#its fun!!!! wholly recommend it!!!!!

[rxttenfish]

What’s a fun fact about your world that you as the worldbuilder are dying to share, but nobody ever thinks to ask? 

tbf the most Fun Facts im just WAITING for people to ask about are tied to, like, the Big Things and Big Horrors and Big Twists, and i cant just go around REVEALING those

[erb23]

I’m liking that Gary and his Demons got another season. Really missed that show.

[declanlikesmusic]

never got into vaporwave probably, what projects should i listen to for an introduction??

I always love this question. Finding the best primers to the whole of the vaporwave landscape and introducing new people to them is one of the many things with this genre that I just find so fun. I'm going to try to be as succinct as I can, but I am going to shoutout a lot, specifically twelve, so go ahead and take your time with these.

Macintosh Plus – Floral Shoppe (2011)

The biggest vaporwave album of all time. I will tell you now that this album is by no means perfect, it has quite a mixed reputation among fans & outsiders of the genre, but this is the album to single-handedly define the genre's core ethos in such a highly-concentrated way. If nothing else, this should give you a taste of what inspires and influences the genre most.

Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 (2010)

By all accounts, this is the very first vaporwave album and to this day, nothing sounds quite like it. A classic array of disorienting, hazy & psychedelic loops of old popular songs that still sound fresh and wholly enveloping.

猫 シ Corp. – HIRAETH (2014)

This one here is to help people gain a better understanding of what your typical standard vaporwave album often sounds like. It's quite varied in a number of subtly different styles & approaches to traditional vaporwave with some ambiance sprinkled in as well.

SAINT PEPSI – Hit Vibes (2013)

Now we're getting into the individual subgenres of vaporwave and while there's a few traditional vaporwave tunes sprinkled in here for variety, this album birthed & defined the genre of future funk with some of the best dance bangers you'll find in the scene. Lots of classy tunes on here, it's an absolute jam.

Blank Banshee – Blank Banshee 0 (2012)

Up to this point, every album I've shared has been intensely sample-based. This album still carries some samples, but it has original beats & synths to establish another subgenre known as vaportrap. It's a great beat tape with some classic tunes and I also recommend its sequel too, which is my favourite vapor album of all time.

ESPRIT 空想 – virtua.zip (2014)

Carrying on from the last album, this one almost doesn't use samples at all and when it does, it's usually an extra sound or instrument at most. I'm putting this here to establish that even basic vaporwave can be crafted from original compositions and the results are short but great.

t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 – 現実を超えて (2014)

What makes vaporwave the way it is and not like any other genre adjacent to it is its intensely heavy focuses on atmosphere more than anything else. So naturally, you're going to see a lot of bridges to ambient music. This first example is the subgenre of slushwave, which crafts the same excellent vaporwave tunes, but additionally filters them through such a wash of effects that transform them into psychedelic & blissful dreamscapes.

식료품groceries – 슈퍼마켓Yes! We're Open (2014)

The next subgenre in this vein is mallsoft, which answers the question of vaporwave being set in the tall & wide spaces of shopping centres by placing relaxing tunes in pools of reverb and letting them sprawl from the loudspeakers of the area's corners. This album is the first big one to establish that with a unique setting and gorgeous sample choices.

2814 – 新しい日の誕生 (2015)

The last of these ambient subgenres is dreampunk, which is a lot like vaportrap in that it heavily relies on its own compositions with very few samples while still retaining the genre's focus on nostalgia, this time set in the melancholic & rainy nights of the urban city through what is at least the second biggest album in the entire genre.

death's dynamic shroud – I'll Try Living Like This (2015)

I'm gonna end this list with a few of the genre's weirdest corners. Vaporwave is constantly wide open to new & unique ways of experimentation and this album stands as the best example of that. Wholly unique aesthetic choices, completely innovative sampling techniques and an overall opus of incredibly strange, surreal & psydchedelic soundscapes.

Infinity Frequencies – Computer Death (2013)

After that, I'll close this list with two examples of an abstract subgenre known by two names. They're synonymous to the greater community & world of music, but I see them as two different approaches. They're both defined by the creation of intensely haunting, isolated & loops of mysterious soundbites extracted from the likes of television & radio. Signalwave is what I use to describe the more accessible & musical end of that sound and this start of a trilogy is the best example for it.

░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░ – ▣世界から解放され▣ (2012)

On the other hand, I will leave you with what I consider to be the most divisive vaporwave record of all time. This album defines what is more commonly known as broken transmission and it is much more obtuse, glitchy, dark & surreal to listen to depending on the album. You're going to listen to this and either love it, hate it or sit inbetween. People have taken it as a joke while others view it as a work of art. Approach this one at your own discretion.

That's it! Those are the first 12 vaporwave albums that I will almost always recommend every single one of you to check out first. The greater landscape of vaporwave doesn't start & end with these albums, but instead, they give you the best surface level primer to help dip your toes in to such an amazing genre of music.

[yuurei20]

Jade and Floyd Info Compilation part 43: Each Other (pt1)

Floyd says that, every year, he and Jade are always the first to wish one another happy birthday.

During the Stitch event Floyd explains that he doesn’t really regret that Jade isn’t there with them, as it’s more fun for them to do separate things and then tell each other about it later on.

He also says that they would probably not get along as well as they do if they were always together, and they used to argue and get into physical fights all the time. Floyd says they don’t get into fights as often anymore as they know there is a chance that they might kill each other if they get serious.

During Beanfest Floyd explains that “siblings don’t constantly hang out with each other just ‘cause they’re related” and “I’m not gonna hang out with Jade when it’d bore me to tears.”

This is an interesting contrast to how both twins have lines about how they wish they were in the same class, with Jade saying that Floyd will visit him sometimes and “he’s more tender than he seems.”

Floyd also visits Jade during Port Fest, and during the Playfulland event we see him slide off the screen in order to stand next to Jade.

Jade says, “If Azul and I specialize in gentlemanly man-to-man combat, you specialize in…guerrilla warfare,” assuring Floyd that he means it as a compliment.

Floyd says he cannot believe how Jade memorizes Azul’s contracts and there is no way he could be that indirect.

Floyd is wholly uninterested in participating in Beanfest despite Jade saying how happy he is that they are on the same team and how he had hoped they could play tag together like they did as children.

Privately Floyd reflects that it just isn’t fun when there’s no challenge, since he and Jade “could squeeze most people in the game” with the no-magic rule in place if they teamed up.

Later on, however, Floyd recommends that his group go out of its way to try and take down Lilia, as he knows that Jade is working to get the harp and he doesn’t want anyone standing in Jade’s way. Silver comments that he is a very caring brother and Floyd explains, “Jade’s got his way of havin’ fun, and I’ve got mine. I don’t want either of us gettin’ our fun ruined. It’s that simple.”

Jade says he would like to try getting a magic beanstalk, as “Floyd would love it.”

[cipheramnesia]

hi :) i know youve already answered recs for queer horror movies, but do you know of any more trans horror movies, specifically?

Trans horror films by and staring trans people is pretty thin. I'm not versed enough in the small and indie short film world where I think most of these are likely to be found. The closest I know to a mainstream horror movie with a trans protagonist played by a trans actor is Bit, which is a movie so bad I would have not finished it otherwise. Not recommended.

My most controversial pick is probably going to be Sleepaway Camp 2+3. I've talked about this series at length and it's probably going to in the trans movie discussion for as long as humanity exists. That said, I find trans woman slasher Angela Baker delightful fun. The first movie is a different animal and it's um something.

The Wild Boys is honestly amazing. I don't know if there's a right way to go describing this, but the basic premise is a group of murderous juvenile delinquent boys are shipwrecked on an island which slowly transforms them into women. Women all play the roles of the delinquent boys, creating a strong sense of realism. It's a strange, violent, queer, surreal French film and I would call it a queer horror essential.

Titane wasn't intended as a trans movie by its director, but its also hard not to interpret trans elements in a movie where a woman disguises herself as a man including breaking her own nose to radically alter her face, eventually is sort of taken on as an adoptive son, and never really wholly returns to any feminine roles. Much like The Wild Boys, it's a glorious and surreal movie and another movie I'd consider required viewing.

Boarding School is a whole lot. I'd say it needs some trigger warnings for child abuse, child death, and nazi / holocaust trauma at least. Boarding School is a strange and highly distressing mixture of revenge, ghost story, and child abandonment, all wrapped around a young trans child exploring gender. It's a stunning, gorgeous and dreamlike movie. Not precisely surreal, but paralogical in places.

We're All Going To The World's Fair is by a trans filmmaker! Fuck yes! I wouldn't call it mainstream, and it's clearly on the experimental end of the film spectrum, but it's widely critically acclaimed and has a lot of trans feeling put into. I'd also recommend it for atmosphere and a sort of quiet sense of emotional unrest. Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's next film, I Saw The TV Glow has been picked up by A24, so keep an eye out for it.

Bad Things is sort of the inverse of World's Fair, a queer movie staring queer and trans actors, it's, well, fine. For a film with a banger of an idea (The Shining but all queer) and so much queerness in the production, it's shockingly flat, listless even, as if no one wants to be on the set. But, well it exists I guess.

Der Samurai is hard to say if it's intentionally trans, but features a strange gender ambiguous figure in a gorgeous flowing dress who terrorizes a small German town with a samurai sword and seems to be seducing a young, lone policeman through the night. Ultimately tragic in its conclusion, still a beautiful film and dear to my heart.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to the Chucky movie series. Starting with Seed Of Chucky and going through at least season two, it gets very weird with gender and is very queer.

[johannestevans]

My Top 6 Films of 2023

Just some recommendations for my favourite new releases of last year!

Originally published on Cinemania.

2023 had a few knock-out hits as far as the cinema goes — obviously, people were very excited about the respective releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer, but my top films of the year were a bit different.

One thing I do think unites a lot of these — and a trend I hope to see from more films in the next few years — is a trend toward more earnestness and sincerity in scripts and plot lines, and I’m hoping that trend continues!

Without further ado, my top films of 2023:

They Cloned Tyrone (dir. Juel Taylor)

They Cloned Tyrone is a fucking triumph, and hands-down had my favourite costume design of the year — it at the same time feels very vintage in places, calling heavily on the Blaxploitation movies of the 1970s and their aesthetics while at the same time dragging in more modern— and dystopian — futuristic elements throughout. Teyonah Parris is a particular triumph as Yo-Yo, but the whole cast really rocks this whole flick.

This film feels in so many ways like a fever dream, layering disparate elements and tones, and for that is all the more hard-hitting with the horror and painful realism of its cynical central plot.

If you watch a single of the films recommended on this list, make it this one.

Down Low (dir. Rightor Doyle)

This film is weird as fuck, and it makes a lot out of leaning into that. Delving into the ugly reality of down-low hook-ups on gay dating apps and dialing the chaos that can arise from them up to the max, this is a surprisingly heartfelt look at gay loneliness and isolation in the white middle-class US.

It’s fast-paced and kooky with its dialogue — Lukas Gage, of Euphoria fame, co-wrote the script with Phoebe Fisher, and Gage’s particular style of verbose and down-right weird speeches are dotted through it — and while it ultimately ends in the death you know from the beginning is coming, it doesn’t feel like it’s wholly a tragedy.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023, dir. John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein)

I don’t think I need to go into great detail about this one — Dungeons and Dragons’ newest addition to its array of canons here is a spellbinding and delightful watch. A lot of the problem with fantasy films and TV shows the past few years has been how painfully over-ironic they are, with none of them being able to just lean into their premise and accept that, yes, we’re being a bit silly, and that’s the point! But the DnD movie is just spectacularly earnest and gives itself entirely over to the wonder of its world, and that feels wonderful.

Every time I’ve watched it, which is a few times now, I’ve picked up on new fun world details or little in-jokes, and there are just so many things this film does right and has fun with, most of all making Xenk Yendar even more autistic than ever whilst also making him hot with the Regé-Jean Page casting.

And also, Hugh Grant is here playing a horrible, sleazy bastard of a wizard, and speaking of hot —

Cocaine Bear (dir. Elizabeth Banks)

Must a film be good?

Firstly, isn’t a coked-up horny female bear wreaking havoc and ripping people to shreds enough? And also, even if it wasn’t enough, aren’t so many queer characters going through the weirdest day out ever, girlbosses galore (I’m including the bear), funny as Hell dialogue, and even plot twists enough?

We saw this in the cinema on its release, and it was utterly glorious. Everyone should have the pleasure of seeing the feminist icon of 2023, the cocaine bear (sorry, Barbie), on the biggest screen imaginable, ripping into some hapless gay with full surround sound.

The Boogeyman (dir. Rob Savage)

I normally run along to see any new releases from Rob Savage as I loved Host, and The Boogeyman was so much more than I expected — bearing no resemblance at all to the original lacklustre Stephen King short story, this film really plays so creatively with light and shadow and has an honestly spine-tingling monster design that feels viscerally frightening from its introduction to its final boss battle.

I love it when a film plays with light sources, most of all when good horror does it, and this flick really delivers on that point — not knowing where light is going to come from adds extra tension when you’re trying to see into the shadowy corners, and whether it’s from the lunar nightlight, the videogame flashes, the camera, the fridge, or anywhere else, this film really has this holistic approach to light and shadow that just fucks.

The Pope’s Exorcist (dir. Julius Avery)

Again, must a film be good?

Isn’t it enough to have a coked-up bear —

Okay, I used that line already, but this time it’s Russell Crowe, and he’s doing an Italian accent, and he’s riding a little Vespa, and it’s the funniest and best thing in the world.

Much like the DnD movie, The Pope’s Exorcist really leans into its premise and just goes really earnest about it — it doesn’t take too much time to sardonically comment on the ridiculousness of its own universe, and that makes it feel really fresh compared to a lot of other big studio horror films. It’s silly and stupid and mixes more impressive scares in with the cheap ones, and it’s just a really fun movie to watch with friends.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 25/02/2023

BELIEBERDANSEN

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Caramelldansen (CA Version) - Caramellagirls

Ripped by DiamondBrickZ

With Season 8 officially in gear, it means I'm going to have to play a bit of catch-up with it in terms of coverage on here! All other prior Seasons have over 30 posts each on here - you can check for yourself on the pinned post! - but Season 8 still sits at just a single one, with Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab. Well, today marks the second ever Season 8 post, covering its first surprise event - BELIEBERDANSEN and the Justin Bieber takeover.

The idea of cringe culture in how it relates to SiIvaGunner's history is a really fascinating topic, and one I covered back on mlp racism anthem (comix zone arrange) in pretty good detail. To summarize, there was a time early in the channel's life where a good number of the references and jokes were made in rather poor taste - where the crux of the joke was to point and laugh at the weird and different parts of the internet, to have trolled the audience with something "cringe". The feel of internet discussion has changed a lot in the years since 2016, though, and it generally feels as if we're far more accepting, more nostalgic and intrigued by the stranger parts of the internet, rather than blatantly antagonistic. Be it with "dead" memes like in Corridors of Vine and Wario's Hampster Mine, or with phenomena that are still ongoing like with Hidden Headtoilets (skibidi toree 2), the SiIvaGunner channel and community tend to take a far more...playful stance to things nowadays. If something is to be loathed in SiIvaGunner nowadays, it has to truly earn it through its presence on the channel: the Yankin'/Astronaut in the Ocean wars of Season 5, as talked about in Aquarium in the Ocean and Knowledge of the Depths are the clearest example of that.

With all of that in mind, I don't really know why I was still surprised over how much fun the Justin Bieber event wound up being! The event, on February 19, 2024, celebrated the 14th anniversary of Justin Bieber's infamous release "Baby", a song that lit early internet ablaze with exaggerated vitriol way back when. And yeah, a bit of that resentment could still be seen in the comments section - its a fair bit more justified given how much Bieber himself has changed since the song - but overall, the rips made during the event all put a really fun spin on this otherwise overplayed song! I recommend you all give the event a listen if you haven't been keeping tabs this month, but BELIEBERDANSEN is really just one pick amidst a plethora of other excellent ones. That, and as said in Caramariodansen - any song mashed up with Caramelldansen is bound to become funny.

Honestly though, it wasn't a blind pick, and I may just be a little bit biased toward the aforementioned song in particular. Caramelldansen, if you weren't aware, is a Nightcore-ified version/remix of a Swedish pop song - and I, Mel, the writer of this blog, am Swedish. That draws me to any Caramelldansen rip on its own, and the concept of BELIEBERDANSEN alone is just very funny, a mashup of two absolute juggernauts of early "obnoxious" internet culture. Yet ripper DiamondBrickZ went the extra mile beyond just making this a mashup - at the point where the choruses of both songs begin, Bieber's Baby vocals are sentence-mixed to the original Swedish vocals of Caramelldansen. I of course have no idea what the creative process behind this was, especially due to the not knowing much about DiamondBrickZ as a person, but as a Swedish listener myself I have to say: This is SHOCKINGLY well done and still sounds wholly legible as Swedish speech. Like, the rest of the mashup is great: I love the use of the repeated "Baby's" almost acting as a choir during the instrumental break after the chorus, and the use of Ludacris' feature during the midway point of the song is perfectly placed, but like...the sentence mixing genuinely caught me completely off guard in the best way possible - memories of Season 1's double-rugpull in Be Cool, Be Wild, and Be My Girl came flowing back. It's just the cherry on top of an already fantastically creative mashup idea that was excellently done, and turned BELIEBERDANSEN into the absolute highlight of the event for me.

[blueberry-lemon]

I really loved this show.

I did a quick Google + Tumblr search and found out there's a vocal group of people who hate this show? Which is a huge bummer, and now I guess I won't google around about it anymore lol, but…I wonder if it's partially because of the show not meeting what their expectation was going in.

Nagato was my favorite character from the Haruhi series when I watched the show and read the novels in ninth grade. She was also, if we're being blunt, my first anime crush. So this show basically had me right in its sniper crosshairs from the second I accidentally stumbled on it.

I'll organize these thoughts into three sections: Non-Spoilers, Spoilers for the Anime, and Spoilers for the End of the Manga.

Part 1:

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is a slice-of-life romantic comedy about a shy high schooler named Yuki Nagato (first name, surname, whatever you know how it is, I watched the dub because I love the Haruhi dub cast lol)

It's a spin-off of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, and clearly takes inspiration from an alternate universe introduced in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is the film that ended the anime.

The biggest difference between this show and the Haruhi Suzumiya series is that this show does not include aliens, time travelers, ESPers, or anything paranormal. It's just about the characters having silly fun time as high schoolers.

It's a weird vibe to jump into at first, but I really liked it overall. Possibly a hot take, but I love how Yuki is written in this show and I'm relieved that they didn't try to take the "blushing shy bookworm Yuki" version from The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya as a literal inspiration. The Yuki in this show is funny, full of interiority, relatable, and more talkative.

Character-wise I also love Asakura and Haruhi in this show. I was on-edge about Asakura's status as a main character but by the end of the anime (and the manga) she was one of my favorites in the whole cast. Also her dub actor absolutely kills it in every episode. Haruhi, for me, is a strong improvement here than in her own actual series. She's written with care, depth, and humanity while still keeping her personality recognizable. She's much more sympathetic (both our sympathy, and her sympathy too) and it makes it a much easier watch. One of my thorns about the original Haruhi Suzumiya series is how overly cruel she is in the original.

Mikuru and Koizumi get the short end of the stick in this one. Mikuru gets a few lovely character moments ("i'll close my eyes!" is my favorite Mikuru moment across any of these series) but otherwise, both of these characters are basically just one-dimensional gags.

The most tiring parts of this show are when they lean back onto the "kyaaa you fell into my chest" jokes and stuff like that, which were extremely present in Haruhi Suzumiya. It's dumb, and not super funny. Luckily they're not too frequent, and there are ways I can sort-of justify the reason that they're in there, but it'd be a stretch.

All-in-all, I recommend this show to anyone who has watched Haruhi Suzumiya or read the novels! Just make sure you know that it's a silly slice-of-life and not a sci-fi extravaganza. I would not recommend watching this if you haven't seen Haruhi first.

Part 2:

Spoilers for all episodes of the anime below.

I feel like there are two main ways that you can approach this show, and maybe it's part of the reason why it got some backlash.

Interpretation A would be like: this is just a wholly separate story that has absolutely no paranormal stuff and absolutely no connection to the Haruhi Suzumiya story. It's a completely standalone, mundane, romantic comedy about entirely new versions of the characters. Thus, it has the creative right to re-interpret these characters however they choose, and is not obligated to feel "in-character", or have a big "payoff" or "tie-in" back to the Haruhi Suzumiya story.

Interpretation B would be like: this is a loosely tied multiverse story that is actually connected to the Haruhi Suzumiya series. It's the story of some sort of bubble universe that Nagato (the alien from the "Haruhi" series) created so that she can be a normal girl and experience emotions and relationships. Or, at the very least, she can create a new version of herself and let that new version loose in the bubble universe to see "how things would have gone if I was born a different person" or something like that.

I went into the show with both of these interpretations kind of equally floating through my mind, and I think there can be a lot of fun to that! You can do whatever you want. In terms of the writers' intentions, I feel like Interpretation A is the reality. There is absolutely no textual evidence for a multiverse or paranormal connection, and there's a scene later where a character seems to debunk the theory out loud. I think the creators of this series really just wanted to have full reign on it, and not be shackled by a multiverse or a literal followup to the Disappearance film/book.

If you go into the show expecting a multiverse reveal, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. That said, I got some good emotional mileage out of the first half of the show by just muttering "This is what Nagato Prime must have wanted…" to myself at the end of every episode. Lol.

With that out of the way: again, this show really clicked with me. The gags are often pretty funny, the English dub cast is stellar, and the animation is great. There are a lot of things about this art style and character designs that I actually prefer over the original Haruhi Suzumiya by Kyoto Animation.

The show (and manga) are also really great at throwing in little blorbo chibis that I think are cute and funny.

Overall it's just a chill fun vibe. It's nice to "hang out" with these characters again, which is what I think has always been the crux of this whole multimedia franchise. As I mentioned, I think characters like Haruhi (and debatably Nagato) are even more fun to watch here than in the original.

Also, of course: the opening and ending are great and I've been listening to them on loop.

All this amounted to a fairly fun show that I was mostly enjoying (especially that Valentine's Day episode! My heart!!!) but everything really clicked with me once I hit Episode 10: Someday In The Rain.

(reminder, this is the anime spoiler section!)

The show immediately takes a SHARP turn in terms of tone in this episode. After being goofy rom-com silliness across most of the previous episodes, we are suddenly thrust into a sense of uneasiness. Yuki has a fall, having almost gotten hit by a car in the rain. From here, things become dead serious. She's acting strangely, and it's unclear what's going on.

For unexplained reasons related to her accident, her personality has completely shifted. Now, her demeanor is much closer to that of Nagato the alien from Haruhi Suzumiya. And it is not played off as a fun coincidence.

The show enters real drama territory as Yuki is acting strangely and her friends become really concerned for her. The music is completely different, the cinematography feels more unsettling. I was on the edge of my seat, and really appreciated that the show tackled this completely sincerely. Then they hit us with the whammy of Episode 11, where we jump back into Nagato's thoughts and see the day unfold from her perspective.

This turn throws us into a multi-episode arc that lasts pretty much the rest of the show (although is really only a "mid point" in the manga.) Nagato is a new person after the accident. Although she has access to all of Yuki's memories, they don't feel like her own. She has a completely new personality, and is having a conflicted out-of-body experience piloting Yuki's day-to-day life. She has new desires, new interests, new fears, and a new outlook. Now, she has to form new bonds with Kyon and Asakura.

I really like how this plays out dramatically, but it's also just fun in its own right. It's like the creators being like "look, we can write the old robotic Nagato too", and to great effect. It forces Asakura and Kyon to challenge their assumptions and make a new friend. It also, eventually, gets some pretty good gags.

It also gives us a short, emotions-packed, "fast-forwarded" version of the story's whole romance. The love that blossoms between Kyon and this new version of Nagato is, at least for me, really resonant and believable. It also forces this Nagato to be more introspective and brave than her romcom-Yuki counterpart, because this Nagato is reckoning with something that Yuki doesn't: the fear of having dwindling time.

I really adore this arc and it gets me choked up. I thought they nailed it, and honestly this version of "stoic Nagato" is still more interesting to me than any version of Nagato from the original Haruhi Suzumiya series. Blasphemous hot take, I know.

If you subscribe to Interpretation B how I mentioned above, there's some fun here to have if you want to headcanon that this accident is somehow the alien Nagato exerting control over this bubble universe. Maybe it's a thought experiment for Nagato the alien is find out if Kyon could ever truly fall with her monotone and stoic self. Again, I don't think that's at all what the writer intended, but it's a fun headcanon.

I think there's lots of other ways to connect with this arc. We all ask ourselves who we really are under the surface. Do your friends like the "real you"? Can someone fall in love with the "real you"? How do you even decide what side of your personality is more real?

I also think that living in a digital world of smartphones and social media does pretty much force us to have these out-of-body experiences. We are able to replay our own memories as outside observers, and wonder if that was really us who did all those things that are enshrined in digital evidence. I could relate to the things that the new Nagato was toiling over, even if nothing like this has ever happened to me.

I'm sure there are dozens of other connections and interpretations you can make with this arc, including neurodivergence and plural systems and recoveries from real-life brain injuries and accidents. It gave me a lot to think about.

On a bummer note, the anime basically wraps up here. I don't know if they were hoping to get another season or what, but this arc basically ends up having to serve as the culmination and ending of the anime. I don't love that, because it kind of ends the anime on a weird note.

Part 3:

Spoilers for volumes 6 through 10 of the manga below.

The anime ending felt so quick, it had me dying to check out the manga. I had to know how this all ended. What happens after this crazy experience? Do Kyon and Yuki fall in love for real???

The remaining manga volumes were a joy to read. We get even more blorbo chibis, and even more Asakura-being-a-self-conscious-mom. We got to see Kyon and Yuki, back to her normal self, bonding and growing together through the rest of their high school.

The final volume/arc in particular, centering on Asakura, I thought was great and really brought her character (and Yuki) to a satisfying conclusion.

I don't know how romcoms usually end, but I was happy to have this one give us a very corny and sweet "well here's them at graduation and afterward" fast-forward through time. I live for that stuff. Also the stuff at the end with the different haircuts and learning to cook, it was great and it felt like it really propelled Yuki forward in a way that characters from the original Haruhi Suzumiya don't really get to permanently change.

I think the manga really benefits from telling the entire story of their high school career and not ending at the conclusion of the personality change arc. With this more zoomed out view, that experience was almost like a traumatic event that they both went through, which helped solidify their feelings.

Anyway, all of that is to say…I think this is a really cute, special story and I'm glad I dipped a toe back into my Haruhi Suzumiya phase to check it out. I know it's not the surreal sci-fi story of the original, and it deals more in "mundane" than in "novelty." But I think that's more what I was looking for, these days.

At the very least, Nagato's status as "favorite anime character" has been re-earned, and can now be defended for years to come.

[thebelladonnamoon]

Help!! I've just finished ACoSaS (which is freaking amazing by the way, like 10/10. I'm not sure how canon will beat it, I actually squealed and then cried at the end - multiple times) and I need more Gwyn and Az to fill the massive hole its left in my heart. Do you have any fic recommendations?

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

Hello lovely 🥰❤️ Thank you so much for your message. I'm so glad you liked ACOSAS, that's such an incredible compliment, haha thank you 🥹

If you are ready to tumble down the dangerous rabbit hole that is Gwynriel fanfiction - and accept the consequences of no sleep and incurable addiction - here are my all-time favourites:

On My Radar by @vikingmagic33 - Novel length. Chefs kiss dialogue, razor sharp wit that will have you smiling at your phone, emotional character growth and amazing characterisation.

Rules for Spies by @houseofhurricane - Novel length. Incredible plot steeped in fun fan theory, steamy tension and literally everything to satiate your Gwynriel espionage fantasies.

Trial of the Valkyrie by @daevastanner - Novel length. Based on Outlander (I mean, need I say more?), sizzling fake marriage trope, very original plot and amazing writing that will keep you reading well into the night.

The Bargain by @headcanonheadcase (AU) - Novel length. I never even knew about ice hockey or read AU before this but the story is just so heart warming and perfectly sexy I’ve been solidly converted to both. The ultimate cosy weekend fic.

Sweet Waters of Spring by @yanny-77 - Short fic. This is a WIP but so worth the read. Lots of sizzling tension, hot and bothered/flustered Az and a fun Spring Court setting.

For Research Purposes Only by @shadowriel (WIP, AU) - I only just started reading this but if you like Ali Hazelwood you will devour this incredible stem AU. Super cute character dynamic, chefs kiss fake dating trope, plus Azriel being a total simp.

We Don't Slut Shame Males in the Night Court by @vikingmagic33 - This mini fic is like a dessert, you start reading the first chapter and just can’t stop. Azriel is in his self destructive himbo era and Gwyn is the best friend that won’t give up on him. Equal measures cute and sexy, and wholly satisfying.

'i watch the skies getting light' by @damedechance - One shot. I had to add this! This one shot somehow manages to be salaciously sexy and perfectly poetic at the same time. The writing is top tier, characterisation is on point and it is literally blush in public hot.

*edited later on because I was stupid and forgot one of my favourite ones ever*

There are plenty more amazing works, but I would recommend starting with these 🥰

[felassan]

Article: 'Jennifer Hale and David Hayter Talk Morality-Based Dialogue in Games Like Mass Effect, SWTOR'

Jennifer Hale and David Hayter chat with Game Rant about how they approached voice roles in games like Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic. In anticipation of the PSVR2 exclusive Synapse, Game Rant spoke with actors Jennifer Hale and David Hayter, who both play roles in the upcoming title. They spent some time during the interview discussing how they approached voicing characters in games that feature branching dialogue trees with morality systems. Jennifer Hale memorably portrayed the female Commander Shepard in Mass Effect as well as the female Trooper in Star Wars: The Old Republic, whereas David Hayter brought life to the male Jedi Knight in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Jennifer Hale Sees Mass Effect's Paragon And Renegade Shepard As The Same Person Mass Effect is one of the most well-regarded RPGs in recent memory largely due to its dialogue and morality system that allows players to express themselves in a way that is impactful to both the story and Commander Shepard's interpersonal relationships. Dialogue choices are often split between the heroic and virtuous Paragon and the sardonic, occasionally ruthless Renegade. Jennifer Hale spoke about how she appreciates the character's ability to shift between these attitudes in a relatable way. "To everyone, I say “Look in the mirror.” Sometimes you get out of bed, and you're in a great mood. Other days, you get out of bed and you’re like “Don't talk to me for a couple hours, leave me alone,” but you're still the same person. You can get out of bed as one person and something can happen, and in a nanosecond, you're the other person. And so playing a character like that – It's the same character. They're just hopping from mood to mood and circumstance to circumstance. The throughline is there and it's very definite. You're not a wholly different character from line to line, it's just a different moment, and how you respond to it is with maybe tighter governors or looser governors." Hale's approach to Shepard's role is so successful because the "good" and "bad" options don't feel like completely different characters. One of the most highly recommended ways to play through the Mass Effect trilogy is by taking a "Paragade" approach in which players go for a mix of both, because Shepard, like any person, might not always be feeling optimistic or cynical. A predominantly Renegade Shepard may still choose to hug and comfort Tali during an emotional moment (a Paragon choice) and it doesn't at all feel inconsistent. David Hayter Views Star Wars: The Old Republic's Dialogue Choices As Different Journeys In Star Wars: The Old Republic, the moral extremes are somewhat more pronounced in the dialogue choices as players lean toward either the Light Side or the Dark Side of the Force. Even the Jedi Knight can be outright evil if the player chooses, which leads David Hayter to view these paths as essentially different journeys to take for the character. I almost use the same voice for all of them, but I kind of feel like they're different personalities. One of them is kind of a Han Solo, while the Light Side responses are heroic, but kind of bland – he'll never deviate from “May the Force be with You,” that sort of thing. The cynical guy is just like, “What is wrong with you?” which is so much more fun. The moments where I'm full-on Dark Side and I'm like, “I am going to destroy you!” is arguably more fun to do. I try to deliver it all through the same guy's vocal cords, but they are different. They're having different journeys, and some of them are more funny and exasperating than others. Naturally, Hayter found that it was more fun to embrace the Dark Side while acting, if only because the Light-Sided Jedi Knight is a tad bland due to the Jedi Order's insistence on emotional detachment. Either way, the presence of branching dialogue enables players to embark on the journey of their choice and explore the full range of David Hayter and Jennifer Hale's exceptional acting abilities upon repeat playthroughs.

[source]

[narcissistcookbook]

hey Matt!! Jam Mechanics fuckin slaps, I love hearing y'all's processes. And all of the songs from both of y'all have been DELIGHTFUL. (World Yet to Come has nested in my brain like pigeons in those spiky things that are supposed to scare them away) now for the secret reason I'm sending this ask: which Grady Hendrix book was great until the last couple chapters?? I'm working my way through his stuff rn and am SO curious

thank you so much! everyone listen to me and bughunter's show @jammechanics!

the book i read was The Final Girl Support Group. it's really fun until the literal finale, the final setting/setpiece where it kinda fails to do anything interesting at all with all of its setups. i'd recommend it though - the journey you go on with the narrator is great for the most part, and a damp squib ending doesn't wholly ruin that

[lyssafreyguy]

hey hey. hey. I'm sorry I can't find the original post or else I'd just reblog it with this and I know it's been a couple weeks so I shouldn't be adding on to it but I hvae to get this out cause I quite literally haven't stopped thinking about it since I first saw it:

in her original Dungeon Meshi video Lily Orchard was kinda making fun of people who recommend her stuff (no comment there you do whatever you want) and gave an example where because she liked Kingdom Hearts (action-adventure JRPG) someone might recommend her Nier Automata (action-adventure bullet hell JRPG) and she described it as like "avshshjana something something maid fetish" and it made me so. tired lmfao. I was just like "oh God of COURSE she probably hasn't even actually looked into Automata to see what it's actually about oh B R O T H E R" you know?

like I also remember being younger and seeing this game on release and its fake sexy android character design and the fact that there's a joke achievement you get for looking up the android's skirt a bunch and just immediately being put off by it and wholly judging it on a completely surface level like I knew everything about it and labelling as Bad Game Actually but that was almost an entire decade ago and Lily's having this view NOW when she's at least what like 4 years older than me?? she's in her 30s??? Lily babe you can play the Anti-Feminist Sexy Android Game or whatever you wanna call it it's okay no one's gonna shoot you down 😭

[masterwords]

good vibrations

Summary: Hotch & Morgan take the family to an amusement park.

Pairing: Hotch/Morgan

Warnings: Nothing I can think of?

Words: 1.4k

Notes: Continuing this domestic May nonsense, I just wanted to think about their family at an amusement park for a while. How cute it would be with that mix of personalities on the road and in the park and...believe me I could have turned this into a bajillion words but I kept it short and sweet.

Read on AO3 if you like! This one is short and all fluff so I posted it in its entirety here too.

**

Hotch considers himself a world class napper. A perfect vacation would simply involve a bed, warm blankets and no alarm clock. He can come and go as he pleases, close his eyes and open them using nothing but the delight of his own internal rhythm.

Derek, on the other hand, likes to be on the move from sun up to sun down. He wants to pack as much into their weekend as he can because they simply don’t get enough of them.

When things were still brand new, before the team had any idea that they would leave Friday night and sneak away together in a rental car to such exotic places as Busch Gardens or the Jersey Shore or Dollywood, they would make plans during the car ride. Hotch, car sick though he is, always let Derek drive. He would pull out his phone and flick through his notes app to run down their itinerary for the weekend while Jack watched the scenery fly by from the backseat in silence. The kid was a champion in the car, hardly a peep out of him for the whole first hour, and then he would pull out a book or some other quiet car game, wholly capable of keeping himself completely occupied. The last hour or so they would all be a little antsy and that was when Hotch would initiate such car trip classics as alphabet of road signs, spotting license plates until they hopefully saw one from each state (and if you saw one from Canada you basically won) or an old standby that eventually turned into arguments...I Spy.

Now that they’re seasoned, now that they don’t have to hide from anyone, now that Jack is older...they forego the planning entirely. Instead they arrive, find their hotel, and Hotch immediately begins preparations for his first nap of the trip. The first of many, he announces cheerfully. The planning happens on the fly. That's real comfort, real progress. They go simply with the intent to have a good time, itinerary not required. 

This time they’re at Knoebels Amusement Resort, a recommendation from JJ. It’s a little less ritzy than some of the others but what it lacks in style it makes up for in comfort. They’ve rented a little cabin with easy access to the park and secured all the passes they’ll need to pack a week’s worth of fun into three days. They even brought Jessica, just in case the BAU called and they had to take their leave...at least Jack could stay and finish out the good times.

“You’re both old fogies,” Derek huffed while he set out all of his myriad toiletries in the bathroom he staked out for he and Hotch. Hotch and Jessica just smiled knowingly at each other and, almost like mirror images, began preparing for afternoon naps.

“We need our beauty sleep,” is Jess’ sassy retort before she enters her small bedroom and closes the door behind her. Derek cups Hotch’s face in his hands, stares longingly into his eyes for a minute like he’s going to say something really romantic about how Hotch doesn’t need beauty sleep because he’s perfect the way he is, and then smiles.

“Don’t sleep through dinner,” is what he actually says and Hotch sighs, nodding.

“I won’t.”

He doesn’t. It’s a nice, short nap, just energizing enough that he showers and throws on some casual clothes and heads out the door to find Derek and Jack who are out shaking up their brains on rollercoasters, one after another. Hotch doesn’t mind a good rollercoaster, but he’s definitely not one to subject himself to a full day of them. He has better things to do.

Like buying a big salty pretzel from a vendor with a cart, and hoping he doesn’t spill the bright yellow mustard all over his khakis while he walks and takes in the sights. Everything is bright colors and loud music and it’s mesmerizing in the way it assaults his senses. Before Derek he used to loathe these places, they just felt like people infested stress cages and Haley would run off with Jack to wait in line somewhere and he’d spend at least a half hour hunting them down to make sure they hadn’t been taken. He doesn’t worry about anything with Derek around. It’s taken him a long time to get used to that feeling. Sometimes it’s so big he doesn’t really know what to do with it.

That’s not a problem right now though. He pops off at a little round table with bright red benches that are faded at the corners from the unrelenting summer sun and fires off an inquisitive text to Derek.

Where are you?

Next in line for bumper cars. Third round. Jack’s ruthless. You?

Hotch smiles and sends Derek a picture of his pretzel with the grand carousel in the background.

Hell yeah! Win us some free rides ya tall dark and handsome drink of water!

He hadn’t really thought about getting on the carousel, he just thought it made for a nice picture but hell. A ride didn’t sound so bad, he’d always liked the way they were just so simple and classic. And soothing, that up and down motion, the music, the mirrors. Something about it was almost enchanting. And being tall and graceful enough to reach out and snag that brass ring on the way around was, until recently, a talent he didn’t realize he had.

They all met up an hour later with Jessica outside of the Haunted Mansion, her one specific request. It’s somewhere between a slow moving rollercoaster and a haunted house and she’s all about it.

“You and Derek should sit behind us,” she says, pointing at the car she wants them to get in. “And then you can hold his hand when he’s scared.”

Derek rolls his eyes. “Ain’t me gonna be scared, little lady.”

“Yeah, right. Says the guy who hates Halloween.”

They all jump and laugh and close their eyes, and Hotch does find that at a certain point Derek is gripping his hand a little tighter than natural and leaning a little closer to him. He’s not scared, he says, it’s just that he thought being in the dark meant they could be a little extra close. Hotch has his doubts.

There’s golfing that fulfills all of Hotch's personal goals (18 holes while no one complains, and Derek teaches Jack how to drive the cart when no one is looking) and swimming and exploring and a whole lot of eating, all littered with a staggering number of naps by one or two of the adults at any given time. Jack refuses. While Hotch and Derek nap, Jess takes him swimming and follows him down countless looping swirling slides into the icy crystal water. While Hotch naps, Jess and Derek ride all sorts of rollercoasters and ferris wheels and while they’re down for the count, Hotch takes Jack on the Pioneer Train and they explore the history museums. All in all, they head home both exhausted and well rested, somehow. No incidents, no arguments, just some good old fashioned family fun.

Well, almost no arguments. Jack’s grasp on (or respect for) the rules of I Spy is shaky at best and Jess always takes his side, leaving Hotch and Derek to argue on behalf of reason and sanity. "You can't just say you spy something GREEN in a sea of green, kid...you gotta be more specific!" Derek shouts after the third round of madness while Hotch pats him on the knee and Jessica's laugh bellows from behind them. He's spied something green on each of his turns and Derek is certain that he's lying about his answer when it's guessed too easily. Changing which green thing he's spotted.

"Sure he can! Are you accusing a child of lying?"

"I study behavior for a living, I know he's lying."

Hotch nods. "I know his tells."

"SOMETHING GREEN!"

"Oh for the love..." Derek cries out, sending off a litany of green things he can think of that he can't even see at all. Apples, grass, lettuce, slime, aliens...he's losing his mind and Hotch thinks it might be the cutest thing he's ever seen, at least for a while. 

Jessica's laughing so hard there are tears on her cheeks and Jack is pleased as punch. Hotch finally waves the white flag and turns up the radio, invoking the power of the quiet game. The first person to talk loses.

Everyone in the car is far too competitive to lose at this game.

[vvatchword]

So reading your essay defending Infinite has me hankering to replay. As of writing, it is currently installing on my computer. Thank you for getting me to want to play through the whole thing once more (not the DLC, I never actually picked up the DLC. Maybe that's for the better)

Aw golly you gave me the warm fuzzies! I'm hankering for a replay now myself, I got so into my own bullshit. I might yet. I want to play it again just to re-examine my own premise and look for more material. Furthermore, although originally I hadn't intended on writing fanfiction for Infinite, I now intend to out of spite. And that requires a fresh eye and at least two play-throughs, in my experience.

I struggle with recommending the DLC because it depends on what you want. On one hand, the gameplay is great! I had a wonderful time making people honk-shuu. Dr. Suchong was a treat. And I got to see Atlas, holy shit. Oh, and Atlas' train spike. ha

On the other, uh, the story is broken as hell. I mean, the good news is that it was probably the timetable and not the studio. The bad news is that the story makes Daisy Fitzroy's death WORSE.

But there's a source of fun even in the broken story. It's oddly fun to try and figure out what the fuck was going on behind the scenes. You ever experience a piece of art where you feel like you're looking through a window at the artists themselves? That's how it feels to me.

The minute the DLC started, with its over-the-top positive Jack flashbacks, my hackles went straight up: this can't be right. This doesn't feel right. This feels like someone made a request. This feels like... CORPORATE RESEARCH. I suspect I felt that way because outright positivity is anathema to BioShock. When I tell you I can only think of one wholly positive event in BioShocks 1 and 2 that comes without horrifying baggage, would you believe me?

Everything about the DLC feels calculated and impersonal, even cynical in parts. It was about the point where the only Little Sister you care about for no specific reason is looking down at you with enormous shimmering My Little Pony eyes that I wondered if I were actually experiencing some kind of joke.

Anyway. Feel free to come on by and tell me how the game goes. Hell, if you see anything I didn't cover or missed or whatever, feel free to say so. I only played the thing once. Lord knows I probably skipped... jesus so much. Hell, I didn't even touch on gnosticism and that shit's everywhere. (Fun treat: check out the Bibles all open to John, the most gnostic of the Gospels lol)

[autopotion]

Inconsequential things that frustrate me: I really cannot stand it when fans of something can't or won't acknowledge a perspective of the thing they like that is not wholly, effusively positive. Of course people can be rude or unfair if the critic is annoyed by the thing, but I'm also talking about the situation where, like, two people both generally had a positive experience with the thing, but Person A goes "but x thing didn't work for me" and Person B reacts condescendingly or with extreme offense or upset.

Like in this case I'm specifically thinking of Outer Wilds, which is a reddit darling, so you see it recommended all the time (regardless of, like... relevance). I love Outer Wilds! It was a cool game and it's in my top 50! But the way people talk about it, they act like it's the only mystery game with a heartfelt story ever made, and if you indicate that some things didn't work for you, they will mock you for not appreciating "games as art." This coming from a demographic that typically dismisses visual novels outright... Okay lmao.

It's just really annoying. Anyone who's followed me for more than a couple weeks knows I have no problem airing out my complaints about things I love. It's a critical part of engaging with media, to me. Not as like a "virtue signaling" thing, but like, if I want to make anything ever I want to get pretty good at picking apart what works for me and what doesn't! I love Dragon Age and despise the obnoxious elf racism worldbuilding. Final Fantasy has a pretty serious misogyny & transmisogyny problem; if we're talking about pettier quibbles, I deeply disliked the defanging of AVALANCHE in FFVIIR (a game I have also praised extensively for its characterization of Aerith), and I'm repeatedly frustrated by the many damsel plots & hanging plot threads re: relationships between women in FFT (my favorite game of all time!!). Transistor is gorgeous, and really fun, and uncomfortably homophobic. And even OUTSIDE of racism, misogyny, and homophobia, sometimes game mechanics don't work, and sometimes storytelling decisions fall flat, and I want to work out why they didn't work for me! I don't know!!!

It's just like... put yourself, briefly, in the shoes of someone who didn't care for some decisions in the thing you like, instead of, idk, mocking them? "I couldn't handle the flight controls in Outer Wilds" totally fair, they're an acquired taste, they were designed intentionally which I appreciate but it's not going to be for everyone; "I liked Outer Wilds but I don't think it's the most groundbreaking game ever made" LITERALLY NOT EVEN A NEGATIVE OPINION??? And that's the one that is CONSTANTLY derided and mocked on Reddit. "You don't get games as art, you pleb." I'm starting to think one of us doesn't, because a robust critic scene is part of what makes something art, and video games don't have that, much to their detriment, so the world of games journalism and even "sharing opinions online" is a shambles! IDK!!!

All I am saying is allow some space in your head for the acknowledgement of something you like not working for someone else. And it's not the end of the world. It's not even a value judgement. I've softened my hater attitude over the years but some knee-jerk defensiveness and cries of "well you must not really get it then" really make me want to pull my hair out.

[wellntruly]

M*A*S*H - Viewguide, S5

Are you interested in the long-running anti-war situation tragicomedy M*A*S*H (1972-1983), but there are simply so many asterisks and so many episodes?

Well I can’t help you with the asterisks, but nor can I help myself: I started watching all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, and bringing back for you my viewing selections, chosen for The Qualities.

— — —

This season overall I'd say feels kind of, mild? Less low lows and less high highs. Just middley. I nearly included one episode almost wholly for the appeal of being maybe 75% set at night (something I would do), and secondly for the appeal of Hawkeye sleepwalking, when he's not waking from nightmares. But it's very I'll say "Season 5" in that despite this, it's just, I don't know somehow milder than I might want, especially when this set-up naturally recalls the much odder and eerier 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' from Season 2, with (and possibly even because of) its spikier swings between the antic and traumatic.

But it happened that a lot of the stronger stuff here lent itself to putting together something of a more focused character collection. So welcome to our Special Issue!, highlighting the previously maybe somewhat under-served Major Margaret Houlihan, and Captain BJ Hunnicutt:

M*A*S*H - Season 5 Recommended sequence

5x03 ‘Margaret’s Engagement’ - So fun to me that Margaret & Frank transitioning from “secret” lovers to “secret” exes is somehow the exact same mood while having the opposite content. Ending comes out of nowhere and on a pretty weak joke, but when it's just Hawkeye & BJ lounging on each other on Margaret’s bed as she hops around showing them her goofy little engagement ring, that’s the Margaret & The Boys ‘Silly Mood’ vibes I've been missing, baby. Loretta Swit is back!

5x06 ’The Nurses’ - This one made me cry??? It was written and directed by women. It’s about women having complex relationships with each other. Bechdel Test smashed, only took us four seasons! 

5x08 ‘Dear Sigmund’ - It's the context here that really has me like, haha totally. This is the first episode they’ve let Alan Alda write all himself in three calendar seasons, and he's like great, okay: can I just get down nothing but a bunch of character meta and headcanons for everyone and put that up as TV? Yeah Victor Hugo that sounds wild, please do.

5x09 ‘Mulcahy’s War’ - Father Mulcahy goes out to the front to experience the horrors (more), but amazingly the real reason I'm including this one is that Gary Burghoff’s distressed little straight man hilarity here made me laugh so, so much, and then have a staggering realization: the character of Radar O'Reilly is absolutely the progenitor of Guillermo de la Cruz.

5x10 ‘The Korean Surgeon’ - Would be worth it for Hawkeye & BJ talking to Radar in the mess tent ALONE (Gary Emmy-winning year). But also I love their kind weary surgeon friend from ~the other side~

5x15 ‘The Most Unforgettable Characters’ - At 10 minutes in I'd thought, alright this is probably just another middle sort of one, and then at 10 minutes and 30 seconds, BJ (BJ, baby??!) spontaneously proposes that he and Hawkeye spend the rest of the episode play-acting that they're fighting to entertain Frank for his birthday, inspiring Barbara Kruger four years later to go, y'know what, I'm gonna have to comment on this.

5x19 ‘Hanky Panky’ - You tell me “BJ episode where he cheats on his wife,” and I’m going to say, “hm well that’s not the kind of character development I think I want,” but I would be wrong about that! A) love her, she's great in this, B) there is one particular revelation BJ shares here that is just, exquisite information. I will say no more at this juncture (Watch Notes: Coming soon!), but in light of oh, a lot: oh my god.

5x25 ‘Margaret’s Marriage’ - Let’s bookend this! One thing I love about long episodic seasons, is that after Margaret somehow ever more hilariously saying the name ‘Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott’ for 22 episodes, the man finally appearing felt like forbidden Beckett. 

And also now say bye-bye, Frank [chorus: bye-bye, Frank!]

Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • To be continued

#M*A*S*H hours