#apropos liveblogging

[teamjlry]

"I don't know, and I don't care."

Yeah, I mean, I'm always on the verge of tears and raising my voice when I'm talking about things about which I don't care too.

[pochapal]

well then. lol.

[woodsfae]

B5 S03E19 Grey 17 Is Missing previous episode - table of contents

I'm not sure how this episode is going to go, because prior to this I have always watched B5 high (I started this saga while taking hydrocodone pain meds I was allergic to post-wisdom teeth removal) or sober (which I quickly stopped doing, because the recaps were a dry and stale recounting of the plot in a most unpleasant way), but now I can't have THC for awhile (pre-op instructions for what will hopefully be my last surgery for awhile) and so I am experimenting with liveblogging while tipsy. 

So far I thimk that tipsy b5 blogging may be the era of run-on sentences. play video. 

Harry Sanders says in response to the question "are you a telepath,": "sure." 

I am guessing that Mr Sanders is not a telepath. But I am a huge fan of people fucking with Zack Allen. Queer icon Harry Sanders tries to flirt his way into the job. sadly, he fails.

Unnamed maintenance worker gets sucked into a maintenance tunnel with random wires trailing out of it. That probably won't be relevant later :)

Someone, I am assuming Sinclair, spoke of Delenn "with great reverence" to his Minbari friend regularly. I LOVE THAT OMG. *shipping intensifies* 

Harlan Ellison consulted on this one, too?? That's so cool. My Eepectations just went up. Minbari With The Nose thinks that Delenn should take over as Ranger One. Are they going out of their way to not say his name? 

Calling a gun with bullets a slugthrower is a pretty amusing thing to share with Star Wars. I once read a crossover fic where Han Solo (iirc) went on smuggling runs to B5 to pick up kyber crystals, which the B5 people have been using for mere data storage. 

"I swear it's like the Centauri triangle in there - something's always going wrong."

I only support Garibaldi's casual racism because actually, everything IS always going wrong with the Centauri....but has the Bermuda Triangle myth been supplanted with a centauri space equivalent?? And what makes it a triangle in 3d space?

Stephen Franklin is looking rough. Withdrawl. Withdrawal? Sad plotline. Space AA is not my favorite plotline. Also, Mr Dr Franklin, maybe don't compain about people following you around when you haven't even left Babylon Five???? That's a cry for help if ever I saw one in metaphor. If you wanna be alone like...barter some medical attention for a ride to an abandoned planetoid. 

Gray 17 is a level of b5? Cool. I thought it was going to be a person that disappeared. And it is several of them at least. But there's also thirty official grey levels but only 29 accessible. I like it. 

Delenn looks extra pretty today. 

Why does this Minbari know about siren songs? Convergent cultural evolution, or does this guy like Earth ancient-greek sailor myths? 

It's genuinly hilarious (and apropos) for a Minbari Ranger to think it pollutes the rangers for humans to be admitted. This warrior class Minbari thinks it's heretical for Delenn-of-the-clerics to consider taking command of the Rangers, which he thinks are the rightful domain of the warrior caste. 

hm. Where'd he go. That won't come up later, either. 

Garibaldi is leaning into one of his strengths: investigation. He's counting the seconds the elevator takes between Grey levels. Grey  like the grey council, or pure coincidence?

ALSO. no minbari has killed another minbari for a thousand years?? I find that very hard to believe. Domestic violence? manslaughter?? What kind of statistical fuckery are they employing to make that something Delenn can say without winking??

Delenn: "I want your word that you will not tell [Sheridan] about [the warrior class dick threatening to kill me]. Your. Word." 

*cue Lennier hinting unsubtly about Delenn's life being in danger*

I did not expect Level 17 Grey to come up. Where is the missing number if Grey 17 is missing, it goes to Grey 30, but there's only 29 levels? This mystery is deeper than I expected it to be!

 The missing floor, once Garibaldi rules-lawyers the lift into stopping there, is trashed. And it says Grey 17 in a different place than the other floors. AND there's what looks like a technical diagram for a trash can where the other floors have their designation signs. Idk what this means, but it's a data point!! 

Well. I would drop kick that puppet if it talked to me on a trashed level. But Michael Garibaldi let it DART him. like a SCHMUCK. Don't let it do that. hit the follow button for more HOT TIPS FROM MICHAL. (pronounced like McCalll, not like Michael).

Lennier!!!! YES HE IS TELLING SOMEONE. But not Sheridan. Love his rules-lawyering. Super cute. My guy. Lancelot (purely platonic version).

I would kiss Lennier all over his sweet face. And he would not like it. I am sure. 

Garibaldi has recovered-ish from his darting of unknown substance. FUCK THAT PUPPET. burn it with fire or smth. 

Who is this council of lost persons?? Jim Henson's dream?????!

"My name is Jeremiah. Welcome to the end of the world." 

YES PLEASE. This is good plot, and I like it. 

Delenn is really beautiful this episode. I think the red/blue rich, saturated colors particularly flatter her. But she is always unfairly pretty and generally lickable.

Delenn's mother entered the sisters of valeria soon after Delenn was born, and she's only seen her twice. TWICE. And Delenn's father died ten years ago. She does not mention siblings. How old is Delenn? If it isn't a plot-relevant spoiler, please let me know if you know it. 

Her thoughts on missing her father are both relatable and wistful. It made me thoughtful about the same topic. 

Jeremiah says the reason the Minbari almost defeated the humans in the war was because the Minbari are closer to the truth than humans. AND we have learned that the people on Grey Level 17 is because they hacked the system and detached themselves from the rest of B5. Isolationists being isolationist on a tiny little level of a space station is illogical and funny and very, very human.

The Minbari offended by Delenn running the Rangers is called Neroon! That's super familiar and I think I've met him before. He says "During the war I killed fifty thousand of you....what's one more?" Well my dude. I bet you didn't kill fifty thousand humans in one-on-one combat. And I'm gonna go ahead and bet on Marcus's staff-fighting prowess over his. 

GET 'IM MARCUS.

This is a well-choreographed and filmed staff fight. 

Jeremiah on Grey Level 17 actually is super aligned with Delenn's philosophy on the universe. But is far more freaky about the practical side of the philosophy. tbh. I think Jeremiah did LSD one too many times. 

Garibaldi isn't super serious about his threat because his choke hold lacks a fulcrum...Jeremiah could break it anytime he liked if he knew how to identify what wrestling hold he was in....signed...someone whose father wrestled in highschool and taught them from a young age to identify and break choke holds by neck-feel....

GO MARCUS GO GET NEROON. 

Neroon: "Why? You must have known you could not win....so why do it?" Marcus: "For [Delenn]. [...] In Valen's name." 

LANCELOT MOVE OVER, GALAHAD HAS ARRIVED

Jeremiah: "Listen. Listen. The only way out is-is to find a purity of thought. A purity of belief! That is the door! The door of the mind." 

Hm. This dude is craycray. And his further speech does nothing to dispel the notion. What is screeching?? 

If Sinclair was Entil'Zha, wthen what was this Minbari Ranger going to designate Delenn?

Damn it, Neroon lives. Bring! Back! Galahad! fuck u neroon. You don't deserve a capitalized proper noun name.

wtf is this thing hunting on level 17 grey?? I don't recognize its silhouette. 

Michael Garibaldi (paraphrased): HOW DO WE HURT THIS THING??? *looks at .38 bullets in hand*

Me, reliving my misspent youth: IF YOU GRAB THE SHELL OF THOSE .38s WITH PLIERS THEN HIT THE PRIMER WITH A BALLPEEN HAMMER U CAN SHOOT IT

(yes I did this shit for fun as a child and I am EXTREMELY LUCKY I did not have a mishap of a permanent injury variety)

hmm. Garibaldi sorta used my childhood fun trick but with a pipe to protect his fragile hands.. UNLIKE ME AND MY PLAIN PLIERS AND HAMMER

Neroon kicked Marcus's ass but Marcus is going to recover -a relief. But Neroon!! FUCK OFF. 

"you are more noble than I" - Neroon (paraphrased)

THAT'S A GALAHAD MOVE. psych. Marcus got you with his ideological purity and ironic wit!!

The murderous thing on Grey level 17 was a "zarg." OK. Please, if it isn't spoilery, remind me what that is. 

This episode feels a bit more disjointed than they usually are, but I liked it. And fuck Neroon!!! Get behind Delenn or shut the fuck up. 

*a perfectly good episode. but also. GET BEHIND DELENN OR STFU!!

onward

[summersfirstsnow]

Mid-Year Book Meme (2023)

@sixappleseeds said that anyone who wanted to could do this so I have decided that includes me

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2023? I've read a lot of good books this year! Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh was a good read, the Will Darling trilogy by KJ Charles was also really good. My favourite debut so far is To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. Some others will be used later but have a right to be here too.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2023? The Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson! Nice fun sequel novella that ties up some loose ends and lets readers spend more time with the characters (and the house, which has Opinions).

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon is next on my list. And on my library borrows pile.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2023? Moon of the Turning Snow by Waubgeshig Rice is definitely up there, as are A Power Unbound by Freya Marske and The Salvation Gambit by Emily Strutskie.

5. Biggest Disappointment? Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall, which made me feel like my brain was being eaten by gummy worms. In a bad way.

6. Biggest Surprise? A Half-built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys! I was expecting to like it, but I wasn't expecting how often I just... think about it apropos of nothing now. It's one of the first cli-fi stories that is optimistic but avoids becoming too saccharine for my taste.

7. Favorite New Author? Terry Pratchett is kind of new to me, I had read Nation but this was my first time picking up Discworld books. KJ Charles is the other new author whose work I've read quite a bit of this year.

8. Newest Favorite Character? I don't have that many characters that I'm WILDLY attached to any characters that I read about this year. Emily Wilde from Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is very good. I like that she's better at relating to fae than humans due to autism social awkwardness of no particular diagnosis I'm sure.

9. Newest Fictional Crush? *flashback to that time everyone thought I was lying when I said I didn't have a crush on anyone during an icebreaker due to my brain going completely blank* Uhhh...

10. Book That Made You Cry? And This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, in the The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 collection definitely brought tears to my eyes (older sibling FEELINGSSSSS etc), but the last book had me an utter wreck was last year when I read Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

11. Book That Made You Happy? The Luminaries by Sarah Dennard was fun and made me laugh as I liveblogged it for my friends. A Half-built Garden also merits a second mention because it was nice to find a book in the genre that didn't make me either deeply despairing or violently annoyed.

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? I guess Nimona wins by default, I don't think I've watched any other adaptations.

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? I guess my June reading list wins by default also because I don't think I've written any other reviews.

14. Most Beautiful Cover? The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty has a gorgeous cover, I like that it looks kind like it's printed from woodcuts almost.

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill is on my list.

And I'm tagging: @lloonlloon, @notpuckconnolly, and whoever else wants to do it!

[fandomcrazy6226]

Liveblogging Dracula Daily - May 9

Heyyyyyyyyy...

Yeah I have no excuse for this one other than being exhausted. It's really hot where I live and we're starting the second week of shows tomorrow and I've had to do a bunch of stuff for graduation the past week or so. It's been busy. And I've had a lot of allergy stuff happening too so just generally tired.

But I'm less tired now, and I'm just at home so I'm gonna binge all these updates I've gotten! Starting with May 9, which is apparently introducing Mina Murray, who apropos to me imagining MatPat as Jonathan I shall be picturing as Steph. Although the name makes me think of Mina Ashido from My Hero Academia, so we'll see about that.

Oh, Lucy! Y'know, I've always wanted to name one of my kids Lucy in the future.

Oh these two are besties huh? With... light shipping undertones I'm picking up on.

Honestly I would love to just use a typewriter regularly. I actually own one, a big heavy manual one, it's currently under my bed in a box. Maybe I should write notes for my boyfriend on it... (he also has a typewriter, but his is electric)

Heck yeah, Mina! There's nothing wrong with keeping a journal just for yourself! Who cares what other people would think? I never show other people my journals (well, one exception but that was my old best friend because we were making a story together. I'm not friends with him anymore tho)

About a week, huh? Yeah... I've got bad news for you, Mina... (Again, I haven't read this before but I do know some things)

Awwww, she wants them to travel together! That's legitimately so cute.

This was a shorter one, and it's nice to get a look at something outside of Jonathan's Fun Castle Time. Mina is really cute and I love how much her and Jonathan are in love, it's really sweet.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Baldur's Gate 3, Take 2

Yeah, no, while I might go back to the Adventures of Astrid at some point, I've decided I'm going to do an entirely different playthrough, maybe even try keeping more potential companions this time. It should be easier, because I'm playing a variant Alisaie. Still half-elf (aasimar in this game, man - there are mods to let aasimar be a thing but only Scourge so ... nah), obviously still Bard, probably still Lore but might stick with the actual charater's subclass and do Swords (I'll see where it gets me, because Coterie!Alisaie could have gone either way) ... but she's a little more flexible about some things. And probably more resilient, emotionally. I did not realise how fucked up this game got, and poor cheerful Astrid was not having a good time.

I mean, not that BG3!Alisaie is going to exactly be partying, but... Hey, at least there should be some interesting versatility in party now.

Also ... hey, the liveblogging will begin again from the start and while I do still have a few more interesting filks up my sleeve, I've noticed that y'all like it when I play characters that get ... loud.

Alisaie can get very loud.

(Also I got to make a Guardian that looks like a certain spouse. It seemed apropos.)

[zodiarksbeloved]

preface/pinned

i think most everyone over the age of 30 knows what i am referencing in this FFXIV playthrough but on the off chance you have no idea what is going on here:

my immortal is an infamously bad harry potter fanfic written roughly 15 years ago. it is legendary not only for its badness but for the fact that both its author and the actual motivation behind the fic (as in whether it’s meant seriously or as an elaborate prank on the HP fan community) are still a mystery. there’s been several hoaxes throughout the years on tumblr and elsewhere.

we may never know and honestly that’s ok. sometimes solving the mystery spoils the fun.

anyway. 

a friend of mine hosted a crossover challenge on our shared discord server this month. normally i am a fic writer for the final fantasy xiv fandom, but i elected for my challenge answer to play through the entire story of FFXIV as ebony dark’ness dementia raven way the isekai protagonist, having accidentally yeeted herself through the rift and into eorzea after the, uhhh... ambiguous ending of my immortal.

the name of this... fic? let’s play liveblogging?... comes from ‘famous last words,’ one of the tracks from my chemical romance’s black parade album. whatever else she is, miss ebony is a huge MCR fan (as those of us who have read her origin story know very well) so i thought it would be apropos.

(yes it is also a play on words referencing the last line of my immortal.)

as for the original fic itself, some blessed soul has preserved my immortal in its entirety on ff.net. you can read it here if you need some background but i will warn you up front it is.... definitely a ride. 

if you’re still here, thanks for sticking around, and i hope i can make this as entertaining as possible!

--frost

[troius]

Troius watches TYBW: Episode 1

I’m just going to liveblog my thoughts. I might give more coherent episode reviews when the dub comes out (yes, I am a dub watcher, the Bleach dub is good, shut up). Anyway my thoughts under the cut (SPOILERS ):

The lighting is very atmospheric. It’s a big shift from how the first series was, but one that I think works very well? Kubo’s art, more than that of a lot of manga artists, is based on the contrast between black and white, making it very moody, and I think that the dark, muted colors used here convey that well.

The backgrounds are phenomenal, really well detailed and help convey the atmosphere as well.

Shino Madarame is great, I love her already.

The cyber-spider hollow is legit scary! It’s been a while since I felt that way about an ordinary hollow in Bleach.

And of course, Ryonusuke and Shino get wrecked with the quickness so our protagonists can show off their powers. Orihime actually does something offensive! Chad uses La Muerte and carves a big skull into the side of an apartment building, which probably isn’t necessary. Uryu skates around and kills all of the hollows close to Ichigo, probably just to piss him off. Ichigo goes to bankai completely unnecessarily and one-shots the rest of them.

It’s a really nice reminder that our protagonists have grown a lot since the first arc, when these individual hollows were a real challenge. You’re not ever worried for them in this scene, and it’s especially nice to see Orihime and Chad get to be confident ass-kickers.

Ebern’s entrance is completely apropos of nothing. Was he waiting for somebody in the room to say something for him to use as a cue?

Anyhow, after revealing that Ebern is a Arrancar/Quincy hybrid, we cut to District 62, where Yumichika, Ikkaku, and Squad 11 are doing detective work. Not who I’d choose for that job, personally.

And then some dudes show up and kill Sasakibe! And disappear into the shadows!

Meanwhile, Ichigo has been just sort of handling Ebern, trying to find out his deal. And he goes bankai just as Sasakibe suggests that these goons have some sort of counter to it. But the counter doesn’t work, Ichigo just getsugas Ebern and makes him flee into the shadows as well.

And after a quick ending bit where the big bad debriefs his operatives, we get the end credits. The song is very good. The little clips do a good job of telling us the important characters, and remind us how different the art style is for this series.

Overall, I think I’m going to enjoy this a whole lot. The character animation isn’t perfect-- our Karakura kids especially seemed to get sort of off-model when they weren’t being actively animated-- but the lighting and coloring is great, the backgrounds are phenomenal, and Shiro Sagisu once again is doing great work with the music.

[etoilesombre]

apropos of absolutely nothing at all, i would like to invite anyone following along on sunder city liveblog to do a quick google image search for satyrs. just. glance. 

[sarah-hell-pit]

Blog tags

#liveblogging — manga panel screenshots and my reactions to what is happening in the story

#notes — fan notes that summarize or verbatim quote important plot points of media I watch, read, or play

#sarah meta — actual meta, which I post to dreamwidth and may cross post here

#random commentary — textposts apropos of nothing about media I like

#media recs — music and video analyses that I recommend

#sarah text archive — everything that isn’t a media rec is tagged thus on this blog

[seaemberthesecond]

Naruto Liveblogging

These kids are so deranged I love it. Kakashi's like it's you, Gaara of the Sand, I know you're there come out. And Gaara fully ignores him and starts raving about how sasuke is his prey and is filled with malice and hate just like him, apropos of FUCKING NOTHING. Kakashi's standing there like: what happened to hello? how are you? my name is?

Listen, I know Hiruzen sucks but his death kind of fucks hard. Like the scene where he's dying and his eyes are falling shut and we can see Orochimaru silently raving, frothing at the mouth, and then it gets superimposed by an image of child Orochimaru solemnly looking on as his teacher dies - that goes hard, it does.

kakashi being tortured for an eternity and still being able to remain conscious and exercise enough chakra control to stay on the water *clenches fist* put some respect on his name. On the other hand, nothing is funnier than when he does lose consciousness and just DROPS through the water and gai has to fish him out

Sasuke running through the city thinking naruto's about to be killed/tortured by his brother and STILL taking the time to describe naruto as dumb-looking to every single receptionist ASDFGHJKL these kids are SO out of pocket and for WHAT

Anyway, I miss evil Itachi :( he had such panache, such verve, such cuntyness. Secretly-always-good Itachi is just a pathetic inbred wet paper bag of a boy with negative 100 decision-making abilities. But evil Itachi? What a fucking legend.

Holy smokes, I forgot how beautiful tsunade's voice actor's voice is.

Orochimaru casually destroying a historical monument makes me SO mad. this is up there as his top 10 worst crimes.

NEVER forget that shizune had a scalpel to kabuto's throat and would have killed that son of a bitch if tsunade hadn't made her stop. the fact that she's reduced to a secretary later on will NEVER make me not mad. justice for shizune.

It's SO insane that Tsunade didn't know the sandaime was dead till Orochimaru told her. the leaf kept that shit locked up TIGHT.

Remember, before Tsunade was a girlboss, she was a deadbeat mom <3 Tsunade is the representation we need for women

jiraiya looking everywhere for tsunade and then giving up only to run into her at a random pub asdfghj

Tsunade is NOT afraid to throw hands with a 13 year old and I love that for her.

shonen jump was so funny I know it's just trying to establish the Sannin as legends in-universe but it comes across as so funny. Kabuto keeps going: ah yes one of the legendary Sannin, the master healer princess Tsunade, one of the great legendary Sannin the toad sage master Jiraiya is here. Like Orochimaru DOESNT KNOW THEM? like the Sannin are some class of shinobi who all graduated from some top-secret program as opposed to just three dudes??? who've been on a team since they were kids. I promise you kabuto Orochimaru knows who the Sannin are you can stop explaining it to him.

[teamjlry]

They are going to be so chafed from sleeping in those tight clothes all night

[aproposniczego]

There was more than one lobester present at the birth of Jesus Christ?

... Duh.

[septembersghost]

the thing that breaks my heart is, you don’t fully comprehend how startlingly unrecognizable this entire once achingly haunted, grimily beautiful show became until you’re in the middle of S10 and you’re questioning just what in the hell they were doing, and then you’re thinking about a gruesomely affecting episode in S1, and then you read a fic (after not really reading fic for a decade) that so devastatingly, perfectly echoes back to S3 and captures the characters in such delicately spun and wholly realized ways that it makes you cry

and then you realize

[miaclemeverett]

apropos of the mitski liveblogging, what's your favorite mitski song? hope you're doing well by the way! - @/nightmare-rivulets

i feel like ill have to revisit her entire discography to decide that FHJKDSHJFKDSF but my favorite off laurel hell was probably there's nothing left for you or should've been me

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball 005 - The Strong Villain of the Desert, Yamcha / Yamcha, the Desert Bandit

This was still early in my liveblog, and I wasn’t going into full detail yet. This bit actually wound up broken up into multiple posts.

Huh. Funimation changed Frypan Mountain to "Fire Mountain". That's less fun.

The fact that Toei animated Goku's crotch pats continues to amaze me. Goku just fucking slaps everyone he meets in the genitals. It was funny in the manga but seeing it in animation is so much better.

Funimation actually improved the scene of Oolong getting patted. In the original, Oolong is arguing with Bulma about how much he doesn't want to go and then Goku, apropos of nothing, pats his crotch to check his gender. Funimation added a stronger segue into it by changing Oolong's dialogue so that he's instead boasting about how Bulma's into him.

Goku: Why is Oolong coming with us?

Oolong: I think she's got a thing for me, kid.

Bulma: I thought Oolong's special powers might come in handy. That's why he's coming along.

Oolong: Hey! What do you mean?! Are you saying I'm not your type?!

Bulma: Exactly. I'm looking for tall, dark, and handsome.

Oolong: Just give it time, honey. You'll see. I'm the man.

Goku: (smacks Oolong in the dick six times)

Oolong: Hey! Back off, kid! I ain't that kind of pig!

Goku: (cheerfully) You were right! You are a man!

Watching the Yamcha fight, I just realized Funimation erased the Jan Ken. When Goku throws Rock, Scissors, and Paper, he does so without calling the attacks. Not sure why they did that. Maybe they thought it was too silly?

Yamcha fight is also really slow-paced. The animation drags out every move. It's, like, the only serious martial arts fight in the entire arc so I wonder if they just hadn't quite figured out how they wanted to animate these yet?