#can’t explain the depths of the ss stuff

[rowanthestrange]

i don’t think i ever went back and really fully grasped the meta (re: deep narrative details, not basic general) of the neo-neo-nazi strangling the doctor which was actually strangling himself

[coco-bee]

INSIDE OUT 2 AND ANXIETY

Welcome to Media and Topic where I discuss a piece of media and how they handle a certain topic either in the story department or the production!

Today I’m discussing Inside Out 2 and how the movie handled Anxiety!

!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!

(I need to scratch the itch this movie gave me)

So I watched Inside Out 2 in the cinema with my friends after not going to the cinemas for a few years now AND I LOVED IT!! Very entertaining movie and I can’t wait to rewatch it on Disney+ :D

I want to discuss more about the first and second movie sometime when I get to watch them again

For now I want to discuss how this movie handles having anxiety!

Keep in mind I won’t go as in depth as I would want because I only watched the movie once and I can’t thoroughly watch it to find stuff I missed so I’m going off my memory.

So to start off of course we can’t discuss anxiety without well… Anxiety!

I genuinely love the way she’s portrayed! Not as an irredeemable monster but just wants the best for Riley and goes about it the wrong way. The way the movie interprets Anxiety as someone who prepares for the future is really smart! (and makes me rethink MY anxiety..)

Most people personify Anxiety as a monster who takes over the mind that they would like to be removed. But in this movie- Anxiety seems like an overbearing mother that is just trying her best but goes about it the wrong way. (at least to me)

The movie doesn’t go into the direction where Riley has an excessive amount of anxiety that requires medication or therapy but more of goes into the anxiety you get when you’re a teenager but it shows a lot more in certain situations than having it be a constant thing. Which explains why Anxiety while not gone is managed by Joy so that she won’t go off the rails.

Anyway I first want to mention the scene after Riley does her first game at Hockey Camp and Riley hears the Firehawks talk about her (I love how Val defends her btw I love her sm ARGHH)

(sorry the ss is bad quality I can’t find more)

The way Anxiety handled the conversation so smoothly was a very interesting scene! It adds nuance to the idea of anxiety not always being a bad thing. Anxiety can help someone stay alert in case of danger, make them aware of risks and motivate us to solve the problem/find a solution and in my experience helps with quick thinking. It only turns into a bad thing when it’s taken over ALL the time.

Basically the message of the first movie but instead of having toxic positivity it’s having unmanaged anxiety.

But things go downhill when Anxiety bottles up the other emotions in order to make Riley look cool and make new friends with Val and the Firehawks

And also removing Riley’s sense of self as she plants in more self deprecating ideas in Riley’s head to make this new belief that Riley isn’t good enough and has to ALWAYS improve (heavy emphasis on ‘always’)

Which gets Riley to abandon everything about herself. Like lying about her favorite band.

And abandoning her friends in order to look cool and mature.

In my experience this is VERY accurate. When you get overruled by Anxiety you tend to lose your sense of self. You lose your core personality traits in favor of what is seen as cool. PEOPLE PLEASER ALERTT ‼️ (Me too Riley… me too<3)

I also notice how Riley tends to make decisions that are completely against her morals and the rules when she’s letting her emotions take too much control instead of thinking rationally like sneaking to the Coach’s office because she was fueled with not knowing if she made the team or not.

A similar thing happened in the first movie where she stole her mom’s credit card. So just a detail to point out.

There’s also the scene where Anxiety got these…thought artists?? (I forgot what they’re called) to write the worst possible scenarios for Riley before a big game while she’s asleep. THAT SCENE IS SO RELATABLE I DO THAT A LOT especially when I’m going through something.

Again very accurate and not to mention a creative representation of this kind of thought process.

I also remember when Joy is formulating a plan to get back Riley’s old sense of self, in her plan she says to Anxiety “Hey! Stop worrying so much” and Anxiety (in Joy’s mind) replies with “I didn’t think of that! Thank you”

Which is PAINFULLY accurate to how people respond to others that have anxiety. They just respond with “Don’t worry” WHEN LIKE… THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS 💀

We need a lot more than “Don’t worry” to be able to well..not worry.

For me I talk it out for me not to worry anymore because I prefer having someone with me instead of being stuck in my head. And other people have different needs when they have anxiety.

I just really like that detail

There’s also the panic attack Riley gets

I love how Anxiety rushes around the console trying to think of some sort of solution but she’s stuck in this loop and just couldn’t stop worrying and panicking and that just… it hit way too close to home. When you’re having a panic attack you tend to get stuck in your mind to the point where you need an outside force to get you out of it. Like how Grace went to ask her if she was ok while Riley was in the penalty box which helped Riley get out of it and finally open up and slowly be herself again.

Usually if this movie was written by out of touch writers Anxiety would be “defeated”, Joy puts back Riley’s old sense of self and Riley is all happy again! BUT NOPE thankfully the movie doesn’t go in that direction because the writers understand how the brain works.

I like how even if Joy puts back the old self, it doesn’t automatically make things better. That sense of self was great for Riley when she was a kid.. but she’s not a kid anymore. She needs something else. So her new self is a mix of positive affirmations and negative affirmations about herself which is very realistic. Because as you get older you become a lot more humble and aware of your flaws.

I also like how Anxiety is not “defeated” in the end but instead becomes managed. When she starts spiraling, Joy helps her calm down and asks “We can’t control what happens but what can we control now? What can we do right now?” which is an AMAZING way for it to be handled.

It works a lot on me which helps me calm down and get my head back to earth and think rationally.

Overall this movie is very accurate with how it depicts being a teenager with Anxiety! And it really touched me as someone who tends to have it every now and then.

Please go watch this movie while it’s still in theaters (or available for streaming)! It’s worth your time!!

PIXAR HAS GOTTEN ANOTHER W

(also off topic I love how Fear is so fucking smitten for Anxiety it’s so cute I need a pixar short with them PLSSSSS SOMEONE DISCUSS THEM W MEEEE)

This is Coco typing… Thank you for reading!

[redskull-fanatic]

Reasons to Love the Red Skull

Now, I know what you're thinking. I know all of it. All the reasons you hate him, all the justifications, all the go to sayings that make you say "Fuck the Red Skull." However, I'm here to celebrate this character.

I am a woman who loves villains. Villains are my passion and pride, and honestly Red Skull is just the best villain I've ever had the pleasure to stumble across. Many call him a Nazi, an asshole, and such. I, however, am here to put a different prospective on the character. Why those who love the Red Skull do, and why in such a horrible, nasty man, we find joy in him.

Feel free to disagree, to scream and call me names. I honestly don't mind. I'm just trying to tell others why I adore the Red Skull, and why he's my favorite marvel character in history. Bring him in a light that many won't consider.

Btw, I also love Steve Rogers so that should give me some credit, right?

Appearance. Now, I don't remember how exactly I saw The Red Skull, but when I did, I fell in love with his appearance. I really like skulls and skeletons, so his face was already beautiful to me. His whole dictator look is also very nice, and skeletons mixed in with the army is my favorite aesthetic. Red and dark greys also look nice together(I'm an artist so I love color schemes), and I love how he and the captain reflect history! I'm a big history nerd and World War Two is fascinating to learn about. Skull just makes it a lot more fun, just to see him with something from the 40s. Plus, he does bring awareness to the holocaust. Keeps it fresh in people's minds so we don't forget.

Obsession with Power. Skull is basically the definition of "Dictator." He strikes fear into his Hydra army, has a fucking cool symbol for his empire(don't know why it's a fucking octopus if its for an empire called Hydra, but okay Skull), got a salute and everything. However, a big trait about this character is power hungry. We all know he joins the Nazi army, but why? Well, I'm new to Marvel and going off a fandom wiki so cut me slack He met Hitler and talked about his theories of myths being science. Adolf was intrigued, wanted to learn more, and Heinrich Himmler recruited him into the SS. He had his fun there, until eventually.. His views started to change. He believed he was rightfully the superior race, he used any means necessary to obtain a central position in the army. That was, until the serum in his veins made him believe he was greater than Hitler and started to plan to overthrow him. Schmidt doesn't believe Germans are the master race, but rather the superior man has yet to be made. He never personally cared to follow the slaughter of Jews, he was too busy hell bent on overthrowing the entire Nazi party and reforming them into hydra. He used the Nazis from the very beginning, he used them for their resources and getting his name out there. That sir, is top tier villainy.

Attitude. His attitude is the best, to be completely honest. He's determined to get what he wants, he's resourceful, and doesn't take no for an answer. This man takes risks, when he first got the tesseract, he ignored safety, shoved Zola out of the way, and went straight for the controls. And the transfer succeeded. He easily kills off his enemies and adapts quickly to situations. As soon as the Americans out matched Hydra's forces, he simply blew up the fucking place without a care in the world. How much he doesn't care is hilarious. He always looks disappointed and unamused, so whenever he smiles it's the best thing ever. Skull speaks super matter-of-factly, and has the best lines: "I am surrounded by incompetents!" "I would curb that sharp tongue of yours, Taskmaster. Lest it cuts your throat." "And here I wanted to watch Captain America's will bend like a weed beneath my boot... No matter." "You are failing! We are close to an offensive network that will shake the planet. And yet, we are continually delayed, because you cannot outwit a simpleton with a shield!" I mean, these lines are hilarious and great, don't lie. Also, the scene where Zola and him talk about the finding out of Erskine's whereabouts is hilariously awkward. "Shall I give the order?" "... It has been given." "... Good-" I mean, that scene cracks me up. Mix that with the fact Skull was standing there for a portrait and was blasting Opera just makes it more hilariously amusing.

Obsessive in Nature. This guy.. is obsessive. Very obsessive. In my most favorite Marvel movie of all time, he's borderline obsessed with Captain America. He has a need to control him, make him Captain Hydra and be his second in command. I love obsessive villains, and Schmidt honestly fits the criteria. He's been obsessed with the tesseract for awhile, is currently crazy over taking over the world, what's not to say he gets obsessed with the captain? The two are similar enough(one parent dies when they're at a young age, both being an in orphanage, both getting bullied, beat up, and yelled at, both becoming super soldiers, and both becoming icons and symbols in the eyes of the public) so what's not to say Skull gets a little possessive over his enemy? Researches in such depth to learn how to control him, own him, kill him, which ever you prefer. All I know is, Skull is one big control freak, and I love him. He has such a need to be in control that he goes to extreme lengths to make sure all the power belongs to him. What a determined little man.

His Name. Johann Schmidt legit translates to John Smith. That is hilarious to me. It's so generic, like Steve Rogers.

Intelligence. This man is fucking smart, and I love it. He has plan after plan after plan. He has such detailed plans that it's ridiculous. Whenever he is about to act on the plan, he has the pause and explain the whole damn thing. He's so proud of him accomplishments, he has to fucking rant about them to further show off his superior intelligence. He goes to such lengths to accomplish his goals, that I'm surprised he doesn't get a headache with all that over planning. He even has to plan on unpredictable actions to surprise Steve. This man is plan crazy. He's so smart that he sets everyone up as pawns, and lets people do the mundane stuff so he has more time to plan. Anyway, this man.. He's so smart. He immediately knew the tesseract decoy was fake, he's able to see beyond appearances and managed to see the truth behind myths. He created a fucking ray that disintegrated people. He easily cut ties with the Nazi army, and always managed to stay a few steps ahead of the Americans. This man is a genius, you can't deny it.

Subtle Weaknesses. His main two weaknesses are: his temper and his slight insecurity of his face. He gets livid if you use "Red Skull" as an insult, and point out the deformity of his face. Expressing dislike over it is simply a death wish, and honestly I find it endearing he's insecure about it. Another thing is, his temper. He gets so mad, so mad over nothing. The slightest thing can make him go from his usual, calm and unimpressed nature to a fucking angry monster who smashes the window in. It's hilarious how mad he can get, and watching him try to control his anger is the cutest thing to me. He's trying so hard! ;w;

View on Magic. His belief magic is a science is super interesting to me! He even makes his belief a reality, and that's so satisfying!! He even researches mythology, and I love mythology! He proves people idiotic by showing them how real his theory is, and it's perfect. Johann blasting those fuckers calling him mad was one of the most satisfying scenes in the Captain America: The First Avenger.

His Personal Tastes. He likes the finer things in life. He listens to Opera, has a sweet fucking car, did you see how nice the Valkyrie was? Plus, he was getting a portrait done! Pretty sure he was drinking some sort of wine in the movie too. This man has wonderful tastes, and honestly makes his character even better to me.

Subtle Actions. He has some subtle acts of kindness, to me at least. In Captain America: The First Avenger, he was very calm with Zola and didn't really raise his voice with him. Schmidt is honestly very polite at times!! He even tried to be friendly with his first meetings with Captain America, expressing a liking towards his films and trying to understand what "made the captain special." Sounded like he just wanted a genuine conversation, or something of that nature.

Dialogue. Did I forget to mention how great is dialogue is? His taunts with Captain America are so funny and cute at times, like legit they go back and forth: "Don't be a fool, Skull. You can't control that thing! It'll bring the whole mountain down!" "Yes... On you." "You just don't give up, do you?" "Nope!" "It's time to stop playing army, Skull." "You have yet to see my army! Or should I say.. Our army." Like, these two dorks. Their taunts are the best.

He's an asshole. I know he's a dick, but it's funny as hell. He's like an ex, arrogant and bitter. Such a show off too. He's a wonderful villain.

His past doesn't affect him. So far, his past never seems to pull any strings at his heart. That's interesting. He went through such a traumatic series of events(his mom died during birth, his dad tried to kill him, his dad abusing him, trying to kill him again, then eventually committing suicide. Schmidt then was sent off to an orphanage where he was abused and beaten, he ran away at the age of 7, resorted to stealing, was taken in by the same doctor who delivered him, and ended up killing a woman.) He seems to have moved on from his past, or at least bottles it up. It's interesting..

He was inspired by a cherry. I'm not making this up, Joe Simon saw a cherry on his sundae and was like: "... That looks like a skull-" and the rest is history.

Vormir sort of mellows him out. He's very calm, distant, and legit doesn't give a shit on Vormir. I hope his old spirit comes back, but this stone keeper Skull is pretty funny and sort of tragic. I like him lots. ♡

He was created alongside Captain America. These two have been together for years. Fighting each other time and time again, and I only wish to see it continue. Sure, I prefer the more goofy side of heroes and villains. The two having stupid taunts, yet entertaining adventures.

Now, I doubt that is all the reasons I love Johann Schmidt. However, I only summarized all I can think of. I hope my fellow Red Skull fans would come out of hiding and express their love for this character. He's one of the best villains I've ever seen. I can go on and on about how much I adore this character, but I'll stop here. If anyone wants to see my favorite adaptation of Schmidt, and my favorite Marvel movie, feel free to check out Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United. Its on Netflix. All you Red Skull × Captain America fans will get a big kick out of it, and it's a universe I like. It's more goofy, it's animated in a beautiful style, and so much love was put into it. Came out in 2014!!

Anyway, hope I opened your eyes to a few reasons why this character is great. He's determined, hard working, intelligent, spiteful, and overall so much fun to watch on the big screen! His lines are funny, his personality is interestingly layered, and he's such a great character! A part of me wants to see him succeed, since he's done so much! I'm a loyal villain fan, I'm sorry xD

In villains, we get guilty pleasures from them. I love how powerful Skull is, and his determination is admirable. He's doing a bad thing, but he's doing to super well! If you love villains, I hope you get my point! I also like the subtle things in Skull that make him human, his love for Opera, his fascination with Mythology, his politeness, it's all so charming for a villain fan!!

I don't see many Red Skull fans speak out, so I'm glad to do it! Just a friendly Red Skull fan who wants to appreciate my boy. I'm acting like a proud mom, but I do hope he gets further attention, it's been far too long.

Thanks for reading, Hail the Red Skull. ♡

[avenger-hawk]

Your fanfics are so good. I love how you are able to show a different kind of resolution than the trashfire of Kishi’s ending. Beautiful internal characterization.

Thank you very much.

You know it’s weird to say this but the one good thing about the shitty ending and the new stuff was that it made me a better fic writer. Before the manga ended I only had written one fic (Acquiescence) and planned out another (In Power) with the impression that Sasuke wouldn’t have had justice. But only when the ending came out and the extent of ‘not getting justice’ was so huge, I got so angry and disappointed that after taking part in countless discussions and writing countless analyses and more, I started having a lot of good ideas. 

I really wanted to channel my negative feelings into something creative, also to give myself a better explanation for canon stuff, because analyses and essays are interesting and useful but to me they feel kind of ‘dry’, empty, neat but kinda incomplete, as if they connect the dots but nothing more. As starting point, while a story fills adds description of states of mind and hearts, studies the characters in more depth because it makes them ‘move’ and watches them as they do so, and in describing this they explain why and that why is always connected to their personality and the environment, ending shit included.

I can’t do like those fans who be like ‘N*ruto ended at ch. 698′ (or others) cause nope, I can’t unread what I read. Just like I can’t see Nar*sasu relationship as healthy and positive. Nothing against those who have certain healthy and positive NS headcanons about their post ending life but for me it’s a big nope. So here I am. 

The ending and the final arc can provide a lot inspiration starting from stuff authors always interested in, for example I’m interested in the concepts of reality vs illusion, which was a big part of the final arc and of Madara (and Itachi)’s personalities, which shaped and influenced Sasuke as well although indirectly, so my writing often focuses on that, which can also be related to the ending, like Madara rewriting reality in Somber Creation Pale Destruction, where he took Sasuke away as the last Uchiha, while everyone thinks he’s been defeated not realizing ‘Sasuke’ is a Zetsu (I love that AU lol) or Madara winning the war in a Kaguya-esque way  and trapping everyone in their cocoon so everyone’s living their own reality as in In Dreams (this is the main plot apparently but there are other underlying themes and readings, tbh I think that’s my best work, narrative wise, although I’m not interested in the rarepair I wrote there lol). Also What He Wanted deals with reality vs illusion in the way Itachi deals with the S*kura/SS situation, and in In The Dark it’s another main theme. Even my unwritten Kakasasu has that theme in a way. Altered reality and their perception is to me as interesting as dynamics of power, power play and so on, and these are in every single fic lol. 

The ending also inspired some ‘fix it’ set before certain events happened instead of the ending, like in In Power I focused more on how things could have been fixed during the war without the power ups that made everyone but Sasuke and N*ruto useless. Which influenced a universe where people mattered more. Same for Victims of Peace, where I wrote an alternative solution to avoid the massacre. 

All this to say that the trashfire happened and I’ll never stop being angry about it, but at least we have our brains and we can make the most of that shit with our creativity :)

I rambled, sorry, and I was almost forgetting to thank you for sending me this nice message, I really appreciate it!

[kokoronopikuseru]

NPF2017

I took a leap of faith 3 months back to get an air ticket to Japan.

In the pen spinning world, cross community interaction is really limited, mainly dude to the lack of sponsored trips or offline events. I’m really fortunate enough to be able to travel to korea, china, hong kong and taiwan, to meet spinners in real life. The face to face interaction made me learn so much about each and every community’s culture.

I was really lucky that my llul period in army matches the date of NPF. I have been watching JEB pen spinning for years, and it meant a lot to me to be able to meet the spinners that have been inspiring since I started. It was worth it. And it was insane.

Day 1 (Levi’s Gathering)

After settling at tigres’ place, we went out to pick up i.suk and vampire which were both somewhere around shinjuku. It was kinda funny how we both betted that I.suk was spinning a pen mod when we meet up with him. Vampire was really cool. Our conversations didn't have much depth, but we spent most of the time laughing about shit we see. Trying to see the upskirt of the anime girl in the train poster. Amazing guy.

We crashed the saizerya meet up where a few spinners got together before the actual event. I was still on adrenaline because of my lack of sleep. I “hajime-mashita" all of them. There were pretty shocked since, well, it's seldom you’ll see such an act in a really reserved japanese culture. I'm glad to hear that it was positively received later on. And yes, isuk is 24 years old. 本当に？？

We had time. I mentioned about how my friend bought me a tenga egg the last time they came to Japan. I, too, was pretty interested to know how it is like to visit a sex shop. So, uh, yeah we went. I thought we were going to enter a dedicated shop. NOPE. They brought me to don quijote which is a huge shop selling everything under the sun. We strolled to the section. There's a cool selection, and it isn't too expensive either. After quite a bit of laughter, I chose two. It's amazing to see how shopping for such products were really normal. Cute girls just pass by and take them off the shelves as if they were just shopping for groceries. The cashier didn't react to the fact that borderline legal kids were buying a couple of onaholes. Wow, Japan is great. Was really nice that vampire paid for it, as a gift for me. One of those were supposed to be isuk’s but well, he vehemently rejected the offer. Haha. It was golden.

We arrived at the venue. It was a small place at the 4th or 5th floor of a shop house. Everyone was waiting by the streets before entering. I was a lil intimidated, since, I do recognise a number of them, and also there was quite a number of them. I had a brief exchange with beige. Interesting. As usual, the language barrier hindered the depth of our conversation. Ehven arrived afterwards, and I was really glad that he told me that he liked my spinning and was supporting me as a PWT judge. I love that dude, easy to talk with too. Don't think he knows I recall him for the guy that posts weird half naked clips in a number of vacation CV videos. Hahaha.

The room was small for 55 people. But it's still cozy. There were many cushion chairs. We settled down, and mixed with everyone. It's hard to talk at first, because everyone's kinda in groups already. After finding my way around, it's nice to know a number of spinners still remember my spinning, really honoured to be acknowledged.

And then the bingo happened. Towards the end, they hosted this activity to give out some prizes donated by +spin and Tez. When a person had bingo, they could play the lucky dip to get a prize. Initially I had pretty bad luck with the numbers. I had only one punched in after maybe the 6th call? Vampire, laku and tigres were helping me with the number especially when my numbers were pretty bad and I can’t interpret the names read out in japanese that easily. The crowd was really entertaining. They were all cheering for the “monami pens” as it represented that they still had a chance for the grand prize. Ponkotu had the worst luck x)

And in the end, I won it. The grand prize was like the first JEB pen case created. I felt really embarrassed since they lost the most prized possession to a 外人. Even so, they made me feel I deserved it. 嬉しい.

As the day come to an end, we got vacated and we ended up moving to the streets. Reminds me quite a lot about most gatherings I go where all the dedicated people who love pen spinning have difficulty leaving. I chatted with coco_A and cseo. They're a big inspiration to me, to be so active in the community even after their time has passed. They opened up to me and we had a good talk.

Laluteskal had a good laugh when I told him I remembered him for being the leader of All Highlights. What a friendly dude :DD

Day 2 (NPF)

I honestly did not expect that many spinners. I recognise a number of spinners since (I secretly study every NPF baton CV).

It was really weird at first because I was on my own with mango to roam around the place. Tigres was with some of his friends, and vampire was preparing for the competition. Subsequently, I went around tried really hard to open up to them, with whatever broken japanese I have at my disposal. I MET TOO MANY SPINNERS. I didn’t even eat lunch that day, and could barely even go around talking to everyone of them and getting their signatures.

I spent quite a bit of time just sitting down learning linkages from spinners - laluteskal, slofis, rhetoric, ponkotu, etc. They all had their own speciality link or trick. I’m certain its way harder than how it looks, especially ponkotu’s ones.

Greeting each other were fun. I’m honestly surprised how some spinners actually knew who I was. I’m just a small fry from and unknown community and have more shit videos than good videos. Thank god for PWT. I wanted to just say hi to miyana, didn’t expect him to be like wooaaaaaaaaaaaah pixels san. I was probably more excited to see him. IM A JEB FANBOY. Noel too. Most of my interactions were really just expressing that we were glad to meet each other. Nonetheless, its humbling to be able to see my idols in the flesh.

I managed to meet FouR and Malimo. I’m a huge fan of those two. Glad that me and FouR were both motivations for each other to spin. Great that he did enjoy participating in all my CVs. Lotus told me about he watched liked my calligraphy and how pixelophobia was really cool. For a CV editor as great as him, it meant the world to me to receive those compliments.

Siva attached wheels to his pen case. LOL that was hella fun. Thinking of doing it to one of my unused ones too hahahaha. That guy has endless creativity.

Ponkotu showed me his f3000 pen. Jesus Christ. The paint on the pen is fully scraped off. THE BODY HAS SOME CONCAVE AREAS BECAUSE HE DID TOO MANY TAPS. That’s some hardcore pen spinning dedication in one pen.

I also managed to see Ease’ Dr Grip. Oh man. I thought that fading a dr grip pen to white was terrifying. His pen is yellowing, the tip has many little spots from the countless drops, the grip is really soft and fully opaque. I’m honoured to be given the opportunity to try these spinners’ weapon of choice. Fuckin’ terrifying. Para was pretty amused with my expression towards seeing them.

I.suk’s tournament combo was insane. They told him to do a short warm up. He did tons of SS and FL shit, the crowd was cheering even before the video camera started recording. He’s such a crowd pleaser haha.

The 3 sec trick showcase was really fun. JEB spinners do have such a psychotic sense of humour. Kicoviola fuckin swallowed an anyball grip on his mx, and washed it down with ocha. Ehven reenacted his vacation video, landed the pen in his pants on the first try. Rhetoric was supposed to do penspinning, but spun himself instead. His halos were clean af.

Too many things happened in a single day.  Craziest day of my life. I wished I could explain everything in detail.

Day 3

I woke up late since tigres and me went to send vampire off really early in the morning. I previously contacted mey that I wanted to meet since he was only able to come to Tokyo after NPF. He messaged me to say he was at the naranja juggling shop. I quickly packed my stuff and rushed off to itabashi.

Luckily, there was a YouTube video with the instructions to walk to the naranja shop, Otherwise, I will probably never find it.

He was with other spinners too - Julia, Altema, airi, CeNti, Akiza, Merry, Watto. I have met most of them the previous day, but since I was really busy going around, I didn't manage to spend too much time with this bunch. Mannnnn. They are a fun bunch to be with.

Julia was rocking the SPSF shirt he bought from me. Made it instantly much cooler. For some reason, his green rushon feels amazing to spin. Why is mine so crap???? Found out he's the editor for Japen13th. Probably really stressed out, but i’m sure he’ll do a great job.

Watto. I can’t help but notice that he really looks quite similar to takeru satoh. Maybe thats why his twitter icon is battosai.

I didn't manage to talk to Merry much for the past two days. He was pretty approachable that day. He even rennacted ryo’s TV clip and laughed at the くるくるですわ and the すごいkid.

Altema really looked like the quiet ones. But dang, this dude always gave me a mischievous smile and tells me something weird :’). Taught me how to play with the spinning plate.

Spent quite a while talking to airi. His pink mx is pretty tattered. If I did wipers with it, the grip would definitely snap. やばい. He shared his perspective and knowledge about the community. “Simplicity is the best”. I kinda wished that more spinners could think like him. He's looks pretty huggable too.

CeNti is great at diablo. Fingers look even more beautiful in real life. Really nice dude too. He showed me the pet bottle fake double and some of his personal linkages. Much harder than it looks :’)

Akiza has a fukin’ insane style. The speed and everything. I tried his g3 mod, it was actually pretty damn good. AND HE TOLD ME HE LIKED MY KT. YEBOOIIIIII. He was gave me a yellow hyperjell, pretty sweet dude.

And wow, mey’s hands are like really buff? I thought I had thick fingers. I was really happy to meet him. He’s one of the rare japanese spinners that would talk to me when I created twitter for the first time. His english is pretty good too. I gave him my PWT R3 mod (Baton), he was really happy to receive it. And I was really happy that he would treasure it probably much more than I would. All of them were pretty happy to receive some of my personal SPSF prints and get their name written by me. \(^^

End

I loved everything about that place. I didn’t do much sightseeing as I originally planned. But it felt so great just being able to roam around the city with locals and just being able to “live” here for a couple of days. I really hope that there will be a chance for me to go back. Maybe NPF2018.

[junker-town]

What kind of baseball team could you make from the remaining free agents?

A bad one. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to try.

It’s almost February. You’re the GM for the Montreal Youppi, the newest expansion team. You’re having a salad for lunch, no big deal, when you realize that you haven’t turned on your phone for several months. Happens. When you turn it on, the first thing that greets you is a reminder from your calendar.

Build a team.

Oh. Oh, no. Oh, man, you totally spaced on building a team. You also have 3,208 voicemails and texts from the new owner, but that can wait. Was there an expansion draft? Dammit, maybe, you can’t remember, but you probably missed it, and oh, man, oh, man, you’re so hosed.

Better get to work.

You have to build a team out of the remaining free agents. Trades can wait. You’re a biggish-market team with a billionaire owner who won’t stop calling for some reason, but that can wait. You can afford a biggish-market payroll of $150 million or so. What kind of team can you build?

It all starts with the field general.

C - Matt Wieters, $12 million

The trick isn’t figuring out the best player at each position. It’s figuring out what they’ll sign for now. Scott Boras represents Wieters. I can’t even fathom what he’ll settle for, either in length or dollar value.

MLB Trade Rumors set his value at three years, $39 million at the start of the offseason. But they also pegged Wilson Ramos for four years, $50 million. Even though Ramos’ injury makes him a unique case, that’s a sign that the market has dipped a bit for catchers. When you look at the catchers all 25 teams are planning to start, you don’t find a lot of obvious fits for contenders, and rebuilders would probably prefer to have a cheaper option with a better defensive reputation.

I’ll go two years and $24 million, then, with a player option. Welcome to the Youppie. Here, drizzle this on your french fries for some reason.

1B - Mike Napoli, $8 million

This is a million-dollar raise from his one-year Indians contract, which seems fair after a 1-WAR season. There are a lot of first base options, from Pedro Alvarez to Chris Carter, but Napoli is the only one with a chance to offer decent defense, last year’s miserable defensive stats be damned.

2B - Chase Utley, $8 million

He’s not playing at a Hall of Fame level anymore. He’s not playing at an All-Star level, either. But he’s still playing like an everyday player. Consider his WAR since 2011:

2011 - 3.8 2012 - 3.0 2013 - 3.6 2014 - 3.7 2015 - 0.4 2016 - 2.0

Without looking at his age, you have a guess as to which one is the outlier. But even when considering that he’ll be 38, there’s still a fair chance of one more good year.

SS - Stephen Drew, $3 million

Alexei Ramirez is 35 and was possibly baseball’s worst everyday player last year. Erick Aybar was a little better, but that’s damning with faint praise.

No, Drew is the best option of a bad lot. Even though he wouldn’t hold up over a full season and projects more as a utility player right now, I can’t think of a way to end this sentence that would support my point. He was pretty good in limited at-bats with the Nationals last year, though.

3B - Chris Coghlan, $4 million

Aha! Versatility! With Drew and Coghlan, you can mix and match and plug in your best prospects when they’re ready to debut. Which reminds you ...

Siri, remind me in the morning to get some prospects.

Coghlan thrived with the Cubs after a miserable showing in Oakland, and while his defense at third was shaky in a limited trial, I can’t think of a way to end this sentence that would support my point.

You should have paid attention at the start of the offseason, is my point.

LF - Angel Pagan, $4 million

He can’t play defense anymore, but he can hit just enough, and his legs looked fresher than they had a right to look last year.

CF - Austin Jackson, $3 million

Some of these players might actually get minor-league deals, which will make these projected salaries look ridiculous, but their agents can smell the fear and desperation on you, so Jackson gets a little more. He’s still under 30 for a week or so, and we’re not that far removed from when he was supposed to be a building block for different teams, right?

It’s gonna be a long season. Know that.

RF - Brandon Moss, $5 million

Sure, your outfield defense will be abominable, but you’ll have a shot at 150 dingers, and you can make up the difference with superlative pitching. Just ... skip the next section.

DH - Chris Carter, $8 million

The Brewers couldn’t trade him when he was projected to make this salary, but without a younger player going back, this seems fair. Now you have dingers. Lots of dingers. DON’T LOOK AT THE OTHER STUFF lots and lots of dingers.

SP - Jason Hammel, $10 million SP - Doug Fister, $8 million SP - Colby Lewis, $8 million SP - Jorge De La Rosa, $8 million SP - Henderson Alvarez, $5 million (with incentives)

Say, that doesn’t look half-bad. It sure doesn’t look half-good, but there’s at least some measure of upside, and your rotation should be better than San Diego’s. I especially like the Alvarez gamble, as the hard thrower had some luck in the minors last year when he was healthy, which wasn’t very often.

The odds of getting a combined 800 innings out of these five would be minuscule, but for the price of a few years of Josh Reddick, you have a rotation for a year! I guess that didn’t need an exclamation point.

Who keeps their phone off for three months, anyway?

Someone very, very lucky and relaxed, I guess. I’ll stop with the questions.

RP - Greg Holland, $6 million (with incentives) dammit, Rockies RP - Joe Blanton - $5 million RP - Sergio Romo, $4 million RP - Boone Logan - $4 million RP - Jerry Blevins - $5 million RP - David Hernandez, $3 million RP - Luke Hochevar - $2 million (with incentives) RP - Travis Wood, $4 million

No, you’re not going to contend. But you can at least bolster the bullpen and make a gaggle of deadline deals to build up the minor-league depth. There’s still a chance to make lemonade from the lemons that you’ve swallowed whole and passed at great discomfort. This isn’t just a decent bullpen. It’s pretty good, if unpredictable.

Total for this team so far: $119 million, with four roster spots left. Success! In a very broad, very general, very limited sense. You can fill out the bench now, and you don’t have to be shy about the big-ticket items.

Bench - Kelly Johnson, $4 million Bench - Peter Bourjos, $2 million Bench - Erick Aybar, $1 million Bench - Hank Conger, $2 million

You might have wanted to squeeze Alvarez on there, but it’s hard with a roster that already has a do-not-field-under-any-circumstances DH. You need a guy like Johnson who can fake several positions, as well as a backup center fielder, just in case. After a backup catcher and shortstop, there just isn’t enough room for an all-or-nothing slugger.

So this is your 25-man roster, Montreal, along with WAR projections from FanGraphs. (Note that most of these totals are based on part-time playing projections.)

C - Matt Wieters, 2 WAR 1B - Mike Napoli, 1 2B - Chase Utley, 1 SS - Stephen Drew, (no projections given) 3B - Chris Coghlan, .5 LF - Angel Pagan, .5 CF - Austin Jackson, 1 RF - Brandon Moss, .5

Bench - Kelly Johnson, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Bench - Peter Bourjos, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Bench - Erick Aybar, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Bench - Hank Conger, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SP - Jason Hammel, 2 WAR SP - Doug Fister, 1 SP - Colby Lewis, 1 SP - Jorge de la Rosa, 1 SP - Henderson Alvarez, (no projections given)

RP - Joe Blanton, .5 RP - Sergio Romo, 1 RP - Boone Logan, .2 RP - Jerry Blevins, (no projections given) RP - David Hernandez, (no projections given) RP - Luke Hochevar, .1 RP - Travis Wood, .1

Let’s just check this against the full team projections at FanGraphs, and ... huh, this would be roughly the worst team in baseball, or at least tied with the Padres. I suppose we should have seen that coming.

The good news is that you were actually fired two months ago, so you don’t have to present this embarrassing and complex plan to your owner. The bad news is that you were fired, which would explain all of the bounced checks. Live and learn!

There are some good bargains to be found out there. Just not enough to fill a 25-man roster. That they came close to the Padres is something of an accomplishment, even if that’s the first time those words have ever been strung together in the history of the English language.

Either way, congratulations on your team, Montreal! This alternate reality would have had a lot of dingers, and it would have been really fun, except for all the losing.