books at my current rate, then by the time I die I will have accumulated thousands of books, having only read a rough ten percent of that collection. To combat this issue, I donated several books and started reading more intently. I enjoy perusing BookTube and a recent trend has been uprising, a challenge where a reader finds the lowest-rated book and the highest-rated book in their library and reads them back to back. 

I was enthralled by this concept! I had so many books in my library that sat unread for years. What would be the lowest-rated book, and what would be the highest-rated? How would they compare? I rummaged through my library, cataloging every book, and then with my complete list, I scrambled to Goodreads to see the results. I cataloged my collection in October and at the time the lowest-rated book on my shelf was Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker with an average star rating of 3.35. The highest rated book in my collection was Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman with an average of 4.53. I was excited to dive into the challenge, but school got in the way and I hit a depressive slump in November (I wonder why that was). 

By the time January came around I was excited to complete the challenge. Only I now had more books in my library that I got over Christmas. If I were a normal person, I would have just read the original two I had selected and called it a day. But I enjoy intense suffering, so after cataloging my new books I returned to Goodreads with not-so-surprising results. 

The highest-rated book in my library was now The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson with an average of 4.67 and the lowest-rated book was now Stones to Abbigale by Onision with an average of 1.87. If you know any information about these two books or these two authors, you know how they contrast each other. 

I hear the name Brandon Sanderson a lot in writing circles. He’s known for his writing courses and his stellar fantasy novels. People I know and trust rave about him, so he’s been on my TBR for a while now. The Way of Kings is the first Sanderson novel I have ever obtained and this particular copy happened to be 1250 pages long. Onision is famous for other reasons. Onision, or Gregory James Daniel, or James Jackson, depending on where you look, is a disgraced YouTuber who has been accused of grooming children and sexual assault. I’m not well versed on the controversy, but his books have made the rounds on BookTube and are infamously bad. Like Sanderson, I had never read Onision’s work, but the 1.87 rating scared me. The Goodreads user base tends to be very kind with their reviews. To find anything below 3 stars is very concerning. 

Stones to Abbigale by Onision

This novel is about a teenager named James who falls in love with his classmate, Abbi. In terms of plot, there’s not a lot else going on. Instead of a typical narrative, James stumbles from one plot point to another without real motivations or goals. Even events that should hold weight, such as a school shooting, feel arbitrary and meaningless. The only thing James thinks about is Abbi. James has no interesting traits, despite being told by the author how many good qualities James has, and despite every character riding his dick for the majority of the novel. You got James’s mom who lets him do whatever he wants, Abbi who exists just so James can save her and feel good about himself, Davis who is secretly in love with James, Jason the school bully who hates James but respects him nonetheless, and his teachers who worship the ground he walks on. 

This book is insulting on so many levels. Very real and horrible subjects are shoe-horned in to make the novel feel serious but are handled with the conception of a pre-teen edge lord, the characters are laughably unbelievable, the narrative is pretentious, and eighty percent of the novel is dead weight. It’s hard to justify some plot points when you have characters to sympathize with. But none of these characters were likable, the main character had no goal, no motivations, and no character arc, and the majority of the novel was crammed with trivial plot points that didn’t matter. Why did I read this? I thought, after finishing it. What was the point? Why did Onision write it? What was this novel trying to convey? What was it trying to do? Because it left me stunned, irritable, and unsatisfied. 

At one point I was so frustrated I ripped a page out of the book, crumpled it, threw it in the toilet, pissed on it, and flushed it. I sent an explicit text message to my sister afterward describing this event, only to discover I accidentally texted a high-strung conservative Christian relative of mine. Nothing good comes from this goddamn book. Had I not been reading it for a blog post, I would have DNF’d 20 pages in. 

I didn’t write much about Stones to Abbigale in this post. Part of that is because I finished the novel over a month ago and the details aren’t fresh in my mind. The bigger reason is that I was so inflamed with hatred I gave Stones to Abbigale a separate blog post, which you can read here for a more comprehensive review. 

Score: 0 Stars

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson 

I have a love/hate relationship with fantasy novels. They are so easy to screw up, and my first venture into the fantasy realm left me so scarred I didn’t read another fantasy novel for years. At the same time, I heard a lot of buzz surrounding Sanderson, so I entered the Way of Kings cautiously stoked. 

The novel takes place in a land called Alethkar five years after the assassination of the former king Gavilar by a mysterious people called the Parshendi. Now the two lands are at war across the Shattered Plains and the novel switches between three main narrators, Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar. Kaladin is a former surgeon’s apprentice and soldier but is now branded a slave, forced to carry bridges from plateau to plateau for the war effort. Shallan is a young girl whose father died, leaving Shallan and her brothers in immense debt. To combat this debt and prevent the desolation of her family, Shallan seeks to become the ward of Jasnah, the daughter of the late King Gavilar, and the sister of the new king, Elhokar. Shallan plans to rob Jasnah of a mystical object called a soulcaster and use it to generate new wealth for her family. Dalinar is the brother of Gavilar and the advisor of King Elhokar, his nephew. Dalinar is studying the ancient texts referred to as the Way of Kings and is also plagued with visions he doesn’t fully understand. Because of this, many question his power, and Dalinar must watch his back very closely if he is going to unite Alethkar and end the war. 

This book is complicated and long. If that’s not your vibe don’t pick this one up. I have the attention span of a gnat, so when reading long books I have to hit them hard and fast before my attention wanes and I move on to something else. I find this isn’t typically a fault of the novel itself, I have experienced this several times with some of my favorite books. With the Way of Kings, I sometimes read 200 pages in one day, while some days I read nothing. I managed to finish the novel within a month. I found my attention draining in the third quarter of the story. 

The Way of Kings is well flushed out but it takes a long time to get from plot point to plot point. Sometimes the slow pace felt necessary and other times I questioned it. Kaladin’s flashback chapters were interesting but how necessary were they? The interlude chapters partially confused me. Having finished the book, I don’t believe the interlude chapters contributed much outside of Szeth’s chapters, as I believe Szeth will contribute a larger role in the next book. I went back and forth on it, but now I know the pace is adequate, however, if you’re into shorter novels please look elsewhere. 

I liked Shallan and Kaladin’s perspectives more than Dalinar’s. Dalinar’s storyline was interesting and important to the overall story, but compared to the other two narrators it was hard to care much about him. Shallan and Kaladin are more desperate because they aren’t royalty, and much of the story focuses on how little power they have and why they struggle with their inner and outer obstacles. Dalinar’s story pales in comparison. 

I will say this book has the same problem that many fantasy and sci-fi novels have; the world-building is so complicated that it can sometimes get confusing. I’m still not entirely sure I understand who the Heralds were or where Shards came from, which is more my fault than the story’s, but I thought I would mention it so any potential readers know that this is a dense, slow-paced novel. 

That being said, I loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half, the third quarter dragged a bit, but the final act of the novel left my jaw on the floor. The spine of this novel was so cracked that pages were spilling out. I was jumping up from my chair, mouth agape, my mind reeling. I paced my house in between chapters trying to digest what the fuck just happened before diving back in. Trying to explain the ending to the uninitiated is like trying to explain Avengers Endgame to someone who has never seen a Marvel movie. 

I have to take a break from this series because it’s so dense, but I will be returning for the sequel with a vengeance. This book is thoughtful and patient and the final act made all the waiting worth it. My rating would be higher, but I deducted points for the third quarter where my attention was burning away like a candle wick. 

Score: 4.5/5 Stars

It was wild to go from one of the worst shortest books I’ve ever read to the most wild and dense. You should do the same with your library, but maybe don’t overcommit like I did. Have fun!

Rick Stepp (irresponsibleink@gmail.com)

Heart Eyes Misses the Mark

Heart Eyes (2025) directed by Josh Ruben

2/7/25 

*No Spoilers*

Horror movies are hard to make, the hardest being slasher flicks, because everyone has seen at least one in their lifetime. It’s easy to fall into the same tempo that other slasher flicks have, but what breaks my heart is when a slasher takes a unique concept and squanders it. Heart Eyes, directed by Josh Ruben, is a great example of this. 

I usually know when I won’t like a movie, I get a tingling sensation in my gut and I know I’m in for a bad time. The concept of the movie sounded interesting to me, a serial killer who targets couples on Valentine’s Day stalks enemies-to-lovers coworkers who must work together to survive. That is an interesting premise, but the execution was bland and unoriginal. 

The movie centers around Ally (Olivia Holt) and Jay (Mason Gooding), coworkers tasked with nullifying a company PR crisis on Valentine’s Day. However, when they’re mistaken for a couple by the Heart Eyes Killer, their night spirals out of control, leading to death and mayhem. 

I was hopeful during the first few minutes of the film. What I was hoping for was a darkly macabre critique on dating culture, as the opening sequence of the film made me chortle from the goofy actions of the characters who were soon slaughtered. It was a humorous sequence, but also heavy-handed and blunt with it’s jokes. This brand of humor tainted the movie, making it borderline unwatchable. I would’ve been fine with constant tongue-in-cheek jokes if they were good. But they weren’t good, none of them were, and it ruined my viewing experience. While watching this film, there were several middle-grade children in the audience and I noticed they were the only ones laughing at the ‘funny’ parts of the movie. It tried so hard to be quirky and funny, almost like a black comedy, but it wasn’t a black comedy, it was a mediocre slasher film with terrible jokes written by older folks for a younger audience. 

There was a scene that I would’ve really loved, an emotional scene where Jay and Ally’s characters were finally opening up to each other, and it would’ve been the best scene in the movie, except the entirety of it is overshadowed by the violent sex noises of the couple behind them. It would’ve been fine if you could faintly hear the couple’s moaning, but the sound guys pulled out all the stops with wet clapping sounds, sometimes louder than the actor’s themselves. Imagine the scene from Titanic where Jack dies, now picture the same scene with aggressively loud porn playing in the background. It wouldn’t surprise me if Holt and Gooding did this scene not knowing what was going to be plugged in the background, then saw the end result at the screening and were mortified. The only good scene in the entire movie was ruined by this film’s stupid juvenile humor. I love a good joke, especially raunchy ones, but this film has no idea what it wants to be. Is it a black comedy, or is it a horror film? It can’t make up it’s mind. 

You can always tell when a white person is writing a black character, you can always tell when a man is writing a female character, and you can always tell when people over the age of fifty are writing characters under the age of thirty. There were so many brainrot sentences in this film that my brain was slowly growing numb from the viewing experience. Phrases such as incel, beta, troll, sugar daddy, love language, algorithm, and shooting my shot were all used, and they were all used in a clumsy way, as if the writers weren’t used to the crazy slang the kids of today use. One character even used the sentence “incel-beta-troll” to describe the killer. It was all so painful to watch. After watching the movie, I checked to see what else the writers worked on and it did not surprise me to learn the writers behind Heart Eyes were the same masterminds who constructed Freaky (2020) and Happy Death Day 2U (2019). 

The protagonists and the killer are both extremely dumb. There are points in this movie where both Jay and Ally have a clear shot to kill Heart Eyes and they don’t pull the trigger. Even when they do, they wound him in some arbitrary place that doesn’t stop him from hurting others. Likewise, the killer has several opportunities to kill the two and blows it everytime. The killer goes from being a spectacular marksman, one who can nail a target from fifty feet away, and seconds later he can hardly hit Ally at all. Those who watched the movie might argue that the plot twist (if you can even call it that) explained this discrepancy, but it doesn’t and I would be happy to argue about it in my DMs. 

Also, I predicted who the killer was in the first twenty minutes. I also predicted the plot twist and neither of them were shocking at all. Not to mention the killer’s motivations are so vague and stupid I was angry by the time the credits rolled. 

What saddens me is that Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding are good actors, they’re a big part of the reason why I saw the movie in the first place. Their acting was a highlight of the movie. They weren’t god tier, but they were good, and getting someone to care about a two-dimensional character is hard. Holt and Gooding took two flat characters and enhanced them and that’s something I can appreciate. My only hope is that this movie does well at the box office and the two of them can move on to more apt rolls that are better suited for their talents. 

Another aspect of the movie I enjoyed was the fight scenes. They felt quick and fluid, which I enjoyed. That’s pretty much all there is to say about this disappointment of a movie. If you’re planning a Valentine’s date night go watch Companion instead. This movie is not worth your time. 

Final Grade: D

Rick Stepp (irresponsibleink@gmail.com)

Companion (2025) is a Great Critique of 'Nice Guy' Culture

1/31/25

Companion (2025) directed by Drew Hancock

*No Spoilers*

If I had to choose my favorite media trope, it would be the Relatable Robot. This trope has been used countless times, with later examples such as Terminator 2 and recent examples like Alien Romulus. Companion adds to this growing list, contributing a rogue sexbot that’s framed for murder, and despite being one month in, this might be one of my favorite movies of the year. 

Companion opens with Josh (Jack Quaid) and his girlfriend, Iris (Sophie Thatcher), who are going to a remote cabin to spend some time with Josh’s friends, Kat (Megan Suri), Eli (Harvey Guillén), Patrick (Lukas Cage), and Sergey (Rupert Friend). Iris feels off about the trip and bares a suspicion that Josh’s friends don’t like her. The truth is far more unsettling. After an unfortunate series of events, Iris discovers she’s a Companion, a robot made for subservience and intimacy. As she comes to terms with this truth, she must fight to stay alive and get home before her boyfriend and his friends murder her. 

All the actors were amazing, but the standouts were Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid. Thatcher’s character, Iris, must accept some terrible truths while also doing whatever it takes to survive, and Thatcher does a great job making us feel for a supposed machine. I liked her the moment she insisted Josh say 'thank you' to the Alexa in their car. From bright and earnest, to badass and scary, her range knows no bounds. Iris’s one goal is to make Josh happy, but we can sense that deep down Iris is unsatisfied with the circumstances. Quaid’s character, Josh, is a difficult one to portray, because for the story to work, he needs to present as a harmless nice guy, who actually has something nasty and depraved lurking beneath, and Quaid did a great job. You can tell through Jack Quaid’s intentional choices and actions, Josh truly believes that he is the good guy, even when his actions are deplorable.  

This movie’s true antagonist is the ‘Nice Guy.’ Josh believes he is owed something for how ‘nice’ he is. He believes the world is rigged against him, and Iris isn’t enough for him because he ‘deserves someone real.’ He’s controlling with robots and he’s controlling with humans, and his arrogance and self-entitlement lead to everything spiraling out of control. I related to Iris’s character because I think we’ve all tried to find worth in someone else, and that’s what I felt when watching this movie. Iris believes that she’ll be happy if Josh is happy, she believes she’ll feel complete, and you can feel how desperate she is to really be loved and accepted by Josh. The power dynamic in the movie shifts when Iris begins to accept herself. This movie draws on themes such as consent and personal choice, and the ending brings everything together nicely. 

Final Grade: A+

Rick Stepp (irresponsibleink@gmail.com)