#this potentially doubles as a series review

[dennistakesamentalhealthday]

jasper when the gang carries a corpse up a mountain ending

[theresattrpgforthat]

Mint Reviews: Huckleberry

This is a review for Huckleberry, a Wyrd West RPG by Steven Alexander. I received a copy of the Early Access version of the game in exchange for a review.

Huckleberry is a game about the dark and weird parts of a fictional Wild West, in which gunslingers and outlaws roam freely, supernatural creatures haunt the desert, and gold is earned through feats of derring-do.

The Setting

The game begins with a legend that appears to be inspired by Navajo mythology, including a reference to the myth of Spider Woman and a world that exists beneath ours, closed 30 years ago forever to the inhabitants of the Fifth World, which appears to be the setting of the book. There is a supernatural force of nature called the Wyrd, touching everything around it and corrupting it. This dangerous element of the surrounding environment has made living difficult and dangerous, with palatable drinking water hard to come by, hoarded by water barons.

Your characters are occult bounty hunters called Mavericks, earning a living (and access to Cool Water) through hunting supernatural monsters. Because of the pervasiveness of the Wyrd, you characters might also be touched by the supernatural, giving them special abilities that help them survive in the harshness of the desert.

The Rules

Huckleberry uses a combination of dice and cards to represent obstacles and conflict resolution, as well as a player resource called Aces. The dice vary in size, and will increase or decrease to represent competency or difficulty. The cards are primarily used to determine the kind of challenge will face the player, but the suits of the deck are also thematically tied to character abilities, as well as potential effects from attacks coming from monsters.

Similar to what you might find in traditional roleplaying games, Huckleberry expects players to make both skill checks and attribute saves, representing a game that’s about combat and conflict with the world around you. Your character will have skills and attributes that can be mixed and combined however you like, reminiscent of the way you combine two stats in Chronicles of Darkness to give you a dice pool. Your character will also have a Wyrd die, a d10 that can be optionally reduced in size to re-roll checks or saves.

Additionally, characters have the ability to earn Aces, tokens or some other physical counter that can be spent in order to Sweeten the Pot (improving a potential success) or Sleeve the Ace (saved for later). A Sleeved Ace can be spent to add positive modifiers to your rolls, thus increasing your chances of success. Most of the time, in order to gain an Ace, your character will need to play according to type, but Aces can also be gained as bonuses when using certain abilities or special items.

Your character is built out of Attributes and Skills, but also a series of Traits that tell us something about their relationship to the occult, their personality, and their job. You also start with a special piece of equipment called a Big Iron, which is a legendary weapon with special abilities. You can modify your Big Iron over time, giving it mechanical bonuses that make them easier or more efficient to use, typically in combat. Your non-weapon items are represented by Kit, which is a limited inventory meant to represent the scarcity of the world you live in, and your wealth is abstracted to Wyrd-touched Chips, which also double as your XP.

The Gameplay

Huckleberry moves between two phases of the game, called Drives and Pastimes. Drives are investigative and action-heavy phases, often missions that the players will choose and then have to finish in order to get paid. Pastimes are moments of downtime, where players can heal and pursue advancements for both themselves and the town that they build as their home base.

One unique element of Huckleberry is the way the card deck is used in the Drive phase, especially during combat. When it is time for the GM to respond to the actions of the players, they do something called Ante Up, which involves drawing a card from the deck. The suit on the drawn card determines something about the upcoming obstacle, and also defines associated Attribute required for the challenge. Face cards are especially lethal, reflecting a consequence inflicted by the word. The Ace & Joker cards represent a moment of reprieve, with the Wyrd acting in the character’s favor, and dealing each player a Sleeved Ace or an increase to their Wyrd die.

Sensitivity

Thematically, the setting plays up the tropes of Western fiction while including specific references to groups of people who live in the areas that are often referenced in these events. This includes the Hopi, the Diné/Navajo, the Nʉmʉnʉʉ/Comanche, and the Gáuigú/Kiowa peoples. There are references in the book to creatures and imagery that may have originated in these people’s mythologies, although I think that many of the common names have been changed or replaced with autonyms in an effort to respect the people who claim these stories. I’m personally impressed that the author has made an effort to recognize the authority and autonomy of the peoples whose stories have often been mangled or poorly represented by Western media.

I do not know if the author is Indigenous nor, do I know if they have hired a sensitivity reader for the indigenous themes in this book; a sensitivity editor is named, although the specific areas that the editor was responsible for are not made clear. The book does come with a land acknowledgement of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Popeloutchom, where I assume the author resides, as well as a public acknowledgement of the harm the mythologizing of the American West has done to indigenous peoples and other people of colour. I’m not Indigenous myself, so I’m curious about how some of the subject matter within the book would be received by members of the Hopi and Diné tribes.

Summary

Huckleberry embraces the harshness and fickleness of the setting by using a randomizer like a card deck to determine the specific challenges and benefits that come the players’ way, while still ensuring that at some point, the players will come across a challenge that suits them. The book gives the reader a taste for the setting and then moves on to explaining how to play and how to build a character, leaving plenty of the story-crafting up to the group.

The playing cards are exceptionally thematic, as are the mechanical terms used to describe different actions in the book, such as Ante Up, Sweeten the Pot, and Sleeving an Ace. Combat is definitely the most fleshed-out part of the book, with various kinds of injuries and ailments that can negatively affect your character’s skills and abilities, and a drawn-out health track represented by Scars. I can see a lot of similarities between this game and Blades in the Dark, such as the phases of the game, the Deal with the Devil (free healing at the cost of agreeing to a bargain), and forcibly retiring your character should they take too many Scars.

That being said, I don’t think this a Forged in the Dark game in the slightest. The different dice sizes feel more akin to 24XX and the Wyrd die reminds me of the Plot Die in Rotted Capes. This game feels like the designer has taken some of his favourite pieces of various different games and combined them to deliver a Wild West experience that embraces unique, dynamic characters and dangerous bouts of conflict.

Pros

The game understands and resonates with much of it’s source material, and knows exactly what kind of experience it wants to deliver. Fans of the Wyrd West will probably find a lot to like about this game.

The game provides structure in the phases of play, which I find can make it more approachable to players who don’t know where to start. A straight-forward mission/downtime cycle can give the group a good idea of where the story is going next.

The Sleeved Aces give the players a unique resource to help them give them a better chance at rolls that mean a lot to them.

The card-drawing mechanic in conflicts changes the role of the GM a little bit; they are less of a movie director and more of a game facilitator. Adding a form of chance when it comes to determining what exactly is challenging the players means that the GM doesn’t have to plan quite as much, and also reinforces the wildness of the Wyrd.

Cons

There’s a lot to keep track of. The consequences that can be inflicted upon your characters all work slightly differently, and there’s different categories. I'm slightly worried that a lot of play time might be eaten up by having to reference the book multiple times to look up different ailments and how they affect your character.

The unique language also requires some acclimation to a new system, which (to be fair) is a common struggle for someone picking up a new game, but I found myself having to re-read special mechanics more than once to understand what they were used for.

My biggest struggle has to do with understanding a specific ruling in the part that talks about Sixes & Sevens, which is meant to be the combat part of play. Sixes & Sevens is meant to make the game-play feel “cinematic” and therefore is meant to streamline combat. However, in Ailments & Inflictions, the writer recommends that the game should remain in Sixes and Sevens while the Mavericks still have life-threatening ailments. I’m curious as to how you would narrate a play-by-play of someone struggling with an illness and still keep the gameplay ‘cinematic”.

If you want a game that demonstrates a lot of love for the Weird West genre, you enjoy games that can beat your character up a little bit, and you like the thrill of not knowing what’s coming up next, then you might like Huckleberry.

You can check out the early access version of Huckleberry on DrivethruRPG.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 142 thoughts!

HEADS UP: In this review I discuss fictional depictions of sibling incest as well as a brief reference to both fictional and a real life suicide. As usual, feel free to skip if you're not in the right zone and I'll see you next time.

thank you for the kind words from everyone when i was still in the Slime Era of feeling sick lol. i'm like 80% back to full power now!

I'm gonna be totally up front and say I really think this is one of the worst chapters we've gotten in a while but here's the twist: it's not for the reasons you probably think!

We're following up basically right off the back of last chapter and immediately I am kind of mad at how shitty the series is continuing to do Miyako with regards to the movie arc. She was a total non-factor in the RBKN conflict and now that Aqua and Ruby are being pressured into doing something they have both verbalized that they don't want to do she's just like well gosh i feel complicated but what can i do :(. Having the setup almost 20 full chapters ago of Miyako expressing that she wants to step up and do more for Aqua and Ruby as their mother and then having her completely failing to intervene on their behalf here is just wild.

In general, the way everything is being set up to force this kiss feels so… well, forced. Even if Kaburagi (as the story says) insisted there be a kiss scene, there are a million ways to fake a kiss that doesn't involve actors actually kissing. Body doubles! Camera angles! Putting your thumbs in the way! Unless Kaburagi said "I want 20 full seconds of Kamiki sticking his tongue down Ai's throat center frame", there is absolutely no reason "a kiss scene" needs to mean "these two blood related twin sibling actors actually kiss". The whole thing is just so incredibly contrived.

And honestly? The fact that both Ruby and Aqua have expressed a 'no' and are being forced to do this anyway is the part of this chapter making me the most actively insane. It is absolutely mind boggling to have spent half of last chapter on a Miyako monologue about how immoral and unethical it is when people's ability to give informed and sincere consent is compromised by the entertainment industry and to then follow it with a whole chapter of basically every character we're supposed to like flaunting a total lack of respect for Aqua's comfort and consent in this regard, up to and including the completely insane scene of two adult women lecturing Aqua about how he isn't allowed to have boundaries. What the fuck is going on here!!!

This is especially frustrating because I actually really like a lot of things about the scene with Yoriko and Abiko… even if there's some stuff that really kind of broke me lol. Like uh, wasn't it a really huge plot point in Tokyo Blade that a mangaka couldn't be expected to turn out an entertaining theater script because those are two entirely different kinds of storytelling…??? But whatever.

Off the bat, I have really mixed-leaning-negative feelings about the reveal that the KamiAi romance scenes we'd gotten were entirely fictional. On the one hand, I actually feel pretty validated - I had guessed that the full-immersion-flashback presentation was a hint that we were being presented with a falsehood and it implicitly confirms something I've been saying from the start that 15 Year Lie's version of events has to be taken with a grain of salt, both because it contradicts known events and facts and because so many other people have interfered with it. Having that made textual and being able to confidently say it helps a lot in discussing what this means for the story.

But like… that means we wasted a whole bunch of time on shit that was made up and didn't matter! Like, thematically speaking, I think this is potentially interesting but I just keep getting stuck on the fact that we were given a super interesting scene finally fleshing out and giving us info about both a character and a relationship we've been absolutely starved for details about, only for the story to turn around not two chapters later and go "and my source? i made it the fuck up". It just totally dashes all the enthusiasm I was feeling and it also makes it way less rewarding to try and dig into what 15YL is doing when at any time, all of this potentially interesting character work could be revealed to be total piss in the wind.

Stepping back from that… in total isolation from everything else, I do think this talk with Abiko and Yoriko about what it means to write stories is interesting from a lot of angles. While I don't think these two are the 1-to-1 author avatars for Aka and Mengo fandom treats them as, they nevertheless clearly serve as reflections of the two's experiences and viewpoints about the manga industry and specific and the art of storytelling in general, allowing the story to play around in the quasi-metafictional space it does sometimes, where it uses in-universe fiction as a method of commenting on itself.

In that sense, I think Yoriko can be understood as speaking for Akasaka here and discussing some of his feelings as a storyteller of Oshi no Ko specifically. OnK has never made a secret of the fact that it's drawing on Akasaka's real experiences in the entertainment industry but perhaps less obvious to overseas fans is the inspiration it takes from real life issues in contemporary Japanese pop culture, too. Infamously, Akane's arc very transparent drew inspiration - if it wasn't reconstructed entirely - from the suicide of Hana Kimura, not even six full months after Kimura's death. When the anime aired, Kimura's surviving mother (imo, rightfully and deservedly) lambasted the series for using her daughter's death as the fodder for entertainment without consulting her surviving family. It wasn't even that she disagreed with what the series was saying - she just wanted someone to have some consideration.

This is what Yoriko means when she talks about the responsibility a writer has to their stories. When you write a piece of fiction as highly visible as Oshi no Ko currently is, it is your responsibility to consider the impact your words will have on the world. No, fiction does not directly impact the real world in a physical, tangible way but if we are careless with our stories, we can regurgitate and perpetuate dominant cultural narratives that very much do cause real, tangible harm to marginalized people. Hikaru Kamiki isn't a real person, but there are undoubtedly people in OnK's readerbase who see their experiences mirrored in him. Airi Himekawa isn't real, but people like her exist. Akane Kurokawa isn't real but Hana Kimura was.

This discussion also serves as an interesting warning to Aqua himself, though maybe not quite in the sense Yoriko intended. Aqua's revenge has always been something treated, in-universe, as a sort of fiction in of itself; Aqua calls it his 'revenge play' and his primary method of pursuing it is to become an actor. It's a retribution narrative about real people and Aqua is its author. But as Yoriko reminds him… stories can kill. Especially ones featuring real people. Aqua has been telling himself a comfortable lie for years that only he will be hurt by his own inevitable self destruction but Yoriko reminds him that he isn't the only person involved here and that he is inevitably going to cause great pain to the people he loves if her continues down this path.

That's why this chapter is so frustrating. This is all good, meaty character work with some great thematic overtones… and it's all in service of contriving this scenario where Aqua has no choice but to tongue his sister on camera and for some reason, nobody is pointing out the million and one alternatives to this deranged scenario.

But anyway. Enough beating around the bush: let's talk about That Scene. And despite what everything I've said this post might lead you to believe… I actually really like it.

I don't know exactly what activated to make her go sicko mode but Mengo has been really on fucking fire with her art on the series lately. It really jumped out to me in 137 but she's honestly been cooking since the very start of the movie arc. It stands out especially strongly in Aqua and Ruby's talk on the balcony in ways I really vibed with. The whole scene feels like Ruby's shoujo brainrot and the cold reality of what she's tiptoeing around suggesting to Aqua are battling out for dominance over the framing. Ruby's stubbornness is such a force to be reckoned with that it almost wins entirely but there are moments where the lens cracks and we see things as they are. Aqua's discomfort practically radiates off the page this entire conversation.

Not only that but… jesus christ, Ruby. Just look at how she's framed when she first enters the scene.

That oppressive silhouette, her shaded eyes and that sinister smile… I probably don't need to tell you that's NOT how you typically frame a romantic heroine. She honestly almost looks more like a villain.

But Ruby quickly reasserts control over the framing. Or rather, what she's suggesting is such a sugary shoujo fantasy, the framing has no other option but to comply. At last, Ruby steps out of the shallow channel of plausible deniability and puts into concrete words what she has been thinking and longing for these last twenty chapters: for her to retake her role as Sarina Tendoji and for Aqua, in turn, to play Gorou for her once again. More than that - she pushes him for a concrete response to her love at last, not as Ruby but as Sarina; not only does the paneling repeatedly cover the eye with her star but in the final panel where she unambiguously propositions Aqua, the star is completely gone. This is what Ruby is offering: to completely sever her connection to Ai and the new life she has built on that foundation and to return to being Sarina, if that is what the doctor she loves wants.

This is SUCH an incredibly effective scene. It's excellently done and the art is fantastic. It finally draws out and makes explicit the underlying disconcerting subtext that has been swimming under the twins' relationship since 123. It works fantastically well… in isolation. But when taken into the context of the rest of the story it just feels so… unearned.

For the last 20 chapters, we have had absolutely no serious insight into Ruby's feelings re: the reveal of Gorou's new identity as Aqua. We didn't see her grapple with it or have to adjust to it at all. It was like a switch flipped in her brain and she was suddenly a 2010s fanservice imouto splooging about her oniichan. Her interiority in this regard is completely absent. Whenever the subject is addressed at all, it is made into a joke with Ruby as the punchline. There has been no serious build up to this moment or any meaningful time spent on Ruby's feelings about Aqua and as such, being asked to take it seriously now feels so incredibly jarring.

I've said this over and over in other places but I'll make this clear here: the handling of Ruby's feelings is not bad because Incest Is Morally Bad or whatever. At the end of the day, OnK is fiction and fiction is a space that allows us to explore ideas and scenarios that would be unpleasant, dangerous or even downright immoral to try and interrogate in real life with real people. Not only that, but AQRB's situation is so far removed from anything any real person could experience there's very little risk of it acting as a harmful reflection of a real person's life. But because OnK had the space to do just about anything with this idea, I'm so incredibly baffled that it chose to do all of nothing. This is a plot point that has been cooking since the literal first chapter of the entire series and now, just under four years and over 140 chapters past our starting point… and this is the best Akasaka can do? Dated brocon humor that reduces Ruby to a shallow gag character, denying her the opportunity to have deeper, more complex and ugly feelings and denying her the respect of examining those feelings with honesty?

It sucks. This whole thing really sucks. As someone who loves Ruby so, so much… this really just feels like an insulting way to have handled what should have been one of the most interesting and engaging parts of her series long arc.

I do think this chapter is the beginning of the end of AquRuby's time in the endgame couple race, if it was ever seriously in the running to begin with. Ruby embracing Aqua with a proposition in those final two panels echoes Akane doing the same in chapter 72 and the fact that this cliffhanger ends on the proposition and not a kiss implies to me, structurally speaking, that we are heading for a rejection. On top of that, we're pretty far away from the manga's ending still and Kana's romantic resolution with Aqua hasn't gotten its time to shine. All those factors together makes me feel pretty certain that this is the final nail in the coffin and we're just waiting to see how Aka sticks the landing.

After all - Ruby is asking for his response as Sarina. And if this is Sarina asking for his love one last time… we already know how Gorou's going to respond.

[nayeonline]

Ari's K-Pop Roundup: June 2024 (LISA, Red Velvet, NAYEON, NewJeans, KATSEYE, CHUU + MORE)

Hope everyone had a nice pride month - I unfortunately was chained to my textbooks for the brunt of it and didn't do anything pride related, but I did see Taylor Swift, so I guess it wasn't all bad. This is the 5th installment of this series - genuinely didn't think I would make it this far - you can check out last month's roundup here, or see my full masterlist here. Enjoy :)

ROCKSTAR - LISA (BLACKPINK)

It's very rare that we see a kpop idol's pure, unadulterated vision for the music they release due to the manufactured, consumerist nature of the industry, but here we have Lisa, arguably the most popular female kpop idol of all time (at least internationally) free from the company that is widely known for formulaic, repetitive music. Will she stick with the brand YG has created for her and reinforce the box Teddy has placed her in sonically, or will she forge her own way?

Right from the teasers, I knew we were in for something a little different. Although conceptually the chrome, futuristic vibe is nothing new in kpop, seeing Lisa without those god forsaken white washing filters was very exciting. And the fact that k-netizens are taking to it very well?? Lisa is here to rock the boat. 'Rockstar' is only a single with no mini album, but hey, it's Lisa, meaning she doesn't need to boost the length of her releases to snatch those extra sales, she do well commercially regardless. Usually a single album would annoy me, but BLACKPINK are back to releasing music, so today I will let it slide.

With a Kendrick Lamar 'Humble' visual reference in the music video, a Tame Impala sample, and a sneaky little writing credit, Lisa clearly wants to reshape her framing in the industry - with 'Rockstar' she's rejecting the somewhat diminishing 'idol rapper' status, and seeking that 'rapper rapper' reputation. She wants to sit at the table with Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, and 'Rockstar', in my opinion, does a decent job at securing her seat.

You can't reference Kendrick and not put in a double entendre in your lyrics, and Lisa (and her fellow writers) delivered in that category with quite a lot of success actually. In the line 'been MIA, BKK so pretty, Every city I go to is my city' 'MIA' is used to mean either 'missing in action', referencing how absent Blackpink has been from the music industry thanks to YG's interesting management choices, or as a reference to the Miami IATA airport code just as BKK means Bangkok, Thailand - in this context its an allusion to Lisa's multilingualism and her international influence as a member of Blackpink. It's a really good line, is what I'm trying to say.

Most of the issues I have with 'Rockstar' stem from the songs length. With the base track clocking in at 2 minutes 18 seconds (oh my god what have we come to), the song feels like it's just begun when it's all over. Excluding the choruses, hooks, and pre-choruses, and pasting what remains together, we are left with one singular, honestly quite short verse. Yeah it's a pretty good verse, both in flow and lyrical content, but one verse in what is clearly trying to be a rap song is unacceptable.

'Rockstar' is frustrating to me because while it has its genuinely great moments, like when 'lala' is used in reference to singing and to Lisa's real name when bounced onto the next line, a lot of that greatness gets eclipsed by the track's shortcomings (pun somewhat intended). However, although she's done solo work before in YG this is undoubtedly something of a debut, and through that lens, while it is flawed, the track shows potential. 'Rockstar' knows exactly what kind of song it wants to be, and even though it doesn't quite measure up, it's still a step in the right direction. I'm very excited to see what Lisa does next with her career. At the very least, 'Rockstar' was fun, for sure.

Cosmic - Red Velvet (Cosmic)

When I write these reviews, I try to describe the feelings and emotions and energies the song in question evokes, and I have found that when I struggle, the song is good - and I mean exceptionally good. 'Cosmic' is one such track - I fucking love every part of it - it's so addictive to the ninth degree, from that gorgeous music video to the low and slow verses to that utterly euphoric chorus. From Joy's slightly psychotic edge to her lines that she perfected in the 'Peekaboo' era, to Seulgi's vocals in the hook, and Wendy's high note pulling us into that final chorus; everything about 'Cosmic' WORKS. Lines like 'I'm riding on your rhythm through the solar system' and 'love is cosmic' work both in their catchiness and emotiveness. This era is obviously inspired heavily by the 2019's 'Midsommar', a visual feast of a horror film about a disturbing Scandinavian cult, and let me tell you, if 'Cosmic' is a cult, consider me initiated. Not to spoil my end of 2024 ranking or anything, but as for right now, 'Cosmic' is taking the cake for the best kpop song of the year, no questions asked.

Red Velvet b-sides always hit, and the 'Cosmic' mini album delivers as expected. 'Sunflower' furthers that 'i just took an edible and i found my way onto Spotify' energy, and that hook of 'OOH WOW FEELING SO FUN FUN FEELING SO FUNNY' is hilariously good, this is a standout for sure. The other b-side I want to highlight is 'Night Drive', the album closer. With elements of citypop and 80s synthpop, 'Night Drive' feels like exactly that - a 3am drive around a city you hardly know with people you know better than yourself. It's a celebration of music, and that's putting it lightly.

SM might be working up to shunting Red Velvet into their peripheral vision, what with the new 12 member girl group debuting soon, but 'Cosmic' proves their legend status once and for all. We freaking love you RV, never change. (And I would in fact join a cult if Seulgi was my fearless leader xx)

ABCD - NAYEON (NA)

Look, JYP may be my op until the day I die, but I'm not going to sit here and lie - he knows how to write hits when he wants to, and 'ABCD' is a HIT.

2022's 'POP!' was just that - pure, unadulterated pop music, exactly what was trending in Korea at the time - the image of modern kpop. And don't get me wrong, I loved it, but when it came for Nayeon's first comeback, I was worried she was again going to pull from the current trend cycle, and right now that means airy, Pinkpantheress type beats with a UK garage adjacent vibe - and that's not Nayeon. Her voice is full and powerful and rich in colour and flavour, a song like that just wouldn't work for her. I was nervous, for sure, but when the teaser dropped, I knew it was going to be good. In 'ABCD' Nayeon is rejecting the trend cycle almost entirely - it still flaunts that 00s vibe unabashedly, but here we are pulling from a trumpet fueled 'Crazy In Love' Beyoncé energy, and oh boy does it work. The lyricism in this song goes crazy, that chorus is masterfully written and unbelievably catchy, and that post chorus build up is INSANE. Nayeon's range is on full display here, and she sounds incredible.

The rest of the mini album is pretty amazing too. 'Butterflies' has some super interesting vocal layering, and many great moments like 'a little mental picture, every time I'm with ya' - and although it's pretty clear this was supposed to be a TWICE track once upon a time, with Nayeon even appearing to imitate the members' styles of delivery (it's like I can hear Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and Chaeyoung on this track clear as day) it's still an easy hit that I can't help but love. 'Heaven' doesn't quite work for me, it's not unlistenable, but the feeling that it has simultaneously too much and not enough energy perserveres, unfortunately. 'Magic', the song that my girl Julie features on is pop perfection, and these girls work so well together - Julie's interjections are so catchy and her parts steal the show entirely. 'Magic' is a bonafide hit. 'HalliGalli' is very AKMU (as to be expected), but I can't help but feel like it's a little immature, both for Nayeon and this album. It has some fun elements, but the complete track just isn't it for me. 'Something' is a fun pop song, if a little dull at moments, but that post chorus is a stunner. 'Count It' brings down the tempo of the album a little, in a groovy track with some beautiful vocal production - it's exactly the punch up the tracklist needed after the weaker couple of tracks that precede it.

Nayeon is my blog namesake, and she has done me proud on this album. Yes, some tracks were on the weaker side, but the overall product is strong, with Nayeon's oustanding performance on every track, and a killer title song in 'ABCD'. In terms of other TWICE members getting solos, I would love to see how Sana approached a song on her own, or even Tzuyu, who despite being the maknae and visual, tends to get lost in the sauce of a lot of TWICE releases. We will have to see, I suppose.

Right Now + Supernatural - NewJeans

God, I sound like a stuck record every time NewJeans drops some new music, but holy hell is it always good. Following their 2nd single album 'How Sweet' earlier this year, the girls are dipping their toes into the Japanese market for the first time with two tracks - 'Supernatural' and 'Right Now'. NewJeans have captured the attention of all of South Korea pretty much, it's now time to look further afield.

'Right Now', drenched in sassy lilting vocal runs, is bedroom pop at it's finest. The up-and-down choral melodies evoke the energy of a 2am gossip debrief at a sleepover with your best friends. The dichotomy of Minji's languid repetition of 'I don't care' with a chorus that speedy and spirited is humorous and perfectly captures what it is to be a teenage girl with a crush. NewJeans know who their audience is, and are making music directly for that.

'Supernatural' came next, embracing that New Jack Swing sound wholeheartedly - its very 'early 00s street dance movie'. It's quite a bit more mature than 'Right Now', the girls decorating those gorgeous synths and groovy instrumentation with a genuine collected confidence. As always, it pushes the boundaries of the y2k trend and thematically pulls from the era itself, not other people's recent interpretations of the era. It's experimental for NewJeans I think, which works for a debut, and while it takes a lot of the right risks, and makes a lot of the right choices, the chorus leaves a little something to be desired. The melody and hooks are perfect, I have no issues with them, but the vocal direction needs tweaking. A song like this demands a chant style chorus with all the members in my opinion, and while the vocal layering of the individual members singing attempts that anthemic feel, it comes off as slightly limp-fisted. I'm kind of dramatizing this issue because to be frank, it is rare I find something in a NewJeans track that I can pinpoint as a problem. The song is still of a supremely high caliber, and to be honest, any thinness in the chorus vocals just inspires the listener to fill in the gaps themselves with an impromptu karaoke session.

Lyrically, both 'Right Now' and 'Supernatural' break the kpop-takes-on-the-Japanese-market formula by including not only a blend of Japanese and English lyrics, but some Korean lines too. I find it quite clever, like saying 'this is NewJeans' debut in Japan, but they will always be a korean pop group first and foremost'. While some groups like Girls' Generation and Twice find their discographies split into 2 - kpop and jpop, NewJeans are clearly making an effort to unite both markets under 1 discography.

As a debut, this works. Two tracks united by classic NewJeans production and differentiated by themes and tone. It's really been a rough year for these girls, what with the whole Min Heejin vs HYBE drama and with Hyein's injury leaving her out of promotions for both single albums altogether, but there's a light at the end of this tunnel, and as long as the music stays consistently high quality as it has been, I will have no complaints.

(sidenote: the fact that I wasn't at Bunnies Camp in the Tokyo Dome is a little sick and twisted.)

Debut - KATSEYE

I mean, maybe expectations were unrealistically high since KATSEYE is HYBE's first real stab at the western market, but come on, we all deserved better than this. A half-hearted pop song that fails to innovate in every sense of the word, and they have the audacity to not even make it three minutes. IT'S BARELY EVEN TWO MINUTES. Kpop companies pulling from PinkPantheress constantly is truly a double edged sword, on one hand we get fucking incredible songs like 'LOOP' and 'Super Shy', and then on the other we get every kpop company waking up and deciding that actually it's totally okay to release 2 minute songs and act like it's a completed product. As a British girl, seeing the effects of the recession and the cost of living crisis on the people around me in real time is one thing, but seeing fucking SHRINKFLATION weed its way into pop music as well is like the burning cherry on top of my cesspit sundae.

I genuinely don't know what happened in the production of this song, like they got Ryan Tedder, who has contributed so much great music to this world, and then somehow the end product was so dull and uninspired.

The worst part is these girls are absurdly talented and they are getting served dirt. HYBE - that mini album coming later this year better be good istg. Ok, I'm done ranting.

BUT OH MY GOD TWO MINUTES AND THREE FUCKING SE-

Strawberry Rush - CHUU (Strawberry Rush)

(obligatory note: if you want to stream Chuu's old solo tracks, or any other old loona songs, please stream via the loona podcast or the twelveM account on spotify in accordance with the boycott)

Having the LOONA girls free from that cesspit of a company is one thing, but getting new LOONA music this often is certainly an unprecedented win for me.

Following her re-debut under ATRP in late 2023 with 'Howl', Chuu is back for her first comeback with 'Strawberry Rush'; a mini album drenched in electric pink and cherry red and sunny yellow. Chuu has an innately magnetic quality and Strawberry Rush as a title track takes full advantage of that. It's an utterly adorable song that I genuinely can't imagine anyone not loving. That disco synth thrumming the song's heartbeat is reinforced with a killer baseline, and Chuu's gorgeous vocal colour gives the track even more energy than it already has. The intro and opening are perfect at punching up the mood and setting the scene for the chorus, but it's when Chuu comes in with 'packing that heat, packing that heat, packing that PEW PEW PEW' that the song truly swings into motion and you know that this is going to be a fun one.

The mini album doesn't quite match the energy of it's title track, with it maintaining a more relaxed vibe, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. 'Honeybee' is an acoustic track decorated in summer daisy chains and buttercup bouquets, and it works wonderfully with Chuu's more airy vocals. 'Daydreamer' follows a similar sonic theme to 'Honeybee' but with a more late night nap with the cicadas vibe - Chuu's ability to switch between powerful, call-to-action vocals in 'Strawberry Rush' and featherweight tones in the b-sides is truly commendable. 'Lucid Dream' comes next, a perfect midpoint between 'Strawberry Rush' and 'Daydreamer', heartfelt and addictive. It's a real stand out on the album for sure. 'Chocolate' was released as a single a while back, and I enjoyed it then absolutely, but it makes so much more sense on this album - somehow it just got even more catchy.

Effortlessly adorable, effortlessly catchy, effortlessly perfect - Chuu, you have done it again.

MINI REVIEWS:

Boom Boom Bass - RIIZE: absolutely no notes, im obsessed. I've literally never loved a boy groups music like this before. wow.

Inner Dance - tripleS Glow: tripleS' ability to establish their own sound and musical motifs so early on in their career has served them very well, and 'Inner Dance' shows that clearly. Light and casual and airy, it's the perfect backtrack to your summer break.

Summer Festa - IVE: I usually don't dignify these type of advertisement songs with a review, but this one is actually kind of a bop. A little bit 'Espresso' coded; it's something fun for the summer that inadvertently encourages getting blackout drunk at the hotel bar in Bali. I'm still not drinking Pepsi though. Or Coca Cola for that matter, NewJeans pipe down.

BADVILLAIN - BADVILLAIN: (requested by @a-moth-to-the-light) Although apparently capturing the eyes and ears of seemingly the entire kpop community, this one wasn't hugely to my liking. This might be controversial but my first impression was in fact 'wow this sounds like something babymonster would release' - I can see the appeal but unfortunately these songs just aren't meant for me. I do enjoy the classical influenced production and for the most part the vocal performances were fun too, but with the hook I wish they had bumped up the high note at the end of 'villain' another octave - that's such a nitpick I know but the thought struck me immediately when I heard it. '+82' on the other hand impressed me immensely, such a powerful, call-to-action type song. That background production is a killer, and perhaps I just have Kendrick on the brain from my Lisa review, but the beat feels somewhat along those lines. And holy fuck can these girls dance - wow.

Sabotage - Kwon Eunbi: Can Eunbi release a flop title track? Turns out, once again, no she can't. I love 'Sabotage', it's so hilarious and catchy, and singing along feels like accusing an imaginary boyfriend of gaslighting lol. Woollim giving this song to Eunbi feels a little ironic, considering since she left IZ*ONE, it seems all they've done to her career is sabotage her with poor promotions. The song is fun, and Eunbi sounds excellent as always, with 'Sabotage' boasting many a vocal riff, especially following the bridge. Give this one a listen, and whilst you're there, go check out the rest of my girl's discography, she's truly a hidden gem.

[geekwiththeglasses]

Would love to hear you rant about Fourth Wing. That book makes me so mad lmao

I literally dashed to my desktop when I saw this because this deserves a desktop response (out of character for a millenial/genz cusper I actually type much faster with a keyboard).

Now to note, I am only 50% done with the book so far so this is limited to that (though I have watched spoiler reviews so I feel justified in my thoughts because I know it's not getting better).

By the way, I learned that this entire series was a publisher request, not like a passion project of Yarros and while I ain't judging (I would do it in a heartbeat if it meant I could pay rent for the next year), to me, you can kinda feel it, like there's a distinct lack of creative verve. You can especially feel it in how shallow everything (and everyone) feels.

A read more because this became obnoxiously long (it's almost 2000 words) and I respect people's dashboards.

Except for this article about toxic perseverance which I think everyone should have to read if they've read Fourth Wing.

There are, first of all, some major issues with this book. The biggest one is, of course, the toxic perseverance, which is covered quite well in the article, but if you're not going to read it, to pull a quote from it:

Creating a narrative in which a character with a disability overcomes all of their pain and other symptoms through force of will alone sets unrealistic expectations—unrealistic expectations which are, as I mentioned previously, a very real issue for very real disabled people in our very real world.  I believe we should have seen some impact of that lifestyle if the author was trying to engage with this intentionally. Because fiction is not created in a vacuum and this narrative goes unproblematised in-text, it’s unclear whether Yarros actively endorses this mindset, or is accidentally endorsing it, neither of which is good.

Just to elaborate a little on something I didn't see in the article, but this book hates the idea of accommodations. Like it's a horrible, horrible thing and how dare you ever suggest Violet might need something as disgusting as a saddle to stay on the equivalent of an airplane. It's not like accommodations are something that actually can end up helping non-disabled people as well. There wasn't potential for a scene where she actually acknowledged she needed help and suddenly everyone's like "hey, that's actually really smart, we should totally do this too, this makes life much easier/safer and will improve everyone's quality of life". Or even just a scene where it only helps her but damn it helps her a lot because it takes in to account her needs and specific body. Because that would require acknowledging that Violet has limitations and not allow her to power through the pain. And also get thrown from her dragon repeatedly, which definitely doesn't fuck up her joints.

Rhiannon gets so shafted. She gets the double whammy of two stereotypes: the black best friend and the promiscuous bisexual. She's seen with multiple partners, none of which seem like long-term or serious partners. And while some bisexual people have more sex with more people than others, if you're going to do that, include more than one bisexual person in your story. She has very little to do with the story unless she is there for the white, straight main character. We've gotten her helping Violet, but so far there's zero dedicated scenes of that tutoring help that was offered in the beginning and as far as I know we never get it (I may be wrong). I hear we get her family later, but that they're also glossed over for More Important Things. It doesn't feel like Rhiannon (or honestly any other character) exists except for when they're around Violet. They all kinda blend together, which at the 50% mark is fucking unacceptable. What is special about them, distinguishes them from the others other than Liam (is it Liam? whoever her bodyguard is) who whittles? There is so little to distinguish any background characters except for Dain. Even Xaden feels lackluster and a bit hazy around the edges, like he never finished rendering.

Let's not forget that Yarros is 100% a military wife and a US military bootlicker and from what I've heard she's had some unsavory and unsupportable opinions on Palestine. We do not like.

She also took Gaelic names and just decided the pronunciation doesn't matter??? Insulting.

Onto the less serious issues:

Firstly, as to my previous complaint, the entirety of Dain's storyline is the most impressive speedrun in character assassination I have ever seen. I described it to a friend as Yarros lovingly caressing a 2x4 before repeatedly beating you over the head with it. He gets like... a scene to be besties and then immediately he must be the worst thing to ever exist, specifically to prop up Xaden. Dain is the asshole holding her back, unlike Xaden who pushes her to be her best (entirely ignoring that her body literally has physical limitations and accommodations are not a dirty word)! He's such a rule follower, but Xaden understands when to bend or break them (pay no attention to him breaking all the rules to try to get her into the scribe's quadrant)! He doesn't believe her immediately when she accuses someone of murder, but Xaden absolutely believes her with no proof (let's forget that Amber is a good friend of Dain and that it would honestly be natural to want to believe that your friend isn't capable of cold-blooded murder with zero proof especially since that would lead to her execution which Violet somehow forgot would be a consequence of her accusation). Dain is overprotective and condescending to Violet (I mean he wasn't the one to force her to have a bodyguard, but he just doesn't believe in her). I bet he doesn't even wash his ass. Xaden definitely washes his ass.

Murder college makes zero sense, especially since she definitely based the military off the US (which makes sense since it's the one she has the most exposure to). Most militaries that I am aware of have rather high requirements for physical fitness, especially an academy for officers (which, in Yarros' face, I actually have experience with, as my father went to the Naval Academy so I know for a fact they're strict as hell with requirements). The US military won't even let you be slightly overweight, even if you can fulfill the physical requirements. It was hard to find any info on whether EDS would out and out disqualify you, but the fact that it wasn't even brought up as a barrier for entry that she had to overcome does not make sense to me.

Ah, I hear someone hypothetically argue, but the college is supposed to (theoretically) weed out the weak so they'll let anyone in who wants to join! Ok, then why is Violet the only physically disabled person in the entire college? I have been to rodeos with bull riders who were amputees, but there ain't one person missing an arm or a leg in that college. The only other disabled person we get so far is a scribe, but you're telling me not one deaf person wants to be a rider? Why is Violet the only one that gets to be "exceptional"?

Back to the murder part of murder college, the fact that this is a murder college gets technically lampshaded, but never really justified in why people keep coming. Like it's not some greater commentary on the lengths people will go for power or greatness or the insidious nature of military propaganda. It just felt like we needed to up the stakes that our protagonist was in danger at every turn, but honestly I never feel like the stakes are that high, because, well, she keeps emphasizing how much danger her life is in, how screwed and dead she is. And if her life is always in danger, it's never in danger.

Speaking of murder, the story doesn't challenge the idea that "weed out the weak through murder" doesn't actually work but just kills people and probably gives the survivors like the worst anxiety (because if everything can kill you your mental health will probably deteriorate). It's like that meme:

Basgiath War College: I have made the perfect rider Me: you fucked up a perfectly good person is what you did. Look at him. He's got anxiety.

Why is Violet so enlightened and above having any prejudice? If anything she should have way more animosity towards the rebel kids than she does. It's literally stated in text that she was not immune to the propaganda and misinformation she's read, but you want me to believe that between (what she believes is) losing a brother to the rebellion and a mother who was kinda involved, not to mention growing up in a group that would be full of anti-rebel propaganda she somehow didn't end up believing anything beyond "yeah some of them will definitely want you dead" which is true??? Instead she's fine with them and will definitely sit with rebel kids because unlike people who grew up with probably less or about the same propaganda than her, she knows not to judge people for the sins of their parents. Those other kids are just so much more prejudiced than she is, isn't she wonderful and has zero biases to unlearn. Oh, you may say, but she thought Xaden was going to kill her! He literally does confirm that the only reason initially he doesn't kill her is to keep a hold of his humanity which does actually confirm that he wants her dead! So the narrative even confirms that this bias was, in fact, the correct opinion to have.

I do not understand why Violet and Xaden are drawn to each other beyond Xaden hot. I am asexual and somewhere on the aromantic spectrum so perhaps it is just not in my nature to understand the ways of the heterosexuals, but I don't get it. Why does she like him? The only reason given is he's hot. Maybe a reason is given later down the line but this is a romantasy. You live and die by building up that damn romance and I am not convinced! I haven't even been given like a "oh I see him with his dragon and it's heart meltingly cute how he interacts with her". Is this why Dain had to be assassinated (we are holding his burial next week by the way, there will be funeral potatoes)? So that Xaden had something to be compared to because he has all the substance of one of those inflatable dancing men?

(Dance, Xaden, dance.)

Yarros cannot do exposition, it's so jarring. She tells us so much, shows little, and bores me the entire time. You seriously decide to make exposition a character quirk for when she needs to calm down? Seriously???? The parapet scene was hard to listen to because you were jerked around like a rag doll between quick action and exposition. Who thought that was a good idea? Exposition is always a difficult thing to include and make it work and sound natural, but this is not how you do it.

A minor complaint, but once you learn Yarros is Mormon you cannot unsee the fingerprints of Mormonism throughout this book. People do not cuss like people, they cuss like you put fuck into a fresh AI and asked it to try it out. I cuss like a sailor and I was wondering why it felt so jarring until I realized that it's not how people talk. I mean Holy. Fucking. Hot. I'm well the fuck aware. You tried ma'am, you tried. Here's a gold star. Also, I'm 99% sure there is zero alcohol. You seriously want me to believe that none of these kids are sneaking in alcohol? That no one is using booze to cope with being in a murder college? As if, we all know these kids are making midnight dragon runs to the liquor store.

Also, the fact that I had to hear an audiobook narrator try to make this dialogue and prose sound like something that would actually come out of a human mouth was truly something to behold. The fact that "for the win" was not left in the 2010s where it belonged is an outrage. If I had a better memory I would put in more quotes cause there have been other doozies.

But really, the greatest crime this book commits, is that it has the audacity to be boring. You give me dragons and you have the sheer, unmitigated gall to bore me. I will accept a lot from a book. I will accept plot holes. I will ignore shallow world building. I will tolerate character assassinations. Do all that if you must, but at the very least make it interesting. This book is not interesting. I listen to a few chapters at a time and I am not having a good time. I only continue out of sheer stubbornness and feeling an obligation that for once I should actually read a book that I have seen negative reviews about to see if perhaps it is not so bad.

I just happened to pick a book where it is, in fact, that bad.

[the-masked-reviewer]

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

For starters, I don't think this was a movie that needed to be made. It is not much of a story, if it qualifies at all. the whole thing feels more like an (overly)extended episode of one of the series rather then it's own movie. And was either poorly paced and slow or it was just straight up boring.

Now for an actual explanation. Starting with a community of Goats was a great idea, but I will admit the only reason I think that is because I love goats and am easily bought. Showing Tai Lung attacking the goats with the shots framed to make it difficult to see that he's actually covered in scales instead of fur is an awesome way to introduce the audience to the new villain, even if the execution wasn't great. The lighting and lack of emphasis make it difficult to notice and make out those details. And it isn't explained until later in the movie, after you know who the Chameleon is, when Po finds Tai Lung's footprints that slowly shrink into Not Tai Lung Footprints(TM). Throughout the movie the Chameleon never feels villainous, even as she is doing the Big Bad Thing and in the final fight. It makes it difficult to see the stakes as real and as ultimate as its supposed to. I do really like the consistency of the scales every time she shapeshifts, it looks cool and is a fun way to showcase shapeshifting visually.

Po has no real development in this story. He's supposed to be learning how to teach and not approach every conflict with violence. In the entire movie we see him teach the fox, his sidekick prisoner trainee person, ONE thing, and attempt diplomacy(if you can call a single line that is not entirely non-aggressive that) twice, failing both times. At the end of the movie its treated as though he has become the spiritual leader he begrudgingly set out to become, but in reality nothing changed and there was no lesson for Po, or anyone really including the audience, to learn from the adventure that was had. Jack Black (the god that he is) was great, but this doesn't feel like a movie about Thee "Kung fu Panda". The other movies all have Po going on adventures that teach about believing in yourself, creating a family, self confidence, and more. This movie's lack of clear message and hope feels like a major let down from such a positive children's series.

As for the fox, I didn't like or care about her at all. She was annoying, and I know that's Awkwafina's shtick or whatever, but you can't expect anyone, even young kids, to like or care about the annoying criminal that shows no redeeming qualities until the last ~40 minutes with that quality being questionably redeeming. She meets Po when he catches her stealing and she does nothing but cause problems and be annoying from then to the point where (Surprise!) she double crosses him. She only fights on his side in the end because of the classic reasoning, she didn't know anyone would get hurt. Things are classic for a reason, but here it all feels extremely superficial and cheap.

Shout out to literally every scene with Li and Ping, Po's goose and panda dads respectively. They were, and are, hands down the best scenes in the entire movie. They're the only times I actually had fun watching the movie and it would've been greatly improved if the movie was just a buddy adventure between them and not everything else.

They definitely suffered for the lack of The Furious Five. Even the in universe explanations for where they were were flimsy and bad. Its clear DreamWorks just wanted a quick, cheap, easy money maker and weren't willing to shell out the money for the voice actors.

[the-yuri-librarian]

Review: After Hours by Nishio Yuta

Summary: After Hours starts in media res, at a club at the beginning of the night. Asahina Emi enters the club on the phone, trying to find her friend Meyumi. She doesn't find her, and instead has a chance meeting with a self-described clubbing afficinado named Kei. By the end of the night, Emi goes home with Kei, who ropes Emi into helping her DJ at a club later. Emi reluctantly agrees, but, when she actually goes through with it, she falls in love. From there, Emi and Kei become close, their new relationship just starting to bloom. But, not without tribulation, as Emi is struggling with the aimless path her life is on, her own insecurities, and coming to terms with her feelings for this woman she has now become entangled with.

Review below the cut (trying out a new format too!)

If there is one word that can be used to describe After Hours, it is potential. From the moment Emi and Kei meet, this manga feels special. The backdrop of Tokyo nightlife serves as a beautiful canvas where Emi can explore who she is, who she wants to be, and exactly wat Kei means to her. She is shy, yet bold, a personality combo that causes her to thrust herself into the story before really considering the consequences of her actions. Kei is also incredibly well-written, not only as Emi's love interest, but also as her narrative foil. A little older, she seemingly has everything figured out. But, there's trouble brewing beneath her cool exterior, and as her and Emi both struggle against their own problems, they are forced to grow, sometimes when they're not ready.

Unfortunately, potential is where most of the good of After Hours ends, and it is also where the problems begin. Near the beginning of the story, a large group of Kei's DJing friends are introduced, and they all have various histories with her and work well as the main supporting cast. But, they are severely under-utilized in the story. Not only that, but all of Emi's problems are under-developed and, quite frankly, a little vague. She doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, she has a boyfriend who is never on screen, and she has never been romantically interested in a woman in her entire life. And, while many of these issues are resolved by the end of the story, their resolution is as fleeting as their introduction. Thus brings forth the biggest problem with After Hours; it is too short. Sitting at 17 chapters, this story could easily double in size without having to introduce any new story elements. As it is now, the story ends as quickly as it starts, and it leaves a empty disappointment once it is over.

Before it ends, however, it does hit a high note in chapter ten. Chapter ten contains scene where Emi and Kei's relationship becomes more concrete, and it is beautiful. Half-make up, half confession, it is a heart-warming and genuine to a surprising degree. As Emi and Kei tenderly embrace, their affection for each other shines, becoming the real highlight of the story.

Overally, After Hours starts out incredibly strong, and held back by its length, peters out at the end. Despite this, I still reccomend this series due to chapter ten alone. Combine that with the Amex vibrant setting and charming characters, and this manga becomes a real treat.

Rating: B

[jgfiles]

Hi! Recently I has memories of JG from 8 years ago, and I was reviewing all the material from the series again. I remembered something that I haven't found again, and I thought you could help me. On YouTube I got to see "extra" songs from the anime in addition to the opening and ending, I don't know what CD it was from because shortly after they removed it from YT, but I remember it said something like "Magic". Since it was in japanese, I don't know if it was the name of the song, or if it was played by the "Magic of Life" band. Do you know anything about that or I'm confused? Thanks for reading and I'm sorry for my bad english, it's not my first language;;;;

Let's see...

the first thing with Magic that comes to my mind is the ending "Double" sung by "Magic of life"

In the cd single for "Double" there was another song sung by "Magic of Life", "Impression" (インプレッション).

It wasn't used in the anime but since it was in the single for the ending song you might have gotten the feeling it was in the anime.

I couldn't find a strumental track with magic in it.

If it can help I can list the tracks in the main cd

JOKER GAME SOUNDTRACK

Yakudō [躍動 Dynamic]

Senpuku [潜伏 Latent]

Kikan [機関 Agency]

Aitō [哀悼 Apologies]

Kōsoku [拘束 Restraint]

Tansaku [探索 Search]

Eikyō [影響 Impact]

Dasshutsu [脱出 Escape]

Shōbi [焦眉 Emergency]

An'yaku [暗躍 Secret maneuvers]

Yōkō [陽光 Sunshine]

Seion [静穏 Quiet]

Keiryaku [計略 Strategy]

Tsuigeki [追撃 Pursue]

Kansō [歓送 Farewell]

Tekishū [敵襲 Invasion]

Yūki [結城 Yūki]

Tōryaku [韜略 River]

Hichō [飛鳥 Flying bird]

Yogiri [夜霧 Night fog]

Suiri [推理 Reasoning]

Sōgū [遭遇 Encounter]

Gyakusei [虐政 Oppression]

Sakura haru [桜春 Spring of cherry blossoms]

The tracks on the extra cds instead are as follow...

Joker Game Original Soundtrack CD Out of Track vol 1

Sakudō [策動 Planning]

Kikyō [帰郷 Homecoming]

Doppo [独歩 Trip]

Senzai [潜在 Potential]

Kanshi [監視 Monitoring]

Joker Game Original Soundtrack CD Out of Track vol 2

Ka-kyoku [佳局 Good Arrangment]

Shijima [静寂 Silence]

Kaigi [懐疑 Skepticism]

Sensaku [詮索 Inquiry]

Kinan [危難 Danger]

Hifū [悲風 Sorrowful wind]

I don't know if this list of songs can help you remember which song you're searching as none of them has the word "magic" in it.

Still I hope I was of some use.

Joker Game fans should help each other ^_-

[sunnytrivia]

have you studied your bird law? kept your psychological dossiers updated?

@emodennis and @sunnyontheside present: THE ALWAYS SUNNY TRIVIA CHALLENGE

put your highly specific knowledge to the test with our made-for-sunnyblr always sunny trivia competition! megan's questions were too easy, so we've cranked up our hot plate to present you with a real challenge.

we'll keep all trivia information and updates on this shared blog so be sure to follow and turn on notifications (if you'd like). please message or DM us here with any questions, ideas, or requests. feel free to use the tag #sunny trivia challenge on posts you make about the competition!

Signing Up

we will be using the platform quizizz to host the competition.

you must sign up and create an account to make sure you only take each quiz once.

enter your url as your name. you'll have to split it between the first and last name sections. if your URL has dashes in it, please send us a message letting us know so we can tag you properly in the leaderboards. dashes are not allowed in your name on quizziz.

Rounds

there will be 3 rounds: easy (1), medium (2), and difficult (3)

the difficulty is relative. these aren’t trivia questions for any casual jabroni fan. these are for the sunny fans. sunny fans are brutal.

points are doubled in round 2 and tripled in round 3.

each round will have 30 trivia questions.

once you start each quiz, it will take you 10-20 minutes to finish it (must be completed in one sitting).

you will have 6 days to complete each round.

there will be 4 days between each round for us to score your answers.

Timeline

round 1: Dec 3rd-Dec 8th.

round 2: Dec 13th-Dec 18th.

round 3: Dec 23rd-Dec 28th.

final results posted: Jan 3rd.

anyone can participate! the only requirement is that you have a tumblr account. no troll toll required.

no working with others.

no googling.

Content

most questions ask about content from an episode of the show, which will be provided [example: In The World Series Defense, for how many days was the gang stuck in the linen closet?].

there are also some meta questions about the show as a whole [example: Which five episodes contain "Mac and Charlie" in the title?].

content warning: some questions use canon-typical adult language and/or reference drugs, alcohol, or sex.

Types

almost all questions are open-ended, similar to the format of the podcast trivia questions.

there are also a few fill-in-the-blank, multiple-choice, and re-order questions.

Time

you will have 20-30s to answer most questions. for questions with longer answers, you will have 45s-1 min. this is to avoid potential googling.

you do not gain/lose any points for taking less/more time, as long as you answer within the allotted time frame.

questions will be auto-scored by the system when there is a limited amount of correct answers. your answer only has to contain the correct answer to be marked correct. extra words will not impact scoring.

questions are manually scored by us after you submit the quiz if they have many possible correct answers or have multiple answers.

questions that ask you to list multiple items will either be "all or nothing" (you must get all answers correct to get any/all points) or "point for each" (you get a point for each correct answer).

IMPORTANT: if you make a spelling or formatting error that auto-scores a correct answer as incorrect, you will have a chance to let us know at the end of the quiz. please keep note of these questions as you go along. if you forget to include any, you can message or DM us (sunnytrivia) with additional questions for review. we will change your score if we agree that you got the answer correct.

we will post leaderboards after each round.

the person with the most combined points at the end of round 3 wins!!!

again, let us know if you have any questions or suggestions, and most importantly, have fun!!

[miyokomadness]

Ok here is my review of Feathers of the Fallen Chapters 1-4. From what I’ve seen thus far your story has me interested and I’ll be sticking around for chapter 5. There is plenty room for improvement if you decide to come back and revise it but we’ll get to that later. Before getting to the feedback I’ll tell you what I liked about it. The setting of the story reminded me of the United States we see in the Wolfenstein series (in the sense of a highly controlled and militarized civilization) and being a fan of the video games this immediately got me invested. The concept of a wing virus is an idea I’ve never heard before. There’s a mysterious aura around it as we don’t yet know how it spreads or how it emerged in the first place and I would encourage you to continue to build on this mystery throughout the story. Secondly it doubles as irony to a Christian nation as the infected refer to themselves as angels and yet they are hunted. As a Christian I’d love to see you build upon this idea. A first person narrator is an interesting choice for telling this story. Taking into account the initial brutal setting and receiving her wings I’m wondering how and when the mc is sitting down to write this story. The foreshadowing you give in the beginning of chapter 1 offers possibilities to such a thought but no certainties and I applaud you for that! Finally, I can see that you potentially sprinkled aspects of yourself and personal life onto Seraphine. Not much more for me to add on it, I just like when writers do that.

Feedback

A quick disclaimer before reading my feedback. I would encourage you to continue writing the story and its entirety before acting upon any of this. It’s good to get it all on paper. The advice and recommendations I’m sharing is, as stated, improvements for the editing and revision phase. Also I’m no published author, I’m just someone who’s been writing for a long time and knows a thing or two. Everything I’m giving you is my personal thoughts, do what you will with them.

The overarching gripe I had while reading your story is that it moves far too fast. In the 1st chapter we are given an exposition about the current state of the world, we are introduced to Seraphine, her family, the wing virus, and that they’re infected. In the 2nd chapter Seraphine gets her wings, we are introduced to an entirely new cast of characters and the idea of leaving already pops up. In chapter 3 Seraphine does leave her home, we get a lengthy backstory exposition from her and the group finds the angel hideout. Finally, chapter 4 is actually very well paced, good job here.

I feel what happened (PLEASE CORRECT ME IM WRONG) in chapters 1 through 3 is a classic case of excitement. You were excited to write a certain section so you speed your way to that section. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, I’m guilty of doing the same thing. However, this story telling, speaking from the perspective of one of your readers does come across as rushed and half baked. Again you may be fully aware of this but another option never hurts. Solutions to fix this are as follows, I’ll be going chapter by chapter…

The main piece of advice I present to you in chapter 1 is SHOW don’t TELL. For example the exposition you give on how the untied states got to where it is now…“8 and a half months ago, the US. government had fallen so low into debts, military shortages, and apparently “things us children shouldn’t be concerned with.” During that time, a government rose, claiming the entire United States in a matter of weeks. Nobody was there to stop them. We didn’t have the resources or anything to battle them with”…all of this is tell and you want to avoid it as much as possible because it kills imagination. Put simply you did all the thinking for me leaving me with nothing to speculate or question because you gave me all the answers…boring. I want you to try this instead and you’re gonna have to put on your acting hat. Put yourself in the mc’s shoes and live out the first day of chapter 1 moment by moment, action by action, and emotion by emotion. Then describe what the mc sees on paper. The journey she has from her house to school is potential world building. What kind of cars are there? Are there military grade vehicles patrolling the street? Are there billboards anywhere? If there are what do they say? These small details mean everything over the course of an entire story. You can also use the classroom for world building. Instead of telling us what the world is like via narration have the teacher TEACH the reader what the world is like. Another thought to ponder is, if the narrator is writing this story within their world. Wouldn’t it be fair for her to assume that the reader already knows some of the history? Additionally I encourage that you don’t share everything. You could just have the teacher teach us a one sided history lesson. Leaving out details such as how this new government treats different ethnicities and identity. Branding it as the perfect nation, where Seraphine’s everyday life begs otherwise (all of this is just an example). In a nutshell, not everything has to make sense in the first few chapters. That’s what the rest of the book is for. You leave the reader with questions so they have a reason to turn the page.

The things that happen in chapter 2 I personally think should not happen in the second chapter. I would recommend at least 1 maybe 2 more chapters dedicated to developing the mc and her parents as well as other people in her life before the wings emerge from her back. By doing this you would make the decision of leaving more difficult for the mc and more impactful on the reader. Essentially I don’t care about any of these people because I’m not given enough time to connect with them. Here are some things you could possible include in an extra chapter…

- running errands with Papa and Dad (further seeing how they interact with one another)

- Flat bike tire (slashed as an act of bullying?) how will dad or papa react?

- Another school day (more time to spend with Gregory and Mae maybe?)

Continuing on the discussion of chapter 2 the image of the wings bursting out of her back is gnarly, credit where it is due. I would have liked to see scenes dedicated towards what Seraphine’s life was like hiding the wings at home. Secondly I’d like to call out a continuity error mentioned in chapter 2. Maddie says and I quote “There’s been chatter of a complex in northern Maine for Angelicals to reside safely.” Is the government hunting these things or not? If this chatter traveled from northern Maine to Portland, Oregon (I’m assuming) I highly doubt it’s safe now so why travel? I’m not saying get rid of it but have Sera ask this question because it’s a plot hole. The solution could simply be Maddie responding with something along the lines of “we still have better odds if we leave”

Apologies if I seem like I’m skimming through this now, my brain is starting to shut down but I promised myself I’d get this to you tonight lol. Secondly I also apologize if my words from this point on are more harsh…I’m just tired. I know you said chapter 3 was your favorite so forgive me when I say that it was my least favorite of the 4. My first reason for this is that everything was far too easy. For a nation actively hunting for Angels and trying to prevent the spread of the infection, just getting onto that train should have been a living nightmare. I refuse to believe that 4 kids with baggy oversized sweaters got onto a train, and successfully rode it from Portland, Oregon ALL the way to northern Maine without anyone battling an eye. Forgive my language, it’s bullshit. There is no tension in a scene that has the perfect circumstance to put me on the edge of my seat. I strongly recommend that you make this journey the most terrifying and tense thing these characters have ever experienced. The second reason for my opinion is the fnaf section. I have no issue with the mere inclusion of it…I fucking love fnaf. By all means write whatever you want, that’s the beauty of writing. I will warn you though that the downside is you won’t be able to publish this as book because it contains copyrighted characters. Unless…you as the legend himself for permission (fazbearhelp@yahoo.com) good luck. The main gripe I had with this section is that it too was incredibly rushed and just all over the place. There was so much information in such a short amount of time that I can’t really form a confident opinion on Seraphine’s backstory because I have no idea what is happening. I’ll likely re-read it and send you a follow up message.

Alright, I’d like to close out with saying once again that I did genuinely enjoy reading your story and I am invested. Despite all the negative Nancie’s, I’m giving you my unfiltered opinion because I care about this story…if my 3-4 paragraphs of text didn’t make it obvious. If there is any confusion within this review or any extra questions you have or if you ever want a secondary opinion please don’t be afraid to ask. Happy writing and thank you for the story! I’m going to bed.

Ahhhh thank you so much for this feedback! I will admit, I do have trouble with pacing things, and I always feel like I move things a bit too fast. This was the absolute best feedback I could have ever gotten! Thank you so much!

I do plan on someday trying to publish this story, and what I will do to fix the issues is that I will change up characters names, appearences, a bit of their personalities, and the setting where Seraphine and Mae grew up to better fit the trackline.

Also, I do thank you for the chapter 3 feedback! I feel it was my favorite because of the backstory sequence, and I feel I can strengthen it by loosening it. I do heavily appreciate your opinion though, it's very needed! I do think that chapter 5 will have to be reworked with this feedback in mind, which will delay it a bit, and I thank you so much because this will make my story stronger and will make everything so much easier to read for people!

I am going into the wilderness for about two weeks, so this will give me lots of time to edit and add a few more chapters and put your advice into play.

Again, thank you SO MUCH this is the absolute best feedback and most in depth reading of the story I have ever gotten. I feel nothing bad towards you feedback, just places you have targeted as my weak points and that if I improve on them, it will make my stories easier to read for people.

I'm going to bed as well, goodnight!

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice (3DS)

Am I hot for this or did it leave me cold? I'll just tell you, I love it.

Rounding out my coverage of Sonic Boom (or is it??) is the second handheld instalment by Sanzaru Games. This one was released in between the first and second series of the show, and as I had hoped it improves on Sanzaru's initial effort in various ways. Let us enumerate them, shall we?

While Shattered Crystal managed to get some jokes out of Lyric (unlike Rise of Lyric), the almost complete absence of Eggman was striking. Fire & Ice makes up for that with an Eggman-centred story, along with a new character: his rejected bot D-Fekt. This little guy is both cute and threatening, but also a bumbler like his creator, so the tone doesn't stray too far from the show's. The cutscenes are now all fully voiced and there’s more FMV animation sequences, so you could easily cut together something like an episode of the show and it would feel pretty pukka.

The new plot device is Ragnium, a potent mineral that Eggman needs to… *checks notes* power his racing bots? It replaces the tokens from SC, serving as a collectible earned from achieving goals and destroying enemies in levels, which can unlock a small number of perks as well as concept art from the show which is a nice bonus. Having Eggman as the main baddie instead of Lyric also has the flow-on effect that the basic enemies in levels are animal-themed robots of varied and fun designs rather than the prior generic bots of the other two games.

If the title didn’t give it away this game features an elemental gimmick as its main new gameplay hook. At almost any time you can tap either shoulder button to switch your active element between fire and ice. This has potential but is mostly used as a simple trigger to turn certain blocks on and off. Not quite tapped to its full potential but on top of the other systems it’s a nice extra wrinkle to keep you on your toes. Otherwise the gameplay is pretty similar to the previous entry with dashing, swinging, homing attack-ing, and double jumping making for some nice flow. They have improved the pace of animations, so particularly Sonic’s air dash is snappier and chaining them together feels much better.

The more meaningful change is the overhaul to the level structure. Stages are now much shorter, more straightforward, and much more plentiful, a better fit for Sonic and for handheld sessions. The bottom screen map is now autofilled and more detailed, and the dual-environment theme is gone. There’s still foreground/background swapping but it’s more dynamic and streamlined. The extra side stages are still here for a change of pace: auto running tunnels, Tails’s submarine minigame now on the world map, a new hovercraft shmup thing, and the races now presented as a lap-based speed course against Eggman's bots (these also form the basis of a new multiplayer mode). Another addition is more boss fights, which play out across both screens as D-Fekt uses the environment to create some ad-hoc construct; they're ok.

Speaking of environments, there's some fun ideas for level themes here. A tarpit fossil zone, pirate cove, and gothic mansion make for great backdrops for the action. As before they look really good, and I must mention Richard Jacques who for both games did quite a nice job with the music. I do have to ding Sanzaru for not fixing the zoomed-in world map navigation, but the addition of fast travel and a level select menu alleviates the issue pretty well.

Oh, I should have said: Amy is here! All five of the main cast including Sticks are now playable for the first time (not counting Sonic Dash 2), which is great. Their abilities are mostly the same although Tails has a new gun and Knuckles can do Nights-style paraloops while digging, and of course Amy brings her trusty hammer to bear for knocking down pillars. Having five options does prevent the quick-change D-pad system that both RoL and SC used, so there's now a cycling switcher with a short delay or touchpad buttons; not as immediate but serviceable enough.

I'm very pleased with the refinements F&I brought to the table. Of the Sonic Boom games it's the most faithful to the show and as far as I'm concerned the most fun. Sanzaru made a cool experimental game but learned lessons from it and came back with something that feels really good. If they had kept making these I would have kept eating them up but sadly it was not to be. Sonic Boom has connected with me more than most other Sonic media, so I'm disappointed it didn't last much longer after this. I do have around 30 more episodes of the show to watch though, so if you'll excuse me...

[the-owl-tree]

have people talked to the erin’s about their horrific misogyny and abuse/pedophilia themes? like sent fan letters or whatever to a website or written reviews on the books? I remember they released something a while back about squirrelflight and br*mblest*r being bad for each other but was that just them expounding on SqH? honestly I have no idea if parents themselves complain about the book contents

I know the authors have been asked about Squirrelflight and Bramblestar's relationship and they doubled down on it on not being abusive. I also know that when someone requested for Sandstorm's ableist line SQH to be removed, they said they would and just....didn't. Unsurprising, it's easier and cheaper to not reprint the books and just hope the fans don't notice. Kids aren't going to complain and the people who are messaging them aren't a big enough voice for them to see it as a potential audience loss.

I'm not particularly involved in the more author side of things, I don't follow their blogs or social media so I can't say if they're regularly asked....but I doubt it. Their biggest audience is kids and kids don't really question books the same way adults do. I can't tell you if parents are complaining (but I highly doubt it, I can't really imagine a parent taking the time to look through warrior cats of all things. even my parents just rolled their eyes at my beloved kitty cat series). I can't really imagine too many of them writing letters either.

I can't say there's an easy way to "fix" things, especially when so much of the issues are embedded in the DNA of the series. I also find that the website (and whoever is monitoring the fandom side of things) come across as very adversarial. I think the best way to go about it is just...talking about it. Being open about these issues, fostering an environment for conversation, and so on. I don't know if writing to HarperCollins work but I do know I've had a lot of people tell me how seeing others talk and bring these issues to light helped them recognize them themselves.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 145 thoughts!

what even was this chapter, y'all. i'm getting a migraine.

While it certainly wasn't actively bad, it basically hits on enough of the issues I've been having with the Movie Arc that if you've been reading my chapter reviews lately, you could probably write this one yourself. Weird pacing, skipping over interesting parts of the movie, continued framing of AQRB as a shallow gag and failing to follow on any of the implied development from or literally any referenced fallout of the kiss in 143? It's all here, babes. It would ultimately just be boring and redundant for me to go over all that at length again, so I won't.

I will however say that I'm pretty disappointed we're blasting through what had the potential to be some really interesting bits of postmortem characterization for Ai, even filtered through 15YL. I don't mind the manga breezing past scenes we saw firsthand but like… how did Ai react when she realized she was pregnant? How did she feel, especially given that Spica once again emphasized her longing for a family of her own? IDK. The way the story is suddenly jolting forwards in these last few chapters and skipping such huge chunks of Ai's life ultimately feels very strange and I don't know what to make of it yet.

Everyone reacting to Crow Girl's acting was pretty funny though I'm kind of exhausted with Ruby's Gaga-For-Oniichansensei Gag Character flanderization. IDK if my tolerance for it is just decreasing or if it really is amping up, but at least in the 125-137 stretch I at least got the sense that they could be in the same room and have a normal conversation but ever since 139, it feels that bit more relentless. I imagine this would be less irritating if we knew how the aftermath of 143 had played out but it really seems like the manga is going to drag this out until we're all old and grey.

THAT SAID, this chapter does confirm that Aqua's hoshigan stayed white after that chapter and… eh. Who even knows what that means lol. It does at least imply that his talk with Ruby has brought him back to Baseline Aqua but Baseline Aqua is still a guy with every single mental illness on planet earth so I don't know if that's the world's biggest W quite yet. It certainly implies an improvement over double black hoshigan but… again, with Aqua being so totally cut off from the readers this whole arc and no idea of what happened in the aftermath of 143, it's impossible to make a meaningful guess as to wtf is going on with Aqua right now.

Oh yeah, uh. This chapter also I guess constitutes the reveal of how the AQRB reincarnation happened. I guess LMAO. Honestly, I don't have much to say about it other than it feels like a bit of an anticlimax for me? The idea works fine, the execution just left me… idk. Whelmed at best, underwhelmed at most. I feel like this backstory and the implied deep fondness for GRSR -> AQRB it implies doesn't really like up with the personality she displays in the Private arc but like, I kind of feel like she was tossed into the story without Akasaka having a clear idea as to what her role was even going to turn into so maybe that's not a surprise LOL

I will say I'm glad this seems to quash the theory that Aqua and Ruby were secretly capital-G Gods, instead framing it as a Tsuru no Ongaeshi type return of kindness to two otherwise mundane people. There was some fun fan theorizing around the idea, but for me personally, Oshi no Ko is most interesting when it focuses on that aspect of the story Akasaka highlighted in an interview recently, of human relationships being warped by the entertainment industry and I think an explosion of the emotional stakes to the cosmic scale of AQRB (or tbh any of the characters) being Secretly Gods All Along would be a bit of a shark jump for me and would really shift away from what I like about the series most.

That's kind of it for this one…! Not really a lot to say about this chapter, which is why most of this review was me explaining why I didn't have a lot to say about it.

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 20 Review - Kabu Time

It’s finally nice to actually see a Galarian Gym in full! What I mean is that since Ash didn’t focus much on Gyms in favor of the PWC in Journeys, Galarian Gym Leaders have been brushed off to the side aside from a few. Kabu didn’t make an appearance in the previous series so for him to have an entire episode of spotlight dedicated to him, his Gym Test, and his Gym Trainer was very nice to see! It’s finally time Galar got the respect it deserved.

In Galar, Gym Leaders are like celebrities, so it’s nice to see that sort of vibe when Kabu was in the Battle Cafe. He’s still the same passionate and wise character like he was in the game. He gave a lot of advice that hopefully will be useful for future development—especially Liko’s. I do like how he sees their potential and does his best to bring it out. He sent out his Centiskorch, who’s too OP for rookie trainers like Liko and Roy and I’m glad that he didn’t hold back. That would defeat the purpose of the wisdom he implemented onto Liko.

Liko’s major flaw as a character is that she’s kind and considerate. While those are good traits, they are also weaknesses in a way. Holding back will only let opportunities slip away; I’ve held back many things in the past out of consideration for others, but I then realized as I got older about all the missed opportunities I could’ve had if I wasn’t so caring towards others. Being too considerate for Wakaba caused her to be upset and for Sprigatito to get annoyed. Consideration is a double-edged sword in a way. While it’s nice to have, it can hurt others. I’m glad that Liko learned how it could hurt others and how selfish it can be from a different perspective. This can open up a path of development for Liko as she has to learn that being too nice on a battlefield isn’t always right and showing compassion isn’t always a good thing. I’m also glad that she actually contemplated on her actions and Kabu’s words at the end of the episode; like her, it makes me wonder what sort of Trainer she will become.

Roy is his usual self in this episode. However, I do notice that he was shown as Liko’s opposite int his episode. While he is kind, he’s not holding back on Fuecoco. While Fuecoco is down, Roy’s doing all he can to encourage and support his crocodile and, in turn, that’s what caused Fuecoco to learn Flamethrower. However, I do wish that Roy gets an opponent on his level soon and not get jobbed by stronger opponents. He’s essentially bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but Wakaba is the first instance of a Gym Trainer in a Galar-focused episode. While she’s a Gym Trainer apprentice, it’s nice to see the system of Gym Trainers be implemented in the anime. When was the last time we had Gym Trainers mentioned in a past series? Wakaba is a girl who admires Kabu and wants to be a Gym Trainer out of admiration. I do feel bad for her because she’s essentially fodder in this episode. She’s fodder for Liko to be nice to. She was fodder in the first part of the double battle as she was just sitting there and not helping out; though, I get why she just stood there because she’s still inexperienced in a way. It was super nice seeing Rolycoly spinning around like a top and I wish there was more action.

I do want to see Liko and Roy grow after this battle. I’m sure they will accumulate everything they have acquired throughout this journey to become the best versions of themselves in the future. I’m sure that we won’t recognize the flawed children they once were a few years from now. Next time, they're heading to the Galar Mines to find Rayquaza after hearing Kabu's anecdote. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[film-classics]

Joan Crawford - The Hollywood Glamor Girl

Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas on March 23, 1906) was an American actress remembered today as the quintessential "Hollywood Glamor Girl."

Of French-Huguenot and English ancestry, she joined several dance contests, one of which landed her in a chorus line. Before long, she was in Broadway.

By 1925, she was on her way to Hollywood for a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first role came soon after - as the body double for Norma Shearer, MGM's most popular female star. The studio saw her potential, but disliked her name, so they ran a contest, "Name the Star," in Movie Weekly.

Crawford made several silent films and had continued success in talkies after working very hard to remove her Southern accent. Even though she remained a respected and profitable actress at MGM, her popularity declined in the 1940s. In 1943, she requested to be released from MGM and immediately signed with Warner Brothers.

Warner Brothers gave her a chance to show her range and revived her career with movies like Mildred Pierce (1945), which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Like before, she asked to be released from her contract in 1952.

She continued to work freelance and became actively involved with Pepsi-Cola Co. through her marriage tot he company's president. Her career came to a lull again mostly because of the lack of roles for older women in Hollywood. By the 1960s, she again had a transformation and became her own PR machine, with a new script, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). It was a hit and led to a string of roles until she retired in 1970.

At 69, she died from a heart attack in her apartment in Lenox Hill. Manhattan. Shortly after, it was revealed she paid for the medical care of hundreds of people, many of whom were from the film industry. She never publicized these nor wanted the public or patients to know.

Legacy:

Won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Mildred Pierce (1945) and nominated twice more: Possessed (1948) and Sudden Fear (1953)

Won the National Board Review Best Actress for Mildred Pierce (1945)

Nominated for a Golden Globe Best Actress for Sudden Fear (1953)

Nominated for the 1964 BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress

Named as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926

Won the Photoplay Awards - Best Performance of the Month in August and September 1928, the 1951 and 1953 Most Popular Female Star

Honored with a block in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1929

Listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America’s top-10 box office draws from 1930 to 1936

Was the vice president of the Motion Picture Relief Fund in the 1930s

Proclaimed the first "Queen of the Movies" by Life in 1937

Donated her entire salary from donated her entire $112,500 salary from They All Kissed The Bride (1942) to charities in memory of Carole Lombard

Won the Golden Apple Award twice as Most Cooperative Actress in 1945 and 1946

Won the Golden Laurel for Top Female Performance for Sudden Fear (1953) and Torch Song (1954)

Received the first Golden Shutter Award in 1955 from the LA Press Photographers Association

Served in the Board of Directors of Pepsi-Cola Co. from 1959 to 1973

Given the Variety Club of Philadelphia's Variety Club Award in 1960

Co-wrote two autobiographies, A Portrait of Joan (1962) and My Way of Life (1971)

Honored with City of Hope Award in 1963 and the Heart of the World Award in 1965 by City of Hope Hospital

Named by the United Service Organizations as the first "Woman of The Year" in 1965

Sponsored the Joan Crawford Dance Studio in 1965 and the Joan Crawford Awards Collection in 1966 at Brandeis University

Became a Brandeis University Fellow in 1967

Presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 1970 Golden Globe Awards

Was the national chairwoman of the American Cancer Society in 1972

Appeared in the "Legendary Ladies" series at The Town Hall in 1973

inducted in the Photoplay Awards Hall of Fame in 1977

Depicted in her daughter's memoir, Mommie Dearest (1978), which was turned to a film in 1981

Is the namesake of a 1981 song by Blue Öyster Cult

Featured in the 1989 book Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud, the basis for the 2017 show Feud: Bette and Joan

Named the 10th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999 by the American Film Institute

Inducted in the Online Film and Television Association Hall of Fame in 2005

Ranked #93 in Premiere magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time in 2006 for Mildred Pierce (1945)

Ranked 84 in Playboy's "100 Sexiest Women of the 20th Century" in 2012

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for January 2014

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1752 Vine Street for motion picture

[bestepisode]

Vote on more episodes here!

Episode descriptions under the cut.

Checkpoint: The Watcher Council travels to Sunnydale to review Buffy's skills as a Slayer; meanwhile, Glory puts her search for the Key into high gear.

Doppelgangland: While casting a magic spell, Anya and Willow accidentally summon Willow's evil double from an alternate universe.

Prophecy Girl: Giles discovers an ancient book foretelling Buffy's death at the hands of the Master.

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: As Valentine's Day approaches, Xander tries to improve his love life through witchcraft and finds himself with too much of a good thing.

Graduation Day (Part 1): In an effort to distract Buffy from the Ascension, the mayor instructs Faith to poison Angel.

Same Time, Same Place: Willow's return proves problematic when she is literally unable to see her friends--and is left with a creature that paralyzes its victims.

Beauty and the Beasts: Oz becomes the prime suspect when a series of animal-like attacks occur in Sunnydale.

Normal Again: After Buffy is stung by a demon, she begins to have vivid day-dreams about a mental asylum. She gradually begins to believe that she is a crazy girl back in L.A and that Sunnydale and all her friends are just a figment of her imagination.

Buffy vs. Dracula: The one-and-only Dracula makes his way to Sunnydale and immediately has everyone enchanted. Even Buffy might not be able to resist his charms.

Showtime: Buffy has to keep the ever increasing number of potential Slayers from panicking while Giles and Anya seek answers from the Beljoxa's Eye.

Seeing Red: Willow and Tara wallow in their togetherness, but things aren't as happy everywhere else. Buffy has to face both Xander and Spike, whilst tracking Warren and Company to foil their next move.

Earshot: A mouthless demon infects Buffy with the ability to hear everyone's thoughts, but what starts out as a useful power soon turns into a curse.