#Invited Review

[tallpiscesgirl]

Nobu KL Festive Omakase Menu 2023

As 2023 draws to an end, the spirit of togetherness and joy takes centre stage, weaving its magic through festive gatherings with loved ones. Nobu KL believes that the essence of these end-year celebrations is intricately linked to the pleasure of sharing extraordinary meals. It serves as the perfect crescendo to bid farewell to the old year and an explosion of flavors to usher in the new year of…

[scrawnyghstts]

OKAY I finished watching a playthrough of poppy ch4 and I need talk/vent about it because omfg . spoilers under the cut ofc

I am so upset and salty at how little of yarnaby we got and about the doctor's whole sequence. especially sawyer, he's been made such an important part of the lore and on the trailers just looked so cool and seemed like he'd be crucial this chapter and then??? i'm so disappointed T__T honestly, his sequence was so underwhelming, i didn't feel like it had much support in the flow of the story, the maze was ehhh the baba part was even worse imo, and then just killing him ?? for what??? one of your main villains??? like they didn't even, i don't know, left a blink of the eye on one of the hallways monitors as you leave, or better yet, don't kill the guy, freeze him, put him to sleep, electrocute him?? anything!?!? have yarnaby sacrifce himself for sawyer!!!! i'm so upset, and it's not that i want mob to do what I think they should but the story just felt so disjointed! you don't put this much lore importance into a character to kill him in one move ?!!?! like i'm sorry i can't be alone in this

Doey's story was done great though, really heartbreaking and awful but also cool and heart-warming when he was at his best. Clearly the focus went into Doey and that turned out great! but somehow that annoys me even more, that it was seemingly at the cost of other characters. I mean in chp3 everything felt more cohesive and each character was strong in its story I feel like so i guess a lot of me being upset comes from knowing that mob can do better idk

the final sequence had a lot of work put in too, the Ollie reveal was done right. great timing, the sound design too was so peak and the dialogues as well, I'm very impressed with that and ofc huggy coming back is hype, even though I like yarnaby more I get why you'd bring back your statement character for probably the final chapter to come

overall idk what to think about chapter 4 exactly, it didn't sweep me off my feet! that's for sure ;-; I also wished we would've gotten more of the nightmare critters the way we got for the smiling ones, like at leasts some cut outs!! because with how this chapter is I don't feel like it matters what critters are chasing you, it could've been all smiling critters for all i know and the story seemingly would've been the same which sucks imo

but hey I'll still try to polish the idea I have for my own critter because the concept is simply too cool

[centrally-unplanned]

As part of my current quest to get out of my recent "hobby" nadir of low motivation, I am watching The Animes more - one prong of multiple I assure you, isn't a full weeb project. That includes the seasonals, so I watched the first two episodes of Gundam GQuuuuuuX. Directed by Tsurumaki, of FLCL fame! With Anno advising and Yoji Enokido doing the scripts! With character designs by take of Pokemon legend! I was definitely optimistic for this one.

But man, were those first two episodes rough for someone who isn't particularly a Gundam fan...

The first episode was "fine" - the character designs are, of course, amazing, take doesn't miss:

This is one of my "language of anime" moments, where like from the outside "hey let's make the characters 20% blobbier and also add highlights to their eyes that match their hair tones" is such a minor change, but once you are someone who follows ~2000 anime artists seeing designs that stand out in these little ways from anything else around is super cool (at least when they first debuted in Pokemon and spawned imitators, ofc). Having characters with the level of pop in their color pallete as Machu, or the sallow, dark-toned frigidness of Nyaan, in what is technically a war mecha show, feels like a fresh identity. I really liked the rooftop scene for their initial meeting (loved Machu tripping mid-speech, moe-cute moment), and these two are like walking opposed emojis, that too is yuri:

But everything else! That is a lot of jargon to throw at someone for a first episode? And it isn't meant to be technobabble I can just ignore, it is the plot. They obviously expect me to have seen the original Gundam, but that is a show from the 70's, lots of people haven't! You can do this more gracefully. And meanwhile, as runtime is eaten up by loredumps, Machu's character is just forced to become a fucking lunatic and instantly jump into a mecha to Fight The Police for ~reasons? I am sure we will learn reasons, but in the moment I was watching her bumbling from generic mobile suit to discovering the Special Gundam and all suspension of disbelief was blown - "yeah okay they need to get her into the famous mecha, I get it, you can skip this part". It was just very awkward.

Obviously none of this is helped by the fact that modern gundam has just committed to the idea of their mecha being fully-3D objects that pristinely bounce around space with no sense of momentum, feeling, or visual drama to them, so all the fight scenes are pretty bland.

Still, okay, rough first episode, but that happens - maybe episode 2 will flesh out the two main characters a bit now that the premise is out of the way?

Well that is a little hard to do when they do not appear on-screen because episode 2 is a fucking flashback alt history remake of the original gundam show!! It is just Char Anzable being his gay war criminal self for ~20 minutes. I had no clue what was happening, I authentically thought I was watching the wrong show.

They didn't even let us see if his eyes have a Pokemon Trainer hue shift, the complete cowards.

I am obviously not gonna hate too hard on the Huge Otaku at Khara being huge otaku about this and expecting you to have seen the original Gundam - but this is something you do in like episode 8. I did not need to know any of this alt history stuff yet, and I certainly don't care. I don't even remember the main character's names yet! I had to google them for this!

In any other context that level of one-two punch would make me drop this show, but in the end this is Tsurumaki, this is Khara, every anime junkie I know is talking about it - I probably will give it at least ~2 more episodes. I do respect that the fundamentals of character, animation, and directing are there. If they stop being fucking dorks for five seconds this show could be good, so I am hoping they do that.

[petrichal]

One Piece 1152 talk: 109 Years Back In Time

The number of times I've stood up and went "HUH" this chapter was crazy and suddenly there's so much I want to talk about help @_@

It's not necessarily a big thing to reveal but I found it funny how casually they told us that yes, Zoro really has Conqueror's Haki. At least from what I remember it hasn't been put to words- but we have seen him use Conqueror's, and what's really funny to me is how Luffy knows this and just never brings it up LMAO. Also, this rare instance of Zoro getting scolded someone else:

Bro is stunlocked, but also it's his first time hearing he has Conqueror's to begin with, and the fact that it's just "flowing out" of him is just???

On top of his usual demeanor, it's no wonder he intimidates people easily with just one look. (This also means that he's just been unconsciously using Conqueror's without an off switch since who knows how long and the fact that the Strawhats don't really give a shit about it is strangely wholesome to me idk)

Another point that stood out to me was this panel of Sanji to the left. Is anyone else finding this off-putting or is it just me? Like?? why is it there??

If it's a gag, Sanji would've just sulked like he always have when he saw Zoro's and Jinbei's latest wanted posters (similar to him in East Blue asking if he was on a wanted poster but it's just Usopp's head, seeing his own wanted poster back in Post-Enies Lobby- these are all gags; all dramatic, him on the floor etc.), but he's asking Gaban twice, like "hey, are you sure? what about me?", and there's a spotlight being shined here on Sanji's insistency at Gaban that felt unusual to me, that comes off just a bit desperate.

We know he's always looking for ways to be useful to the crew (even when he already is), and we know he's still dealing with the effects of putting on the raid suit (his whole internal dilemma back in Onigashima, wondering which version of himself does Luffy want around). Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Also what in the world 😭 In the tone of Garfield's are you /srs or /j, Luffy, is this /fr or is this /that tree from thriller bark kinda situation sgsdhjk

(I got caught off guard because in my head, there was no realm ever that Loki was gonna join, because realistically, where tf is he gonna fit on the Sunny, and also I don't see Loki as the type of guy to call someone his captain) but obviously Luffy's gonna ask Loki anyways and my hand flew to my damn mouth I was surprised LOL

It also hit me that it's been a longgg time since Luffy asked someone that. Felt weirdly nostalgic, all in all.

Another moment I love. Monster trio never fail to crack me up, 10/10

Putting comedic moments aside, some panels before that, Gaban gives Hajrudin the go-ahead to unlock Loki from his chains, saying that there was more to Loki's story than what Hajrudin believes.

Now the first thing that came to mind from Gaban saying this was: How come he didn't bring this up to Hajrudin before and let him hate his brother/let Loki be chained up even when he knew more than he let on?? But I gotta be honest, I don't really remember the circumstances around Loki being locked up and how Gaban was mentioned to be involved (if he was ever), so I guess?? He just never brought it up until he felt the same surge of Haki again and got reminded??? (guess I'll have to read it all back again to refresh my memory, it's been chaotic ngl lmao)

edit: Just remembered it was Shanks that was mentioned to have "captured" Loki during the whole ordeal in Aurust Castle. If when they arrived to the throne room they were met with a sight where Loki can be blamed for Harald's death, then I guess there wasn't any other explanation for it, considering (if the main perpetrator was Imu/the Holy Knights) the people responsible can disappear in an instant.

EDIT: Shanks "captured Loki" YEARS AFTER HARALD DIED. Back when Loki was at sea 6 years ago! AFTER Shanks' period of visiting Dawn Island. Sorry for the misinformation I was looking at the wiki and was like "something is NOT clicking" asfhjsdhglsdf oops

I can already see some fan theories getting proven to be right with this flashback though. Loki wasn't ever the criminal everyone thought him to be, and he didn't murder Harald to get his hands on a devil fruit. Hell, he even called that Hajrudin wanting him to retell those events a "cruel demand". Wild that it took Hajrudin 14 years or so and a whole near-invasion of Elbaf to want Loki to tell his side of the story though, I'm JUST sayin'.

And so we pop right into the flashback- WOAH HEY SHANKS BATH SCENE

Crazy. Wow. Anyways. I got hit with a second vine boom looking at Shanks' fucking arm and seeing what looks like a World Government tattoo and realizing holy shit ITS THE ARM THAT GOT EATEN BY THE SEAKING

NO WONDER HE DIDN'T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT LOSING IT???

Obviously there's nothing 'foreshadowing'-ish about this, but Oda's ability to build a plotline/point on top of something that was established YEARS ago to give it a new meaning never fail to impress. It's such a small detail!! But there's so many layers to it!!

"My plan was to join up with Buggy and lead a laidback pirating life" yeah okay no need to rub salt into the wound. That's totally not sad at all, knowing that Shanks invited Buggy to be pirates together with him right after Roger's execution and remember how Buggy rejected him in the rain??? yeah man. okay. Cool.

What does "Child of Fate" even mean? I tried looking into the JP version and he said 「お前は運命の子だな」/Omae wa unmei no ko dana, which, depending on the tone, could just mean "You really are a child of fate" or the translation above. Admittedly both are lost to me, idk what the hell he's trying to imply LMAO (My first thought naturally went to "huh? Like, from the D clan??" which doesn't seem likely).

This is unbearably cute btw. She just wants to see him at an eye level and wants to grow old with him, it's so cute. I want all of them to be alive by the end of the arc or so help me god

And as if one flashback wasn't enough, how about another!? A flashback within a flashback!?!?

Genuinely, going this far back in a flashback (Garp wasn't even alive this far back holy) when the giants were the most powerful in the seas reminded me a lot of Vicky the Viking for some reason. Pirates from Elbaf that greatly resembled Vikings in our reality being absolute terrors in the Grand Line just pillaging and raiding until they were the unanimous answer to the question, "What is the most frightening thing in the sea?".

I wonder what happened to make "Lowlife scumbag" King Harald turn over a new leaf to become a pacifist. Dorry and Broggy were part of the same crew as well, and when we met them back in Little Garden, they were friendly. Even in Elbaf, at the time of his death, Harald was "worshipped like a god" and got along with Shanks back in Maryjoa, dissimilar maybe to how he acted 109 years ago, when he claimed himself as a "god" after toppling over a kingdom for no reason.

Something happened in the course of 109 years to make him reflect and rip off his own horns, but that something also, probably?, is the cause of him siding with the government? Which Loki hates him for?Which Hajrudin also claimed that Loki technically did?? Idk man, Elbaf's history is unbelievably rich and I'm all here for it.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

I'm just thinking-What if it's a good review? What would come out of it? Would Carmy still have enough drive in him to change? What if this makes it harder for Carmy to change because it proves Chef David's point that his methods produce excellence?

Everyone is telling Richie, Carmy, and Natalie that the bear is amazing and packed, but their own inner fears and anxieties are stronger than the good in front of them. But let's just say, now that it is perfect, how are they going to enjoy the fruits of their labor?

[magnetothemagnificent]

My full thoughts on 'You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah':

So first off, going into it, I didn't think I would like it. I don't really watch the tween-angst genre of movies, and the promotional material for the movie made it look like it was just gonna be a movie about Jews having an extravagant and expensive party, which is obviously problematic.

But the movie.....it blew me away. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Things I loved:

-The typical Jewish stereotypes you see in every movie about Jews weren't present. I really expected Adam Sandler's character to be another nebbish pushover Jewish dad stereotype, but he wasn't. He was goofy and soft but also he was strong and passionate about Judaism and his family. When he got really, truly angry at Stacy, I almost cheered. Of course all the characters in the movie are on the upper middle class end, but upon reflection, that's just the genre of movies. There's a genre of tween and teen movies about extravagant birthday parties where the characters live in a world free from poverty, and well, it's nice to have a movie in that genre for ourselves. It's escapism.

-The characters all loved Judaism and being Jewish. Jewish religious practice and belief wasn't treated as a joke or an afterthought. The kids would actually look forward to Hebrew school, and Hebrew school wasn't depicted as boring and stuffy. The religious aspect of a Bat Mitzvah was front and center- it drove the whole story, from Stacy practicing her Maftir (not "Haftarah" as the movie got wrong) as she comes up with her worst mistake, to Stacy working on her Mitzvah project.

-Because the majority of the story occured at the characters' homes and in Hebrew School and Temple, antisemitism wasn't a player in the story, and I liked that. We have so many movies about Jewish pain and suffering, and it's nice to have a light-hearted movie. It doesn't pretend antisemitism doesn't exist, but it's just not relevant to the story.

-Even though it was a movie about a tween girl and all her struggles and insecurities, she was never once insecure about her Jewish features. They could have very easily slipped into the old "Jewish girl hates her nose" but it didn't. And I hope that if Sunny Sandler gets serious about acting as she grows up, she won't feel pressured to get a nose job like so many other Jewish young women do.

-It doesn't pander to goyim and take time to explain every single Jewish word and reference like Hallmark Hanukkah specials do. It's a movie made by Jews for Jews, and it doesn't edit itself to be more palatable to goyim. And I loved that.

Some critiques:

-My biggest criticism is the portrayal of Jewish tween boys. I get that the movie is from Stacy's POV, so as a tween girl she might see all boys her age as gross and as assholes, but I find it problematic that all the Jewish boys were depicted as nasty, while the only boy depicted as nice and polite was not Jewish. I think it plays into stereotypes of Jewish boys and sends a harmful message.

-I loved Rabbi Rebecca, but I think that at times her character went from endearingly awkward to just gross and inappropriate, such as when she talked about her yeast infection in front of her students. I think just a bit of editorial tweaking would have been beneficial for her character.

Overall rating: 9/10, would definitely recommend it to my Jewish friends. Goyim, you might enjoy it, but it really isn't made for you so you might be lost at times. Just accept you're not the target audience.

[ladyloveandjustice]

There are so many moments in Dead Dead Demon's Destruction that are just so pointed and devastating but this one really hits man. I'm kind of wondering if it was written after the Logan Paul thing happened, though of course it's probably referencing a lot of things related to a general American attitude that is, uh, timeless.

[imagine-nerd]

Personally I think the funniest (ie also the saddest thing) is that in the newest interlude archon quest recollection review talked about shadows admist snowstorms you know the limited time event and event story quest that happened in version 2.3, in November 2021

[dandelion-wings]

just read a delightful OT3 story in another fandom involving hot baths and massages, and now I am directly yoinking a bunch of its beats so I can tell myself a bedtime story about Lisa and Kaeya bullying Jean into a hot bath and massages. 10/10, do recommend

[tallpiscesgirl]

Christmas Eve Buffet @ Novotel KLCC and Other Festive Offerings

Novotel Kuala Lumpur City Centre invites guests to indulge in the spirit of the festive season with an exquisite dining experience at Food Exchange, the all-day dining restaurant, and Gourmet Bar, the lobby bar. This Christmas and New Year’s Eve, guests can treat their taste buds to a delightful selection of dine-in and takeaway experiences designed to make celebrations memorable. Christmas Eve…

[another-day]

welcome back to episode in review and HOO BOY do we have a lot to talk about

spoilers for episode 18 of inanimate insanity invitational!!!!!

so to begin OH MY GOODNESS that was a doozy

that episode was intense i had to keep pausing and rewinding it was scary ok lets start

seeing this i just knew i was in for a ride whoop dee doo!!

i feel like they were right TO A DEGREE, because mephone doesn’t have any ill intentions, he’s just misguided. he thinks the show is the only way he can have friends or people who like him, its really sad.

just wanted to include this because THEY’RE ALL SO SILLY and cabby politely standing beside the seat because she can’t sit on it THEY’RE SO SILLY

i was talking to some of my friends about this earlier, but silver’s whole world probably cane crashing down here. he’d been fighting for not just himself, but candle as well, and her not wanting to give him her vote, despite him doing everything she wanted, was probably heartbreaking. he’d found his inner flame and beat the competition and this is what he gets? i understand why he was so pissed later on because the one person he thought would be happy for him wasn’t.

he almost immediately covered it up, but his inner flame’s later outburst shows how he really felt.

mephone was hoping his plan would follow through here, but it also shows he’s hung onto the guilt of season one’s finale. in one of my previous theories, i guessed that he valued paintbrush for two reasons; that he thought they’d understand the guilt of losing 4s, and that they act somewhat similarly to him. i don’t think this is in confirmation of that, but it backs it up somewhat.

the perfect prize to mephone is this going to plan, without any casualties despite what the season four file may imply, from what i can tell. he’s scared its all gonna go wrong the same way season one’s finale did. however, i still don’t think he wamted to follow through with this plan, evidenced by both him and the floor at the end.

do i need to say anything

its the anti-avengers dude

sorry this was so funny to me i had to include it

this scene messed me up guys like seriously

on one hand, candle thinks silver spoon’s learned his lesson, that the inner flame is not something to boast, but rather cherish and use for good. she thinks this because silver spoon functions in such a way. he reveals something about himself that she doesn’t approve of, she expresses that, and he changes to fit her standards, that’s how its always been. it shows her trust in him, his constant, because as much as he thinks otherwise, he never truly changes his ways, until now at least. that’s why she was so shocked, thinking he wouldn’t hang on to that since he seemed so unbothered previously. to her, silver was almost always an open book, so to see him hide something was shocking.

for silver spoon on the other hand, the one person who always had his back, who taught him everything he knew, turned on him. he did everything she asked and she won’t support him. it would be enraging, hence why he didn’t understand her lesson. he was too focused on the fact that she’d decided, in his eyes, that he still wasn’t enough, too powered by emotion and greed. he’s incredibly insecure, so to have her tell him he’s doing everything he aspired for wrong resulting in the rage clouding his mind, and thus,

SHE IS DEAD BOY ‼️

seeing him inching toward her motionless body at the end was tragic i was on the floor. she advised him not to let the inner flame, his rage, cloud his mind, he didn’t listen, and look where that led him. its tragic, really.

as a mephone angst enjoyer WAAAAH

this was mean, springy’s mean, i don’t like him.

… but he’s right. to mephone, this WAS all a game. he’s changed and grown, but that’s not gonna change how badly he’s treated people. mephone is broken because he refuses to fix himself. implied through the screen protector memory from episode 13 season two, mephone was taugh that he was strong, and should never be a vulnerable. as a likely result, he may have grown to resent vulnerability, and in turn never sought help, because that would be making yourself vulnerable.

whoop dee doo ok i’m ending it there before i get out of hand.

thanks for reading this if you did and i hope you didn’t completely hate it!!!

have a lovely day, and stay safe ;P

[charliespringverse]

i think it should be possible to scream without making any noise or disturbing anyone or inviting any questions . just sometimes . as a treat .

[v-67]

Read Murderer Lewellyn's enchanting dinner invitation

And fuck.

I don't know how the author has this thing. This power. This way of making me feel so many things by imbibing and creating such an intricate plot, such intricate characters. Such emotions, such craving for emotions, such acknowledgement to ones you've never felt, such nostalgia for things you've never been through. You're within the story, so deeply. So fucking deeply. That you even feel like burning the world for such characters, for the pain they've felt, the things they've been through. It's just...so much. So much.

When I started reading this, it felt all complicated, i didn't want the main character to fall in love w a serial killer, i didn't want a character to be so dumb to fall in love w a killer. It was this gray area, an area where I judged Lewellyn, and as I judged him, I just wanted Shavonne to stay away. It made me look at myself in the light of how people treat people who are criminals, and it's an honest reaction, it's a reaction to be safe. I can't wait and fuck around to find out why he's killing people or who's he so particularly killing until I'm sure that he won't be killing me (Shavonne in this case)

But then, as the story starts to unravel, the way it unravels, it's so complex, the emotions and the trauma.

The way we get to understand Lewellyn, his actions, the reasons for him killing people. I cannot comprehend the amount of pain that kid went into, he was introduced in this world as a dog, and treated in such a cruel manner. Cruel isn't even the right word here, it was worse than cruel.

And when Shavonne meets him, and treats him w such kindness, he does not understand that. But he feels this sense of warmth, this energy which he describes so beautifully – It was a type of fire that didn't burn, it provided warmth, it was a type of heat I was unfamiliar with, I had no idea such a thing could exist. (The og dialogue is different, this is just me trying to recall the way I remember it)

But anyways, back here.

One of the most important points I took away from this story, which hit me so much, is the way a person can be brainwashed into thinking that something is normal when it's clearly not. And i think that can be one of the worse forms of torture to have someone go through. To change the nature of their understanding to such an extent. Go change a fact of the world to such an extent. To manipulate them into thinking what's happening to them is normal when it's clearly not. Fuck.

This was a great piece of work. The only part which I am a little question marky about is what exactly was it about lewellyn that the government wanted so much to treat him like that? What was this special condition he had?

It's cool even if I don't know.

Also another cool thing, in the end they show the names of their meaning. Shavonne means 'Grace of God', and Lewellyn means 'Leader of men'. And throughout the story Lewellyn, because of his eye color, is also compared/referred to being the devil – the devil has golden eyes. All this makes me curious about their names and the meanings the dynamic may share.

And the depiction of emotions, loneliness, family, warmth, love, mental distress, conscience. Wow. The depiction of the real world.

I'm sleepy to write more, but it was a beautiful manhwa. The way the words with the right plot and the heaviness of the situation, the words can make you feel so much.

Hats off to the author.

The dialogue where Lewellyn speaks about how if he was a human being..... Those 3 lines, they were so intense.

And the one about warmth.

Fuck.

I love reading content that explores psychological ways and things. The new perspectives, the way there's always going to be this one super simple yet such a profound and intense dialogue because of the gravitas of the situation it is placed at, which gets stuck with you.

It's beautiful. Words. And the way an author's mind works. The way they put so much thought and energy and bring these beautiful stories and characters to life. I love that. And I'm grateful for you all who do that. Thank you for bringing such beautiful tales, thank you for bringing the world and me a little warmth.

[itastelikefilm]

I wrote the beginning of a small fanfic with Kim’s POV: Kim and Harry are working together at precint 41, but one day Harry goes missing. Kim sits down by his desk every night looking for some clues in his notebook. (Major stuff has already happened and he’s just reading it all over again).

1/2 INTRO

“It’s the same story every night: before going to bed you sit by your desk and start reading the quotes you collected during the day in your notebook: many many cases go trough your head, but only one remains. Harry. Harry disappeared. Three days already passed since you last saw each other, you were trying to solve one of the thousands murder cases you had since you came to Jamrock. A man burned down his ex’s house to the ground, disappearing as well in the night. “At least he didn’t burn dora’s house like that guy” you mumble in your breath, wondering if he didn’t suddenly go crazy and decided to pay a visit to her in Mirova, but the thought goes away as soon as you see the clock on your desk: it’s midnight. It’s time to go. Go back to three days ago.”

[arthurmorganist]

unpopular opinion i guess but i don’t understand what the fuck they��re doing to aemond’s character this season

[clumsypuppy]

if escape rooms as team building exercises became popular im not sure if id be more excited or terrified