#which is very frenetic to watch but also quite entertaining

[ndostairlyrium]

Uuuh I wanna contribute to the prosthetic arm topic too!!

It takes months (almost years) of research and testing before Ankh manages to craft a decent new arm, which is totally not functional as a limb per se but it's more of an aid if she's on a mission and needs stability in combat. Also it helps her regain confidence in her skills since she has to drop bow and arrows - can't really hold a weapon she can't feel the weight of.

Emotionally speaking, archery was something fundamental in her life, a talent that took years to be perfected. She feels a sense of emptiness, as if she has lost her identity and can't contribute to the world as an individual anymore. Working on the arm along with Dagna and Three Eyes helps her to cope with such a traumatic loss but like, even if she consumes herself on this task night and day she can't help but feel like she has no reason to do so. Most days she focuses on the new task to avoid to explore her feelings, so she overworks herself to the point she can't connect properly with her surroundings. She was sure she would die after walking through the last Eluvian at the Winter Palace, consequently sometimes she asks herself if that fate would have been better than living without what made her her. Luckily she has a strong support system, people that really appreciate her character outside what good she can provide to the world. Just like her new project, her mental health after Trespasser is a work in progress, basically.

Once she can grip to her resolve, she just starts to develop her ideas further. At first the arm is a regular prosthesis with two runes placed on the joints, to help her hold on objects, then it starts to become something more complex.

What she manages to do:

The arm is functional in a sense that it can be directed to move accordingly to the situation. There are buttons to push and levers to click if she wants to perform certain movements. It's like playing an instrument, using shoulder movements and the aid of her main hand to keep it in place whenever in need.

What she doesn't manage to do:

Handshakes, caresses and other gestures connected to physical touch don't seem to perform properly. Which is normal, considering a big portion of her arm is not linked to the brain. As I mentioned above, some movements can be performed only because of a complex system of levers, buttons and body movements that can symulate a realistic arm movements but the more Ankh goes further with the development, the more she starts to put aside what's realistic and shifts to functionality. You can see her perform strange dances from time to time so she could find a good balance, or just to bend the new arm to a certain degree.

About materials:

Since plastic and silicone aren't available materials and the ones already existing are heavy to say the least, it was hard to balance the arm in relation to Ankh's body weights system. This problem was partially solved by enchanting strategic points - the elbow and the shoulder in this case - as to make the structure less overwhelming and more manoeuvrable. The only catch is that a mechanical arm is still heavier than a regular arm, even if it's something not perceivable. The weight has still an impact on her body, so she has to be super careful to prevent overexhaustion. The part connected to the skin is composed by three different layers, one for elasticity, one for durability, and the other for comfort between skin and the hard layers. My math is terrible but I think it could be approximately 3-5 cm of thickness. The problem here is that the lighter the materials are, the more the arm is prone to damages. The structure in itself is designed to be practical for a very agile person - it has to be lighter - consequently it tends to malfunction from time to time because of sudden hits - or an overuse during reckless parkouring, knowing her << I'm not convinced about the harness' design but she definitely wears one to keep the arm in place, with a sewn on sleeve to make what's left of the arm feel comfortable with all that weight on.

She tends to wear it often, and she modifies it constantly, so to be prepared always if some asses need to be beaten <3 but also it improves her overall confidence.

[agentnico]

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023) Review

Anyone feels that tad bit more sophisticated and intelligent when they watch a film in a foreign language with subtitles on? Nope? Just me? Alrighty then, je suppose que c'est juste moi.

Plot: Young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris, trying to find the attackers who left him for dead. He instead finds a real war brewing and joins the king's three musketeers - Athos, Porthos, and Aramis - as they work to ensure the future of France.

The way I heard of this movie was surprisingly my dad who turned to me and said he watched yet another movie iteration of the Alexandre Dumas classic, and what made this version so fascinating to him was the fact that all the characters are super dirty. And no, not in a sexual way you perverted sods, but in the literal sense. The characters are all greasy-haired with faces covered in mud and sweat. Gone are the trademark bright blue cloaks and instead the musketeers are stuck wearing very old and worn-out grey and brown garments. So of course I wanted to see some super dirty musketeers, so here we are.

There have been many versions of The Three Musketeers adapted to screen. One could say too many. Like Sherlock Holmes and Godzilla (never thought I'd ever reference those two in the same sentence!), these stories have consistently entertained us over and over again, showing us the test of time. Not going to lie, I absolutely adore Dumas' original novel, and as such have seen a few of the adaptations. There were most certainly some terrible ones out there, but also some interesting ones too like the amusing 1978 Soviet comedy-musical version (yep, that's a real thing!), and then there is the 2011 steampunk one with airships and a pompously over-the-top Orlando Bloom which is all good fun. However with D'Artagnan it's the first time where I'm actually discovering a French version, and it would be shocking if the French were to ruin their own classic, right?

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan is a highly entertaining historic romp. It takes a lot from the book but also changes things up quite a bit, resulting in a familiar yet fresh feel to the now-modernized story. The atmosphere is dark and the action was superb. There were many sequences of swordplay where the camera would literally zoom around the battle area in one singular take, frenetically capturing all the detailed fencing choreography, and it was actually really impressive. Director Martin Bourboulon evidently has an eye for action (bet he watched a lot of John Wick and The Raid for his homework) and manages to keep an exhilarating energy through all the epic sequences. There are some very creative choices too such as an impressive sweeping shot of a horse chase over the cliffs of Dover.

The movie also feels very French. It sounds to put it like that, but it is indeed very romantic in a way only the French can be. The central love between D'Artagnan and Constance is innocently adorable and playful, and the love triangle between Louis XIII, his Queen and the Duke of Buckingham was amusing, forgetting the immoral involvement of adultery at play. But yes, it is very romantic, and I haven't seen a good love story at the movies in a while so this was simply delightful.

The cast were all very game here too. Francois Civil as D'Artagnan had the pride, naivety and boyish charm that was befit of the young Gascon. Romain Durin as Aramis found the perfect spirit of the character's duality between faith and seduction with his constant swaying towards the female gender. Louis Garrell and King Louis XIII exhibited the stupidity and blindness of the royal really well, yet also managed to give the character an element of strength which made way for a solid interpretation. Vincent Cassell as Athos was solid, but also made me wonder why such an old actor was cast as Athos? I guess they wanted to physically portray the hero's tortured past, but it just felt strange to have Athos be so old. And then Eva Green - look, I think Eva Green can be very powerful in the right role, but her role here was so minimal that it hardly left an impression. With the Milady sequel already filmed and on the way I expect her to have a bigger role in that where she will most likely be allowed to properly bring her mischievous character to life, but yet for now she has been heavily under-used.

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan is a super enjoyable take on the classic that adds some modern touches of finesse and takes some own liberties to change up the story, however, the result is very entertaining and makes for a swashbuckling historic adventure. And so whilst I await the upcoming sequel, I shall look back at that aforementioned Soviet version, and the amusing song lyrics that go along the lines of the following: "Let's be happy in our time, with the beauty and the goblet, with the lucky blade; While we swing the feathers on our hats; To destiny we'll whisper more than once "merci beaucoup"."

Overall score: 7/10

[thetoxicgamer]

Assassin’s Creed Mirage lets you feel the violence in real life

With plenty of thrilling rooftop chases and frenetic sword fights on the streets of Baghdad, Assassin's Creed Mirage promises to be a return to the action-adventure game roots of the series. What if, though, you were able to truly feel each crunch, slash, and thud as they landed? Imagine the wind flowing over your body as you jump between structures. To bring the haptics of Assassin's Creed Mirage to life, Ubisoft is working with the company OWO. That’s right, this isn’t some Ready Player One fantasy, this is an actual product that you can buy, one which promises to let you feel the very impacts of Basim’s parkour across the city and his clashes with those who’d stand in his way. Slip into the OWO Haptic Gaming System vest and you’ll actually feel every slash, stab, and smack as you play. Basim’s adventure promises to be quite a physical one, so we can only imagine what he’ll go through as he clambers, leaps, and brawls his way through the Baghdad streets. It’s really a perfect test case for this kind of hardware, and OWO promises “some exclusive sensations never felt before” alongside all its standard offerings such as various impacts and weapon wounds, the sensation of moving heavy objects, and the feeling of wind and free-falling. The haptic ‘Sensations Technology’ is spread across ten locations including your full upper torso and arms, and uses electrodes to stimulate your muscles and replicate various sensations. Coming in at under 600 grams and with nine different sizes available, it shouldn’t be too much of a weight on your shoulders either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfOs9Rp3JYM OWO lists a wide range of ‘sensations’ on its website, which include “Ball, axe, punch, dart, insect bites, dagger, shot, light abdominal wound, chest dagger wound, shot with exit wound, severe abdominal wound, grip, machine gun recoil, insects, lifting weights, pushing objects, collision, wind, stress, fast driving, free fall, and strange sensations.” That’s quite the list, with even more promised for Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s implementation. “By leveraging OWO’s groundbreaking technologies and expertise, we are able to immerse players in the world, sounds and sensations of Assassin’s Creed Mirage in an innovative and enhanced way,” Ubisoft Bordeaux’s lead producer Fabian Salomon says. “We can’t wait for our players to discover and enjoy the coming-of-age story of Basim with the power of OWO.” “This dynamic alliance merges the immersive gameplay of Ubisoft’s world-class video games with the cutting-edge technological prowess of OWO,” OWO founder and CEO Jose Fuertes adds. “We are proud to have Assassin’s Creed Mirage in our game portfolio and we can’t wait for players to start feeling the game. Together, we are on a mission to reshape the gaming landscape and push the boundaries of interactive entertainment.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtXMRexaUQ8 While it’s perhaps at its best when combined with the best VR headsets for that full sensation of immersion, the OWO haptic vest works with standard PC games and also supports players on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X/S, so if you’re also a console gamer you’ll be able to make the most of it there as well. To celebrate the collaboration, there’s a special Assassin’s Creed Mirage Edition of the OWO Haptic Gaming System, with a unique design based on the outfit worn by Basim. It will initially be made available via the OWO website, but will then be sold in a bundle with the game itself via “different retailers,” so keep your eyes out. The OWO Founder Edition is on sale now – expect to pay €499 (~ $560), with free shipping available for a limited time. There’s an estimated wait of three months to get your product, so be sure to get your order in now if you’re sold on the concept. With the Assassin’s Creed Mirage release date almost upon us, warm up your sneaking skills with the best stealth games on PC and hopefully Basim won’t be feeling too many of those less-pleasant sensations during your travels. Read the full article

[way-to-the-future]

#6: Avatar

There is no good opportunity to people watch where I come from. Mostly, you see the same people every day – mostly, they do the same things, and not much of it interesting. If I can tell you one of my foibles, I crave it: the brief study of a life in motion, of someone hurrying from one moment to the next. The hurrying is what I like most of all; even if I should feel sorry for them, or even laugh, I’m charmed just the same. What could be so important? When I go to the Hannish plazas, or even abroad, I take time for myself to linger while the rest of us rush by. It’s maybe a little creepy, I admit, to look forward to it so much - but who would mind a single sister stuck in place, watching the priests and adventurers and paupers cycle the city like bees in the hive?

               I used to wonder how they didn’t get tired. Beneath the shade of the trees at home and walking the well-worn courtyards, nothing seems to take any time at all. The whole world breathes at a single, steady rhythm, and interruption is not looked upon well. Of course it’s an illusion; what’s frenetic is as much a part of everything as what is lax. But life turns very slowly if you stay in one place, and is very shy to show all parts of itself from a single vantage. No one has ever compelled the adherents of my order to wander – compulsion is the action of an insufficient soul attempting to draw strength from others – but I didn’t shy away from the opportunity, either.

               What is most striking, I suppose, when I look at other people – in mind of their hearts, not so different than mine, and their bodies, a little stronger or weaker – is how many things there are. Things external; things I have lived without a long time. Like the moon catching the tide, so many bodies in apposition catch one another and turn themselves about with a dizzying dance. Less like bees in a hive, more like – billiards, I guess.

               Take the beggar boy. He asks of the priest rushing to the temple of her twin gods, and in her diligence she offers him some coins from her purse. Will she be late? Will she be scolded for it? Will she have enough to tithe, or to get her lunch? What about her superiors? And the boy, what will he do with these coins? It’s no one’s business but his, I suppose, but whether they end up in the well or in a vendor’s pocket or a bully’s clenched fist, it all serves to illustrate the same point.

Asceticism is not so hard, when you get right down to it. A spoken mind is capable of incredible things when narrowed to a point of focus. You have gone hours and more without food or water, without rest, merely because something had captured your attention and demanded unwavering action, haven’t you? Perhaps action is not the right word here – but there is an effort for the untrained, just the same. For those who have not ascended the summit.

All of these people need each other, desperately. Most people do; can you imagine loneliness, true loneliness? The silence of your own thoughts, and nothing but the yawning calm of the ocean of your self? The difficulty is not in slowing down, so much, in training and fasting and meditation, but in learning to live apart even while you remain physically, while your perception attracts you to the awareness of other things. The mind needs, or thinks it needs, things to occupy it, and other people are quite occupying. Yet to realize the highest self is to learn to be without effort, without support, to be whole and complete in one’s proper right. The people streaming by, living lives no less full of things than mine has been, are entertainments – but they are also lessons, hazards, muddled portraits of deeper truths. I am not crude enough in my understanding to preach to them that they should strip it all away and join a monastery somewhere – but like walking through the flames, like denying the body food and water, standing apart among them is a trial by which I ennoble myself. A little creepy, maybe, but whatever the appearance, the path does not brook any pause.

[ashengrottoes]

This is Why You Don’t Work For the Fish Mafia

So uh. I’ve been in more of a writing mood than an art mood lately so I’ve ended up writing a ton of stuff for Larghetta, namely some stuff regarding how he got hired as co-manager, his first day of work and other general events. You know, that kind of stuff because it’s fun to think about.

The first day of work has especially stuck with me because god. He had an interesting day. It was something. There was a chance he could have died (a very concerning statement, but it’s not quite for the reason you’d expect). I think it’s an entertaining read, at least.

I tried to write the fish as accurately as possible in accordance to my understanding of them (based on translations I’ve read and watching their behavior/tone/vocal tics).

Besides that, the Poison Apple is a drink that me and @robotxpigeons headcanon that the lounge has on their menu. You can find out more about it in this post. We also headcanon that Floyd has a tendency to collect “toys” (i.e. people he can easily harass/pick up. This includes Riddle) and usually being 5′5 or below qualifies someone for that position. Larghetta is 5′1. I’ll leave it at that.

:::Pre-Opening Hours:::

Larghetta quietly adjusted his bowtie, the purple satin reflecting the blue light seeping into Mostro Lounge as he entered. Today was supposed to be his first day of work, so he figured that he might as well make sure he was presentable, albeit in a slightly altered uniform. As opposed to Octavinelle’s usual jacket, he had opted for the vest he had found among the set, although this also meant that he nixed the hat and scarf as well. His hands were also bare, due to the fact that he found gloves made things far too difficult for him to handle. The only other major difference from the regular uniform was the white shirt and purple bowtie, as it was usually the other way around. However, this was the only intentional difference, the color swap indicating his position as one of the managers. Otherwise he wore the purple eyeliner expected of everyone else and hoped that what he pulled together was good enough. He ascended the small flight of stairs, the Leech brothers coming to greet him. Jade was the first to speak.

“Welcome. Azul has been waiting for you.” His tone was very professional and indicated for Larghetta to follow him. Floyd, on the other hand, said nothing, just swaggering after the other two as he kept looking over Larghetta, as if trying to judge something about the boy. Larghetta paid no mind to Floyd, just entering the VIP Room after Jade opened the door for him. Azul was writing something up, although the noise of Larghetta coming in made him look up.

“Very punctual, I see. It’s a good fifteen minutes before I told you to get here.”

Larghetta nodded “Better early than late.”

“That’s some sound logic. Although you do seem to have forgotten a few pieces of the uniform.”

“Ah…some of them didn’t quite work for me.” Larghetta cleared his throat “But I figured this could be considered an appropriate variation.”

“I know that sizing wasn’t the issue, considering the dorm uniforms are tailored to the student.” He sighed as he pushed his glasses up his nose “Although I suppose this is passable for the time being.”

Larghetta folded his hands behind his back “So, you said you would fully explain what my responsibilities were when I finally came in.”

“I did, I did.” Azul finally rose from his desk, immediately moving to leave the room “Follow me.”

Larghetta did as he was told, sparing a glance for the other students that were frenetically prepping the café to open and the clack of Azul’s cane on the floor keeping his mind from straying too far. The owner led Larghetta behind the bar, setting down his cane against the wall as he did.

“Obviously, your first and foremost responsibility is to keep an eye on the staff and deal with any issues that may arise. If you’re unsure about something, you can bring the issue to me and I will handle it from there. In the cases of things like fraud or overly belligerent customers, you’re welcome to direct Jade and Floyd as needed and I have told them as much.”

Azul then crouched down in front of a cabinet, opening the door and pulling out several glasses of varying sizes and a shaker “Secondly, I would like you to familiarize yourself with the menu, particularly the drink list. Some of the offerings have ended up being a little too complicated for some of the people who work here, and there are a few drinks that if they were to be ordered, I would mix them myself for safety purposes. However, you seem like you’re smart enough to manage some of these as well.”

He pulled out a variety of different ingredients, although Larghetta crossed his arms. He could see what people meant when they said Azul had a stick up his ass, to say the least. He watched the other boy as a chill went down his spine, making him look over his shoulder to find Floyd still watching him.

“Is everything alright?” Azul’s voice snapped him back again, making Larghetta focus back on what he was supposed to be looking at.

“Oh yes, everything’s fine. Do continue.”

Azul raised an eyebrow, but launched into a lecture of sorts, showing Larghetta how to put together certain drinks and detailing any other additional prep that would have to go into them. The betta watched carefully, taking note of the different steps and which drink was which. Eventually, not too long before the lounge was supposed to open, Azul cleaned out the shaker and glasses before looking at his captive pupil.

“I think it’s time to see if anything stuck.”

Larghetta slowly came over, laying a hand on the shaker and curling his fingers at the feeling of cold metal “What would you like me to make you?”

The other boy grinned lopsidedly “I’ve been finding myself in the mood for a Poison Apple. Think you can manage that?”

“We’ll see soon enough, won’t we?”

Azul laughed and headed around to the other side of the bar, taking a seat near where Larghetta was working as the betta’s brow creased. Poison Apples were actually slightly dangerous business, seeing as the poison wasn’t just in the name, but the drink itself. It made the drink peculiarly bitter, although put in too much and it would be fatal. Not to mention there was a hint of magic thrown in to stabilize the mix and prevent any sickness. There was a reason that up until now, Azul was the only one who would mix them.

This was going to be quite the first test.

Larghetta quickly browsed the cabinets below and pulled out anything he needed before getting to work, starting by putting together the drink’s base. He tossed everything into the shaker and mixed it all before holding up the small bottle that held the poison. He gingerly opened it, then used a dropper to extract some before putting two small drops in and mixing again while casting. He also quickly chopped up an apple before looking to Azul.

“Do you want a cherry or no?”

“I’m good without, thank you.”

Larghetta nodded, reaching back down and grabbing a cocktail glass, although Azul spoke up again.

“Actually, if you could split it between two glasses, I would appreciate it. Choose which ones at your discretion.”

Larghetta then put the cocktail glass back and looked at what was available, eventually settling on a pair of small fluted glasses. The choice seemed to make Azul raise an eyebrow, but Larghetta continued to split the drink between the two glasses and garnished them with some of the apple. He then carried them over to Azul and set them on the bar.

“Here you go.”

Azul claimed one while pushing the other back towards Larghetta “This one is for you, by the way.”

Larghetta hesitantly received it, looking at his self-made concoction, while Azul raised his glass in his direction.

“May we have long, happy lives, hmm?” Azul’s face was plastered with a smirk, seeming pleased at his own morbid humor. Larghetta could merely gingerly clink his glass against the raised one.

“Yes.”

“Down the hatch, then.”

The two boys stared at each other, as if silently counting down, before both downed the drink in their hands. It was certainly bitter. The sound of the glasses being put down on the bar instigated another bout of silence. Both boys seemed to wait to see if the other was going to drop dead. This went on for a few minutes before Azul laughed.

“Congratulations. It looks like you’ve passed.”

Larghetta blinked as Azul offered him a hand, eyes glinting in the blue light.

“I look forward to working with you, Mr. Sonore.”

Larghetta took Azul’s hand, both boys seeming to note the other’s firm grip before shaking on it. At that, Azul hopped off his chair and retrieved his cane before heading back to the VIP Room. Larghetta merely exhaled deeply. He could tell that this was going to be an interesting occupation.

:::During Work Hours:::

The rest of Larghetta’s first workday was spent mixing drinks behind the bar and watching people come and go. There was one thing that was bothering him, however: the fact that Floyd was continually staring at him, seeming to size him up. As he finished sending off one more tray, the eel finally bumbled over and slumped on the bar.

“Oi.”

Larghetta looked over as he started to clean some of the returned glasses “Yes? Did you need something, Floyd?”

Floyd merely made an unintelligible noise in response, flipping over in a way where he draped himself over the bar on his back, still staring. Larghetta cleared his throat and picked up a piece of paper he had nearby.

“Well, if you don’t, would you mind running this to Azul for me? I’ve been keeping track of inventory, and we’re going to need to restock as soon as possible.”

“Don’t wanna~.”

The response made Larghetta blink a little, although the behavior did match up with everything he had heard about Floyd. He put the list back down, sighing. He really wasn’t in the mood to argue or humor the eel. He just went back to what he was doing, Floyd unmoving. It wasn’t until he finished cleaning that Floyd said anything again.

“Aaahh, Nori-chan.”

Larghetta didn’t react to the statement, making Floyd scooch over along the bar so he was right in front of the betta fish.

“No~ri~chan.”

Now he had Larghetta’s attention, who finally put down his cleaning “Who?”

“I’m talking to yooouu. You’re Nori-chan~!”

Floyd seemed immensely pleased with himself for thinking up the moniker, although Larghetta just squinted.

“My name is Larghetta.”

“Ehhhhh~” Floyd managed to use a hand to play around with a glass within his reach “But I like Nori-chan more.”

Larghetta grabbed the glass back, inciting a whine from Floyd “I don’t think the nickname is necessary. You call Azul and Jade by their names.”

“But Jade is Jade and Azul is Azul and you’re Nori-chan!”

“Fine, fine, whatever.” Larghetta seemed to give up on trying to ditch the nickname, merely moving to clean some more. Floyd finally got up and came around to the other side of the bar, grinning. That stopped Larghetta’s movement as he stared up at the other boy.

“What do you want?”

“I’m booorreeeddd~.”

“Well, that’s a shame and not my problem.” Larghetta huffed a little.

Floyd, in turn, grabbed Larghetta underneath his arms and lifted him up “You seem fun though~!”

“HEY!”

Larghetta flailed a little, making the larger boy laugh. The betta gritted his teeth as Floyd began to attempt to carry him off, eventually taking a swing that made contact with Floyd’s shoulder with an audible smack. The result was Floyd dropping him with a pained yelp, Larghetta landing on his feet before immediately falling on his butt. The boy scrambled up as the eel rubbed his shoulder, looking pouty.

“Heeyy, that really hurt! Nori-chan, you’re mean!”

Larghetta crossed his arms “That’s what you can expect if you attempt to pick me up ever again. I am not a toy, nor do I want to be treated like one.”

There was a laugh from nearby, and a quick search revealed it to be Jade, who seemed to have been watching the two. The action only made Floyd whine more.

“Jaaaaaddddeeeee~!”

Jade just grinned, revealing his teeth “Oya, oya…I did warn you that you wouldn’t be able to ‘play’ with Larghetta like you do with Riddle, Floyd.”

“Naaaa~ But he’s even smaller than Kingyo-chan!” Floyd just seemed grumpy now, getting up to go harass his brother. Larghetta merely sighed and used the opportunity to get back to work, seeming to deem the matter settled.

[danwhobrowses]

AEW Double of Nothing 2020 - My Thoughts

Well that was a long night, it’s tough watching USA PPVs in the UK. But Double or Nothing is in the books and since I have free time I thought I’d talk about some stuff I liked and disliked I’ll have to note, I’m not a sole AEW fan, I like stuff from WWE, NJPW, Stardom, TJPW and DDT Pro too, dabbling in ROH, Impact and NWA from time to time and reminiscing fondly over the time Lucha Underground was great. But I say this because I don’t want people quickly pointing fingers at me accusing me of being a stan for AEW or WWE just because I like or dislike something they disagree with, I’m not playing bias I am literally working on impulse and sleep deprivation

Spoilers for AEW Double or Nothing 2020 obviously, watch, enjoy, look at some gifs maybe and come back here

The Buy-In:

Private Party vs Best Friends (Winner is No.1 Contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship) Winner: Best Friends via Pinfall (Strong Zero to Marq Quen)

For a pre-show match it was fine, the Buy-In stream did start way too early and streaming and audio issues would plague both Fite and BR Live streams throughout. As for the match, it was a tad sloppy at times but it is worth reminding people that PP haven’t been wrestling in a while. And they weren’t terrible botches, just a few overexersions, people can’t be as crisp as Rey Fénix every match, especially since there’s more margin of error the more people involved in the spot there is. The match was very back and forth at times, and the highlight has to be the G9, PP (and Big Swole) had been wearing SG armbands in honor of Shad Gaspard, who tragically died in Venice Beach due to a rip current submerging him, I had been a big fan of Cryme Tyme (and PS4′s God of War which he did motion capture of Kratos for) when they were in WWE, so the nice homage of using their finisher was a nice touch. As for the result I didn’t mind either way, I had backed PP due to their ongoing BTE feud with Hangman Page, but the Best Friends have definitely been consistent enough to challenge and possibly even win the titles, it would be sensible for them to win it too since they have lingering feuds with TH2, Death Triangle, The Superbad Death Squad and Butcher and Blade.

Main Card:

Intermission build for Casino Ladder Match

It was mostly people explaining how and why they were gonna win, but I did have to make a separate mention for Jimmy Havoc, dressed to fucking drip. Man looks like a bond villain.

Casino Ladder Match (Winner is No.1 Contender for the AEW World Championship at Fyter Fest) Winner: Brian Cage An early point I wanna make, I think AEW are spying on me because I had much earlier thought up a similar idea of a ‘Bargaining Chip’ to work as a guaranteed contendership boon. If Tony Khan wants to pick my brain all he has to do is call, I still think all non-title ‘Double or Nothing’ matches should be worth 2 wins/losses in the spirit of the PPV name. I also didn’t mind the giant chip, would’ve been silly if it was regular sized. AEW has a winner with this format I think, the battle royale format was good for introducing a group of new faces, but in a more condensed format the Casino rules for a Ladder match work two ways, the early people have less opposition to win while the last people are fresh, the red ladders were a bit much for my tastes though. As for the match, it was still a bit messy but there were 9 people plus interferences to deal with, also since Fénix was pulled from the match we have to give benefit of the doubt in terms of the match narrative changing. It was an odd choice picking both members of SCU to start but we may be setting up Superbad Death Squad vs SCU tensions as well, adding Darby in the halfway mark was a good burst of energy but you really do wince with the stuff Darby ragdolls through. OC was his usual hilarious self, the low-effort reach attempts, the brief pause with Cabana. The frenetic energy of Janela resumed the pace from the comedy segment until the super heavyweights came in; I did find that Luchasaurus did prioritize a fight over the match itself, but it worked for his heavyweight mentality and after being undone by Allin’s sunset bomb, gave us the space for the final entrant. Brian Cage, I love that man he is just nonsense talented, his moveset is unique and malleable and his power is insane. What a way to debut as well, completely ripped apart a ladder, murdered Allin with a ‘F-5000′ (Props to Excalibur as always) and was running roughshot - aside from OC, who almost hilariously piggybacked a win - until most of the competitors basically flattened him under a bunch of miscellaneous objects and a giant poker chip. This gave Luchasaurus some time to have some fun as the ‘Big Man’ too, really did enjoy the Marko mini-ladder and OC channeling the Hurricane with the chokeslam attempt, I do appreciate that Best Friends and Jurassic Express still have that rivalry, also Janela’s running DVD to OC on top of the pile of miscellaneous objects was a great spot, but it was all leading up to Cage bursting out and squaring off with the Dino, more of this! There was a bit of wobbly knees but the powerbomb on the ladder with gnarly, and we are due a hoss match for Luchasaurus since his feuds with Wardlow and the Butcher fell through due to COVID. But this was Cage’s time, I thought Allin was gonna sneak it for a moment but then I remembered that Cage winning was much more story-based. The ladder spot was brutal and a bit too much for the finish but the result I am still quite happy with. Before Fénix was pulled I backed him to win because I felt that the world title picture needed some speed after the methodical match with Hager, but Cage does have the speed and the power to put on a good show, he’s a proven world champion at Impact and he has been on AEW’s radar for a long time, injury keeping him out.As much as one can complain that this was just a gratuitous spot fest there was storyline; the faction conflicts of SCU, Superbad Death Squad, Best Friends and Jurassic Express was apparent but the main story by the end was the story of Allin and Tazz, Tazz was angered by Darby’s hostile response to his offer of managing him after his loss to Cody, so he’s taken Cage under his wing to enact some payback. It’s a solid looking pairing too, using the legends as managers is something AEW does well and using Tazz as Cage’s manager with his promo skills and their physical similarities is an interesting combination.

Jungle Boy vs MJF Winner: MJF via Pinfall (Modified European Clutch) This was one of my favourite wrestling matches on the card. The back and forth between MJF and Jungle Boy had some great athleticism and technical wrestling. This can easily be a top tier feud between the two later down the line, they are like two sides of a coin. The match had great storytelling in the fact that MJF worked Jungle Boy’s arm, which allowed him to escape situations like the crossface and hold on to the final pinfall, MJF was pulling great heel works and trickery while trying to work Jungle Boy into the Salt of the Earth finisher, the knee injury fakeout was great. But Jungle Boy also rallied with the babyface resilience, the explosive anger in the face of MJF’s undermining and proved his strength. I appreciated the finish as well, MJF won clean but Jungle Boy looked excellent, and it avoided Wardlow ex Machina. MJF continues to look more and more like world champion material and I can see him stealing it from Moxley.

TNT Presentation with Mike Tyson

Okay, I don’t like the belt. I’m sorry, I know it’s unfinished due to COVID so there’s room for improvement but it just looks too simple on the main plate. It seems like every other belt AEW releases is a bit lacking. The World and Tag titles are sublime but the Women’s title is far too small and the TNT title just lacks detail, it’s also hard to not think it looks like the WWE Raw Tag Titles mixed with the 24/7 title, I have never been a big fan of plastering the name in BIG DISTRACTING LETTERS in the middle. Granted, I get why silver was used for a midcard belt, and not every title can be Big Gold, Winged Eagle, NXT UK,  IWGP or the ROH world title, but it could’ve taken more inspiration from the IC white strap, NXT NA title, AWA Southern Heavyweight or even the NJPW US title if you’re so adamant about the bright red strap. Frankly I was just disappointed that AEW presented such a weak design.

TNT Championship Tournament Final Winner: Cody via Pinfall (2 Consecutive Cross Rhodes) The finals for the match started off impressively, Archer looking like a total monster even bringing in some poor sod to decimate in front of an entertained Tyson before striking early with his finisher on Cody. Cody fought from under Archer’s offence to get some licks into his core. Sadly not all the cuts to Tyson were great, the one that’ll dominate media being the one where he was caught yawning. Before smarks jump at it, people are allowed to yawn, it’s not always a sign of boredom, given that Tyson is 53, has been hitting the gym hard and it was past 10pm, every other time they went to him he looked like he was loving the match, especially Archer’s heel intensity. The match didn’t have enough of Arn and Jake for my liking, given what was hinted at during Dynamite, I didn’t mind them being ejected especially since Arn was playing dirty too. Cody did pull out some storied offence with the Stringer Splash and Dustin’s Final Reckoning, but the ending kinda felt like the wrong result. After Jake was scared away by a Ripped Tyson from bringing his snake to the ring, Archer just became undone by Cody wriggling out of the Black Out and nailing two Cross Rhodes (third of the match) for the W. It was a bit iffy, I mean Cody has used the double Cross Rhodes to win a few matches already, so it felt like for me if Cody was to win then he’d need to pull off something extra. One Cross Rhodes made Archer kick out at one after all. Many people will use this as ‘Cody is an EVP of course he books himself as champion’ trying to liken him to Triple H or Jeff Jarrett, but while I disagreed with the result, I don’t think it’s bad that Cody wins a midcard title. He is never going to win the world title, he’s been a consistently great babyface for the company too and put MJF and Jericho over, as a wrestler you can’t have Cody not win a title ever. But that being said, I think defeat did hurt Archer, he was so in control of the match and just came undone right at the end, there was a heavy contrast to the Archer that started the match and the Archer that finished. It doesn’t mean he’s lost his aura completely, but winning the title would’ve done him more favours than it would have done Cody at this current time.

Intermission: Britt Baker Injury Update To prelude the Ford/Statlander match, there was a small bit explaining the nature of Britt Baker’s injury. It was kinda decent to still sell Britt’s gimmick by the doctor admitting that she’s being a handful, but the 6-8 week time frame is a shame, that’s only competing though, it’ll be interesting what they do with her on next Dynamite, she may get herself an enforcer too (Nyla could work, or Sadie Gibbs since she’s due a re-debut).

Penelope Ford vs Kris Statlander Winner: Kris Statlander via Pinfall (Big Bang Theory) While Penelope only had brief involvement in the Casino Ladder Match (she did have a weird space of just standing there for a bit as OC started to use 0.5% of his full power), hers and Kip’s entrance did put a smile as Kip sold the ladder match hard, as did Kris’ booping to the crowd and the joyous reactions of Nakazawa, Austin Gunn and Suge D/Pineapple Pete from it. The match itself was okay, this stage felt like a palate cleanser if anything. Ford and Kris did work pretty well, there was a nervy suicide dive where Kris’ head almost went into the barricade but we also got some great strikes, a good hurricanrana from Ford and a solid end as Kip tried to break the pin using his crutches. Ford has been lowkey great for the women’s division, her surprise win over Riho is proof of that, but Statlander was due a win. I felt like against Britt she was due a loss but now it feels like we can expand on that feud a bit, it’s good signs from AEW’s weak spot and it just needs a bit more faces - which of course is limited by COVID but I do really miss seeing Bea, Allie, Swole (who almost every heel in the crowd seemed to wanna rile up), Anna Jay, Shanna, Riho, Emi Sakura (who streamed her reactions of the show) and personal favourite Yuka Sakazaki in the ring, as well as hoping for returns from Ivelisse, Jamie Hayter, Sadie Gibbs and Awesome Kong for the Women’s Division, also maybe bring Vickie into the fold as a manager, she was a presence in the crowd.

Dustin Rhodes vs Shawn Spears Winner: Dustin Rhodes via Pinfall (Final Reckoning) Sadly this was the weakest match on the card. Started pretty well though, Spears was heeling it up a la Booker T in KOTR when Angle wasn’t cleared to compete and still demanded that they be counted out. There was also the HBK Montreal music fake-out which was pretty good, but he did wait a bit long to pull off the smile. Brandi halted the count allowing for Dustin to pull a sneak which was made great by the camera movement but from there it started to devolve into a weak spot. Comedy matches are fine, but times and place work for it, and Shawn Spears’ continued pursuit against Cody should not have been a comedy match in my opinion. I never dig the strip bit as well, there’s only so much you can suspend disbelief and Shawn being stripped to his boxers that have Tully Blanchard’s face on them is over that line.  If Dustin was to win then I wished it wasn’t this way, sadly Spears has been hit with a revolving door of gimmicks, the Chairman was good but lacked intensity, the needing a partner looked to be going somewhere until COVID limited his options (and sank Brandon’s push) and this new anti-Cody gimmick has suddenly became a joke, it’s not a good spot for him especially when he had a pretty good match with Cody in the TNT tournament. We know through MJF that he can do comedy, but the key to comedy is timing and Shawn’s character should’ve been looking towards him contending for Cody’s newfound TNT title rather than being humiliated ass-cheeks out on TV...at least Peyton has something to giggle about at home though. Pre-Match Tribute to Hana Kimura (1997-2020)

I was glad that AEW took a moment to tribute Hana’s death. After the homage to Shad in the Buy-In I was hoping that they would reference her before the women’s title match and my hopes were realised. Reading the headline of her death yesterday morning put a horrid pit in my stomach, I had always felt that Hana was one of the most talented women in Stardom, as ‘Dark Hana’ in Oedo Tai, ‘Rave Hana’ when feuding with Kagetsu, ‘Death-Hana’ when teaming with Yama and of course as the TCS leader, I easily saw her in a few years time being the face of the company, her faction was on a high, she partook in Stardom’s first ever Tokyo Dome match at Wrestle Kingdom, she had wrestled in guest entires for DDT Pro and ROH, and I also hoped to see her in an AEW ring one day (Brandi had Stardom ties after all). Her dedication to the business was palpable as she even went into a reality show to try and get more eyes on wrestling, and yet cyberbulling drove her to feel so sub-human that she likely took her own life. It was a horrible, horrible thing to read about, and I really wanted to vent this out yesterday but didn’t due to the fact that I didn’t tribute Shad’s death and didn’t want it to appear that I only cared about Hana’s death. Shad’s death was sad of course, he nobly prioritised the rescue of his son and sadly time was not on his side against the elements, it’s obviously terrible that he died and the world is poorer for his loss as well, but Hana’s death hit me harder for different reasons. For one, she was 22, 5 years younger than me, her career was bright and her smile wide, and yet anonymous sadsacks were able to torment her enough for no reason other than so they could bring a young woman down to make themselves feel better, as a person who underwent a lot of bullying at a young age - I was forced to eat dirt once in primary school - this did hit hard for me, because despite both deaths being tragic: Shad died because of the elements nobody can control, Hana died because of people, sad, despicable people and even though I never knew Hana or would’ve even been able to reach her, it sucks feeling that there was nothing we could do to help her. In conclusion, bullying sucks, and Excalibur put it aptly as many others have, it doesn’t cost a thing to be kind and if you’re struggling there’s people who’ll be there for you.

AEW Women’s Championship (No DQ or Count-Out) Nyla Rose (c) vs Hikaru Shida Winner: Hikaru Shida via Pinfall (’Three Count’ Knee Strike) Perhaps one of the best women’s matches AEW have put on, I was very looking forward to this matchup. I am not one of those people who disliked Rose winning the title, she (yes she, grow up) was a good, dominant heel and I bloody love that jumping knee strike. But I also love Shida, she’s been a consistent force in AEW, being a part of most of the Women’s Division’s best matches, also she as a person is very likeable. I have to add a note that while I’m not too familiar with Final Fantasy (Tumblr seems to think I am mind you), I did like the small Tifa Lockhart cosplay in Shida’s attire. In general the fancy entrances and attires were sadly limited by COVID, but when you did see them it did make it a little special because of its rarity. The No DQ stip was a good one, I did worry it would lead to Shida’s downfall but the storytelling revolving around Shida’s tenacity, Nyla’s brutality and the coveting of the kendo stick all really meshed together well. There were some solid spots and some proper brutal strikes. I appreciated the attention to the fact that Nyla’s arm and Shida’s leg were weakened and that came into play as they landed their big moves to a near fall. The finale though was good, following a beautiful sequence of an Avalanche Falcon Arrow and the weak-legged ‘Three Count’ at two, Shida’s resiliency proved too much for the native beast as she laid her out with a Kendo stick to the head and one more ‘Three Count’ for the eventual namesake. While Nyla’s reign was long, COVID did sadly prevent her from defending much and that was a shame, her only real defense being against Statlander, but it was the right call to pull the trigger on Shida. Like Asuka in WWE, she has been a consistent fan favourite with star aura, being No DQ also aided Nyla in saving face; Shida only won due to her Kendo strikes and out-of-ring spots, so it made her strong that it took that stipulation to bring her to her limit. I do welcome the type of storylines they’ll have to build opponents for Shida too, with Britt in recovery it gives her time before they can renew hostilities, which grants a platform for other heels to develop and challenge. Also do appreciate that the top titles were carded back-to-back, speaking of which...

AEW World Heavyweight Championship Jon Moxley (c) vs “The Exalted One” Mr. Brodie Lee Winner: Jon Moxley via KO by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) While the build to Moxley and Brodie started abrupt, one had to appreciate jumping at this matchup sooner rather than later. Both men were lacking a strong feud to go with since the Inner Circle were still involved with The Elite and SCU were being preoccupied with the TNT title. The Dark Order had gained a resurgence with the mystery of the Exalted One, and with some impressive squashes by Brodie and Preston Vance impressing as his new protegee ‘10′, things were looking decent for the faction, but this still remained a risky angle. For Brodie this would be a make or break moment for his character, he had already gotten some disdain as people compared his gimmick to a Vince McMahon caricature and questions rose on whether he was ready for this spot, if he wasn’t then the Dark Order would’ve fell to square one. But that didn’t happen. From the moment Brodie came out with his horde he exuded a brilliant amount of heel smugness, feeling as if being champion was already a certainty (I do also love how previously he had a minion carry the belt for him like a boxing entourage), the mind games already on display before the bell even rang. Moxley also looked raring to go, his usual swaying self with a bit of purpose and a lovely gold sprayed jacket as he strided to the ring, separated by a row of security to sell the animosity between the villain and the antihero. The match was very strong, a really enjoyable world title match that meshed the brawling styles of both men, the advantage going to and fro as Brodie used his power to gain advantage while Moxley used his unconventional assault - even grabbing Lee’s beard for a headbutt - and the outside of the ring with a lovely Paradigm Shift through the ramp that brought some believable (in the context of the spot) colour to Brodie’s face. The finish increased the pace in brilliant fashion as Brodie shockingly kicked out of the Paradigm Shift at one, from there Moxley looked desperately to put Brodie away before he could rally, hammering at the head wound before cleverly bringing Brodie down with a Rear Naked Choke. I was surprised a lot of people didn’t like that finish, it kept Brodie strong that he didn’t tap out and a rear naked choke is a great finish, it has legitimacy since it ends many UFC fights, it was smart as well because Brodie was bleeding, so on top of blood loss making him light-headed Moxley cut off his blood flow to his head to knock him out. You also have to appreciate this incorporation to Moxley’s moveset, adding submission means there’s a new way he can win and it comes from the MMA background of Hager, like the Gotch Piledriver adopted from Minoru Suzuki (and I have to say Kaze ni Nare whenever I see him do it), seeing Moxley adapt his moveset is a nice little tidbit that helps Moxley feel more studied in his experiences. Also side bar, god bless Leva Bates. In the past two matches she kept in-character and rescued a laptop from destruction. Her wrestling does need a bit of fine tuning but her character work is undeniably great. Overall, like Jungle Boy vs MJF, it did help the match not to have interference, it was two people decking each other to see who’s best and Moxley proved himself more ferocious. Brodie showed himself as a main event quality wrestler who looked good with the title on, pushing through assault multiple times to only be eked into defeat (unlike Archer). Hopefully his story furthers in either respecting that even he must strengthen or lashing out because of his weakness.

Stadium Stampede Match Winner: The Elite, ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy & ‘Hangman’ Adam Page via Pinfall (One-Winged Angel on Sammy Guevara) Well, that was surely something. Not to be outdone by MITB, the storied rivalry of The fractured Elite, Hangman and Matt Hardy against the Inner Circle went hilariously wild and creative with the Stadium Stampede and I loved every single second of it. I’ll try to remember everything in the match to praise so here goes; the Inner Circle’s entrance like an NFL team was great fun, would’ve liked them to jump out of a paper symbol of the Inner Circle but it didn’t take away from the entertainment value. The Elite started without Hangman as they charged at the IC to meet in the middle, some fighting in the ring and some out. Hangman won the entrance game though by ominously strolling on horseback as Sammy Guevara quickly read between the lines and bolted, only to have shaken off Hangman to return for a missed shooting star press on Matt and then a very nearly uncaught one out of the ring too. Not to be outdone, Matt Jackson - broken ribs and all - pulled off a crisp moonsault off the goal post of the stadium while the Bucks tussled with ‘Le Sex Gods’, Santana and Ortiz tussled with Omega and Hardy and Hager went to search for Hangman, who had since dismounted after locating the lobby bar. Kenny had a rough double powerbomb table spot which was quickly cut to replay in order to mask either Santana and/or Ortiz losing his footing on the table and fell off it, but the cut allowed that moment to be skipped as the tag team focused on Hardy. Broken Brilliance would ensue as the team would try to drown Matt in a swimming pool(!?) that happened to be a pool of reincarnation, surfacing Team Extreme ‘Classic Matt’ and then ‘V1 Matt’ with graphics of ‘MATTer of Fact’ that Santana and Ortiz hilariously acknowledged with confusion, all the while an underwater cam would film Matt still happily doing his Team Extreme/V1 hand gestures while drowning. Damascus resurfaced from the pool to deal with the duo, sending both through a table, immobilizing Ortiz by ringing a bell with his head inside and taping him to a ‘chair of wheels’ and then getting his own back by locking Santana in an ice box. I will have to say, while this was great fun with Matt, I do worry a little for Santana and Ortiz. The former LAX were one of the best tag teams in the world leaving Impact and I had hoped they’d take the tag titles in this feud, but they’ve been kept from it like the Bucks have, between the Lucha Bros, SCU, Best Friends and rumours of FTR, the pool does have a lot of strong teams and it’s easy to get lost in the fold. But back to the action, Hager finds Hangman enjoying a whiskey, after a brief ceasefire to drink the bar brawl hits the right notes of great western tropes, including cue stick strikes, Hager dragging Hangman across the bar stand and table spots. Hager looked really strong here, taking on Page and the arriving Omega before being sent wobbly by multiple bottles of bubbly to the head, followed by a V-Trigger and a Buckshot Lariat over the bar as Kenny platformed for Page’s flip, a nice resolution as the tag team get on the same page, sharing a whiskey and a milk. Stories returned to the stadium as the Bucks and Jericho had their own mixture of creative spots and comedy; Matt did a ‘100 yard’ chain of Northern Lights Suplexes onto Guevara while Jericho demanded a VAR replay on a 2 count from Aubrey Edwards (I love how involved Aubrey gets as well), Le Champion also sent Nick through a Jaguars jaguar head’s mouth and did a Judas Effect on the team mascot while Matt was penalized after his touchdown dance referencing Alan Wright, leading to the ref being Superkicked. The Bucks then were able to isolate Jericho and lay him out with Nick doing a bonkers splash through a table starting from the steps of the stadium all the way down to the field, added insult to injury following as Hangman drove over Jericho with a chalk liner But the star of the match had to be Guevara. That kid is a literal star, his expressions and delusion is so on point as well, Spanish gods bless him and his 1000+ lives. After recovering from the 100 yard suplex run, he collapsed onto sprinklers which turned on, his mindset loopy as he started celebrating thinking he won, his face slowly dropping perfectly as the return of the Golf Kart gave him flashbacks of a past death of his in the Tag Street Fight on a previous Dynamite. Sammy was a little wiser and faster though, escaping into the seats out of the Kart’s reach, he slowly ended up being cornered by Matt and Kenny as the Bucks and Hangman watched below, Guevara fended off Matt, but was distracted by Vanguard-1′s reincarnation, NEO-1, for Kenny to daze him. The finish coming as Kenny One-Winged Angel’d Sammy off the ramp to a crash mat below at an incredible height, Aubrey needing to climb a ladder to count the win. Afterwards, the Elite celebrated with Matt and Hangman, hinting that Hangman has reconciled with the Elite as graphics appeared again on the stadium, closing out the PPV. Fantastically bonkers match, but once again this match had a great story in the terms of how the Inner Circle lost. For weeks, the IC ended consecutive Dynamites with the advantage due to their masterful use of the numbers game, but in the Stadium Stampede they are defeated because they split ranks, together they were strong but alone they were broken down, it’s only when the likes of Hager, Jericho and Guevara were isolated did the Inner Circle begin to lose the tide. There was also the recurring elements of the Icebox, Matt’s Broken character, Nick’s prior injury by the IC, Kenny bringing the broom and Hangman’s Cowboy Shit and strained relationship with Kenny and the Bucks, not to mention the many deaths and PTSD of Sammy Guevara. Say what you will about the Elite favouring spots, but you cannot deny that even in this Inner Circle feud, they have made stars out of Guevara and Hangman, it isn’t just self-indulgence. I will say though, I was surprised not to see FTR make a jump, we already had the IC and Elite have graphics on the Stadium so I hoped that the final one would be FTR, but maybe they’re saving it, after all, Blood and Guts is still waiting to be used.

Final Thoughts Outside of the matches itself it was unique that foley crowd sounds were added in to add to immersion, if it weren’t the Empty Arena era of course it would be a down but under the circumstances it made the PPV feel bigger having at least some white noise. The roster as a crowd continues to be good as we saw various personnel react but not steal any spotlight. We do have to appreciate that AEW acknowledges some shortcomings such as the TNT title’s unfinished model and the injuries to Fénix and Baker. Production issues should not have persisted as long as they have, and while it may not all be AEW’s fault due to COVID and the alternate streaming services they must be aware that this will continue to be treated as a blemish, unfortunately whatever AEW does will be compared to WWE - like the Women’s and TNT title have or the respective pushes to select wrestlers. While the current wrestlers are doing well and Dark is providing a platform for local talent - some like Jay, Suge D, Vance and Angels capturing the eye of AEW - it’s worth not forgetting the roster still there; Janela, Kiss, Swole, Avalon, Leva, and practically anyone in the crowd of shows should be able to compete right? All of personnel are tested for COVID so I do appreciate the attention to safety but from a fan’s perspective you do hope that talent get proper exposure. I will also say that I think we’re reaching a threshold of ‘Legends managers’ for the singles men’s roster, we’re fine for now but you don’t want to overdo it. But, overall Double or Nothing was a solid and enjoyable show, had some fun moments and strong matches. While I found the Archer finish and the Spears match disagreeable, it wasn’t too much of a down to ruin the show, the highs still outweighed the lows and there was still a good amount of variety, decent pacing due to good card positioning and nothing overstayed its welcome. We’ve got intriguing directions now too as we build to Fyter Fest; a feud between Moxley and Cage, Cody and the TNT title, fallout for Brodie and Archer’s losses, Best Friends in the tag title hunt, Britt Baker on promo and new champion Shida waiting for us in anticipation of the next show.

[ducktracy]

60. shuffle off to buffalo (1933)

release date: july 8th, 1933

series: merrie melodies

director: rudolf ising and friz freleng

starring: johnny murray (old man/little boy), the rhythmettes (singing babies)

an early 30s baby bottleneck! an old man is in charge of sending storks to deliver babies to their rightful parents, and we get an inside look at the process.

a flock of storks are carrying their weight in babies, their wings flapping to a jazzy and addicting underscore of “shuffle off to buffalo” (another song from the musical 42nd street). the animation is done particularly well, especially when more storks emerge from the windows of a tower, flying in opposite directions and overlapping with each other. one of the storks flies straight towards the camera, a baby crying and opening its mouth, segueing us into the next scene.

writing in a book, sitting at a messy desk with papers strewn about and telephones galore is an old man. he takes a few calls, the phones seldom providing any relief (like a less frenetic, more orderly version of daffy answering all the phones in baby bottleneck) as he answers “okay” over and over again.

one call in particular grabs his attention. we don’t hear what the other man is saying except for garbled nonsense, but the old man replies “yes sir! what a man!” in delight. he grabs a stray paper off his desk and reads it, which says “please send us twins. hopefully, mr. + mrs. nanook of the north”, the paper dated july 1933 and sourced from the north pole. nanook from the north is in reference to the 1922 documentary of the same name.

the man shuffles his way to a freezer, opening it to reveal two inuit babies inside wearing parkas. funny gag, would be funnier if the babies weren’t so... stereotypical. unfortunately, there’s a lot of that happening in this cartoon. well, not a LOT, but any amount of stereotyping feels like a lot. he places the babies in two swaddles carried by a stork, one labeled “upper birth” and one labeled “lower birth”. the stork takes off and leaves the man to his duties.

he reads another paper, this time in hebrew (i’m sure you can see where this is going). he can’t decipher it, scratching his head, and places it in a basket attached to a pulley system above him. the basket is sent to the “stock room” and a stereotypical jewish baby with curly hair and a big nose returns to him. safe to say i don’t think i need to explain why that’s not good.

the man stamps the baby’s diaper, deeming him kosher. of course, this is a very opportune time to launch into the eponymous “shuffle off to buffalo”. the baby carries on the song, dancing his way into a nursery where baby backup singers provide vocals—including a baby caricature of maurice chevalier. very catchy song, another earworm for the collection!

similarities between this and baby bottleneck just keep on coming! we get a glimpse of the “baby factory” if you will, run by elves(?). it’s parallel almost exactly to the one in baby bottleneck, same gags and inventions. raymond scott’s “powerhouse” is sorely missed! in 4 more years he’d release it, and the world would never be the same since.

babies are thrown into a washing machine and dried via roller towel and a nozzle connected to a fan. talcum powder is grinder onto them, much like a pepper grinder, and there’s a bar that flips the babies onto their stomachs so they can be powdered once more (same gag in baby bottleneck, though the bar flips them over so they can get swaddled). paper towels are substituted for diapers (that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen!) and are stapled shut with a staple gun. man, i think even porky and daffy had safer safety practices, even though they did almost get ripped to shreds in their own factory. at least they had actual diapers! to make it even worse, one of the babies cries, and an elf throws it into the washing machine again and leaves his post! there’s also a scene (again parallel exactly to baby bottleneck) where the babies are fed milk through a crank operated tube, like a gas station. finally, the babies are dropped off in bassinets and sent out to be delivered. do all this and you’ll have your very own factory made baby in no time!

the babies waiting to be delivered are fussy, screaming and crying. one of the elves snaps and insists “WELL, WHADDAYA WANT? WHADDAYA WANT?” of course, the babies cry for their hero, eddie cantor! this totally threw me for a loop. i love it! even if you don’t know who he is, the fact that the babies will only be pacified by a celebrity is a hilarious concept in itself.

to make matters even funnier, an elf make his way into the nursery and takes off his mask (you meddling kids!), and it’s none other than eddie cantor. our hero! he sings “shuffle off to buffalo” call and response with a group of babies. very entertaining to watch and listen to, and just full of absurd goodness.

one of cantor’s lines include “i can impersonate ed wynn,” and sure enough he turns into a caricature of radio star turned actor ed wynn, warbling horribly off key. we then get our fill of MORE stereotypes, including a stereotypical chinese baby singing some lines and a pair of blackface caricatured babies dancing offscreen.

one of the elves pull a curtain, and behind it cantor is playing the piano, complete with an elven orchestra. i adore how bizarre this is! not nearly as bizarre as baby bottleneck, but also equally as bizarre in terms of concept. i don’t know about you, but when i think of babies, i think of 1930s radio personality and singer eddie cantor. don’t you?

there isn’t much else to describe—cantor continues to play and the babies get a kick out of it. the show ends and we fade out as the curtain draws to a close on cantor.

obviously, this cartoon had a fair amount of stereotypes, which were quite cringeworthy and awkward. didn’t age well at all. but aside from that (with that acknowledged and considered), this was a good cartoon! upbeat, bizarre, and swingy. of course, i MUCH prefer baby bottleneck, which is a lot better in execution, in animation, in practically everything—but it’s also tied for my favorite cartoon of all time, so i have my biases. this was a good effort, though! another merrie melody that didn’t really feel sentimental, just silly and bizarre. let’s put these celebrity caricatures in here for the hell of it, huh? i’d recommend it! “shuffle off to buffalo” should be criminal for how much of an earworm it is. if you do watch it, obviously view at your discretion with a few of the stereotyped babies.

link!

[doomonfilm]

Review : The Irishman (2019)

As iconic a director as Martin Scorsese is, most modern-day film fans only know him for one thing : his statement about Marvel movies not being cinema.  Nevermind the classic run he had from Mean Streets to Shutter Island, or his immeasurable influence on cinema of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, many have just written him off as a bitter old man whose time has come and gone.  Scorsese, however, clearly has no plans on relinquishing his influential grasp on cinema, as he teamed up with Netflix to save his current passion project, The Irishman. 

As Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) sits in a nursing home, he recounts his times connected to the Bufalino family and their criminal exploits.  Sheeran reflects upon his time as a hitman for Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), the way that his lifestyle impacted his family relationships, and his close relationship with the iconic Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).  As the years pass, Sheeran watches his friends succumb to the evils of the world... some pass at the hands of others, and some die of natural causes.  Eventually, Sheeran attempts to reconcile his damaged family ties in the wake of his impending death.

The Irishman is a return to form for a director that is widely known as a master of his craft.  While Scorsese does have range in regards to the stories he tells, no other director can tell crime family and mafioso stories quite like he can, and this film is a testament to his ability to tell these stories masterfully from decade to decade.  While many of his previous mafia films have been based on real people and contain references to real-life events, The Irishman takes on one of the most notorious figures in the form of the giant that is Jimmy Hoffa, so Scorsese pulls out all the stops in regards to his bag of tricks.  Iconic actors and actresses are cast as legendary figures of the criminal underworld, with referential footnotes provided for bigger picture context in regards to what roles they played and how long they lived, which parallels to both the film’s massive run-time and the irony of Frank Sheeran outliving everyone despite how dirty his hands became.  Scorsese’s affinity for outsiders becoming deeply immersed in the worlds he illustrates is heavily present as well, as Sheeran becomes connected in ways that no non-Italian was previously allowed, or probably allowed since.

The Scorsese and DeNiro tandem has presented some fascinating character studies over the years, and The Irishman continues this tradition.  This time around, we are presented with story of a man that is locked into the ideas of honor and loyalty for what many would consider a dishonorable lifestyle.  It is never really made clear whether or not his motivations lie in something that Sheeran is missing as a former soldier, or something closer to an adoration for the figures that populate the world of the Mafia, but what is certainly clear is that whatever motivation it may be drives Sheeran nearly to the point of blind devotion for figures that fought epic, life-altering battles over minor personal squabbles and power games.  This, however, does not mask the fact that the influence these men had changed the course of American history on more than one occasion, and Sheeran essentially played fixer to anyone who would not accept their role in this drastic course changing.  As previously mentioned, the narrative irony lies in the fact that near the end of his life, all of the figures that Sheeran looked up to passed away, and all that he was left with were his memories of a time that most people are unaware of or care little about (other than for entertainment value), and he is forced to live this life in solitude due to the way that his choices fractured his relationship with his family.

Scorsese is a man that does not stray far from the tools that he has established to tell stories, and much of his familiar visual and sonic language is present in The Irishman.  First and foremost, the soundtrack is solid from front to back, putting you in the proper state of mind for both mood and timeframe with each musical cue that is presented.  His long steadycam shots are also present, though they are much more methodical in nature rather than used for show.  Scorcese hearkens back to films like Goodfellas with his portrayal of stylized violence and explosions of classic cars, and at times, even frenetic cuts or camera moves that create a sense of uneasiness.  Honestly, at this point, Scorsese fans know what to expect from him, and luckily, his skill has not dulled with age.  The one (minor) knock I could give the film is that the de-aging, while shaving a few years off of the actors face, does not hide the fact that these men are older, very similar to how Samuel L. Jackson still moved like an old man in Captain Marvel, despite movie magic turning back the clock on his face and hair.

The combination of DeNiro, Pesci and Pacino is powerful and palatable, as the moments shared between the combinations of actors and the given scenarios leap off the screen... DeNiro especially shines, as he has always had an innate ability to communicate worlds of information strictly through the ways that his eyes convey a thought process.  Seeing actors like Ray Romano and Bobby Cannavale in this movie makes me wish they’d been around for the older Scorsese films.  Anna Paquin does a good job of manifesting the fractured nature of the family, and her chemistry with Pacino is interesting, but works well.  Harvey Keitel manages to use his presence to great effect, opting to use minimal dialogue and implement a steady, intimidating gaze.  Stephanie Kurtzuba and Kathrine Narducci make their presence known around DeNiro and Pacino without sacrificing themselves as tropes or caricatures.  Jesse Plemons does what he does, but it also works, despite his looks making him stand out from the rest of those present in the film.  Jack Huston steps firmly into the shoes of RFK, as does Sebastian Maniscalco in his wonderful portrayal of Crazy Joe (who I wouldn’t mind seeing in his own film).  The cast is stacked from top to bottom, and performances of note include Welker White, Domenick Lombardozzi, Paul Herman, Louis Cancelmi, Gary Basaraba, Marin Ireland, Steven Van Zandt, Bo Dietl, Daniel Jenkins, Paul Ben-Victor, plus cameos from Jim Norton, Action Bronson, Patrick Gallo and Jake Hoffman.

As much as folks do not appreciate Scorsese’s views on what does or does not constitute cinema, having films like The Irishman is his oeuvre certainly validates any opinion he chooses to share.  If you can manage to set aside the three-plus hours this film demands of your attention, I highly recommend diving in.

[opallene]

You’ve Got a Friend in Me

So... This might be little known about me, but I was deeply into the Toy Story fandom (such as it is/was) back when Toy Story 3 came out in 2010.  Yes, I saw the original films as a child in theaters, and yes, Toy Story 3 shattered and wildly surpassed any expectations I might have had going in.  It was immediately, and I believe still is, my favorite film.  Period.  My love for Toy Story 3 is many layers deep.  I’ve produced fanfiction (the latter of which has suddenly aged poorly in some respects with the introduction of TS4!) and a carefully curated fanmix that I am still very proud of and still enjoy myself in regular rotation.

So now I’ve seen Toy Story 4.  It was certainly a good movie, and also certainly an entertaining entry in the Toy Story saga.  Did it live up to its predecessor?  No, it didn’t, but I didn’t necessarily expect it to, because that would be a very difficult feat to accomplish at this point.  But it had some very strong narrative points, which I’ll attempt to dissect and discuss.

Spoilers for Toy Story 4 ahead.

The thing is - Even though each entry in the series was probably written to be “final” at the time, TS3 brought a level of narrative closure and completeness that the previous films hadn’t.  3 made a perfect trilogy.  The end of TS3 led everyone to a metaphorical life-after-life.  Their struggles (literally to hell and back) complete, they could finally relax and be their truest selves, “into the wild blue yonder.”

Maybe I was forgetting that every film was actually very much about Woody, and that there were still lessons he could learn (and thereby teach the audience).  By the end of TS3, Woody had finally overcome his laserlike loyalty to a particular person -- But, we now realize, not his loyalty to his “career,” and to his very rigid ideas about how to perform that function.

(1) Single-child “Ownership”.  This idea has been out there throughout the series -- Either you’re an “owned” toy belonging to a particular person, or you’re “lost” (with a generally negative connotation, up until now).  This distinction has been drawn in especially black-and-white terms by Woody himself, while the other toys have been open to a gray area in the middle (e.g. Sunnyside Daycare, TS3).  In TS4, Woody is challenged to consider the extreme other end from his position - and lo and behold, he experiences firsthand the merits of it (namely, charitable work to enable other toys to live out their purpose) and decides it’s a shift in thinking that he can live with.  By the end of the film - radical character growth accomplished.

(2) Leadership means always being in charge.  This was made plain in the beginning of the film.  It’s difficult for Woody to fit in when there’s already an established leader, and he just can’t take orders.  He continues to act erratically (listening to his “inner voice” and acting on what he thinks is best) throughout the movie.  When he’s really out of his element (and his solitary efforts fail), Bo Peep is the only one who succeeds in “leading” him.  Woody finally learns to take a back seat when there’s an expert around.

Did Woody make the right decision at the end of the film?  For purely personal (sob sob sob) reasons, I want to say “WHAT, how could they?!”  For narrative reasons, I’ll resoundingly say Yes.  For all the talk Woody has done about the cycle of childhood, “Watching them grow up and then go on to do other things that you never get to see,” and so on, Woody himself has been stuck in a childlike mode perpetually.  Now, he has finally gotten to mature.

Exhibit A: He experiences a genuine (romantic) peer-to-peer connection and eventually throws himself into investing in it.  I’ve always seen the toy-child relationship as a deified one; a duty that must be done; the only way to Know your Creator, religious overtones and all that.  Personally, as a nonreligious person, I am rejoicing inside more than I thought possible to see Woody finally free himself from that dogmatism and to put some focus on an equal, of-his-own-world partnership.  He’s broadened his horizons in terms of the types of love that are out there to be had.

Exhibit B: He learns a new type of altruism that is completely non-self-serving (unless you count the positive emotion of gratification as self-serving, but that’s a whole other argument to be had).  Let’s face it: Pretty much everything Woody has ever done up until now has been fairly transparently self-serving, even when it’s under the guise of altruism.  He is even called out for it point-blank by Bo in this movie.  (Yess!)  I’m actually very impressed with how the whole “voice box transfer” went down.  Gabby started out as your conventional villain, but all it took was an appeal to logic to obtain Woody’s willing participation.  Woody was at a vulnerable place emotionally, but I do not believe he was ultimately taken advantage of.  Gabby’s logic was accurate and convincing.  Organ donation is by definition one of the most selfless things a person can do.  After donating his non-essential voicebox, Woody goes on to witness new life breathed into another (and, that person doing what she was meant to do) as a direct result of his gift.  In the end, Woody stays on with Bo Peep and the others to perform more “matchmaking” acts of getting toys together with children.  The thing that Woody can no longer do himself, he can go on to pay forward through others and make a greater impact in that way.  Ultimately, this is how I now see and accept that Toy Story 3 didn’t have to be the end, much as it seemed it should be at the time.

And plus, I like crying at movies.  If I’m crying, it means they did something right.

There was one thing that kinda bothered me.  As "good with toys” as Bonnie was supposed to be, she really cast Woody aside.  Even when Woody and Forky both went missing together, there was nary a mention of Woody’s absence.  Brutal.  I understand why they had to do this -- to drive Woody’s emotional crisis, to further establish that he really wasn’t needed in his current post and to free him to choose his own path at the end.  Also, kids will be kids, and it’s realistic for a child to act that way.  Still.  Brutal. ;(

I was also disappointed not to see much of Buzz and Jessie’s romantic relationship in this movie (I fell for them, HARD, in TS3), but - This was Woody’s movie.  Woody’s and Bo Peep’s - It was their turn.  And you can be darn sure, I Felt the Feels.  Shout-out to the lighting and color storyboardist(s) for the entire ending sequence of the film.  It was perfect. :’)

The pace, at times, was also frenetic.  Being a toy has always been portrayed as a stressful existence, but in TS4 it felt like every-time-you-blink-augh-there-he-goes-again-I’m-stressed-out-by-all-the-constant-separation!!

In all, TS4 wasn’t as sweeping of a narrative as TS3, and the themes were nowhere near as universal.  It’s hard to beat themes of aging, becoming a burden, feeling your obsolescence, confronting your inevitable mortality (TS3) - And although TS4 obviously touched on the big theme “Why am I here?”, it seemed a little directionless in its execution of that.  Are we supposed to relate to Forky’s exhibiting constant suicidal tendencies until he’s taught there is a good reason for him not to be that way? (?)  Most living creatures, including humans, have an innate self-preservation instinct, and the will not to live arises under extenuating circumstances, so that didn’t particularly ring true to me.

Where TS4 really shone was in its treatment of Woody’s character specifically.  I was pleasantly surprised to see his character elevated another level.  There are lessons we can all learn here.  It was no TS3, but it was still quite solid and I’m sure it will be getting many of my repeated viewings!

Thanks for reading...Hit me up if you’d like to chat about Toy Story!

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 8/6/19

Dr. STONE, Vol. 6 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – So it turns out that the current non-turned-to-stone population are all descended from Senku’s dad and the rest of the crew of the space shuttle, which is honestly more about Byakuya’s faith in his son to eventually save the day even if it takes hundreds of years. Back in the present, Tsukasa and the followers that he’s amassed are planning to invade the village and destroy what Senku has accomplished, but little do they know that Senku has the power of RIDICULOUS SHONEN SCIENCE on his side. The best thing about this volume is that we’re starting to see the non-Senku cast actually come up with inventions—the water wheel revelation was great, and Senku knows it. Dumb fun, masquerading as smart fun. – Sean Gaffney

Farewell, My Dear Cramer, Vol. 1 | By Naoshi Arakawa | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Midori Soshizaki and Sumire Suo played girls’ soccer for different teams in middle school, but Soshizaki is so taken with Suo’s play that she volunteers to go to whichever high school Suo chooses. Suo, accustomed to being the only one really trying on her team, feels kinship with another girl on a lousy team, and so she and Soshizaki both end up at Warabi Seinan, whereupon a couple of other talented players show up along with a new coach, since the current one sees no future in girls’ soccer and isn’t interested in doing his job. This was a pleasant start to a series, but the soccer action isn’t as easy to follow as in other titles I’ve read, and it quickly veers away from the two leads to focus on another teammate. I’ll definitely keep reading, though! – Michelle Smith

Love in Focus, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nogiri | Kodansha Comics – I had forgotten that this was a series that ended in three volumes, but I would have remembered anyway given the rapidity with which Kei and Mako get together and just as quickly break up. “Let’s date first and fall in love later” rarely works in shoujo manga, especially when you’re the blond, who almost always loses out to the brunet. That happens here as well, as dating Kei does help Mako realize her feelings—for Mitsuru. That said, though the plot beats were very predictable, I thought Mako and Mitsuru’s dialogue was sweet and pure in a shoujo sort of way, and I also liked how the “stalker” plot was resolved. As with the author’s previous series, this was decent but not good enough for long-term. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 20 | By Kohei Horikoshi | VIZ Media – I’m sorry to say that I just can’t muster up much interest for Gentle Criminal and La Brava, the villain and his acolyte who get in Midoriya’s way when he’s trying to get back to campus in time for class 1A’s performance at the school festival. Once their fight is finally over, though, it’s time for the feels. The focus on Jiro here is pretty brief, but oh so welcome, and that two-page spread of her smiling so radiantly while performing is incredible. And then, just a few pages later, there’s Mirio who is suddenly moved to tears because Eri, the girl he sacrificed so much to save, is having the time of her life. I love Mirio and Eri together, and I also love Aizawa rushing to be with Todoroki when his dad, now the number-one hero, is injured on live TV. Plus, there’s Hawks! This volume has much goodness. – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia: Smash!!, Vol. 1 | By Kohei Horikoshi and Hirofumi Neda | VIZ Media – I’m not really a gag manga sort of person, so I didn’t expect much from My Hero Academia: Smash!!. But despite the warning from creator (and Horikoshi assistant) Hirofumi Neda that it was going to be crude, I actually thought it was quite fun! It follows along with the early events of the main story, up until the first attack by the League of Villains. Often, familiar scenes are subverted in some way, like All Might’s “you can be a hero” moment turning into a sales pitch for vitamins, but sometimes they’re expounded upon in genuinely intriguing ways, like showing how Yaoyorozu used her quirk in the fitness tests Aizawa devised. (I also liked that her classmates now prefer Yaoyorozu brand erasers.) Also, I think one panel features a tiny puking Jesus. To my surprise, I’m looking forward to volume two! – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 5 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court | Viz Media – This volume definitely felt like the fifth book in a four-book series, a constant danger when something gets really popular. Knuckleduster’s plot is resolved, and so he very pointedly, with one or two exceptions, withdraws from the series. Instead we see Pop Step and the Crawler trying to be vigilantes on their own and rapidly coming to a realization, which is underscored by licensed heroes yelling at them—they’re not powerful enough to do much more than get in the way. That said, I did enjoy seeing Midnight in her “casual” clothes, and the kid singers were very cute. A series that has turned a corner but not yet hit the next long straightaway. – Sean Gaffney

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 1 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – The manga adaptation of one of my favorite recent light novels didn’t have to go very far to impress me, just adapt the novel as well as it could. There’s obviously stuff that’s cut to fit (Katarina’s parents’ relationship gets a one-panel explanation), but it handles introducing the main cast well, and cuts the “alternate POV” parts which would have made the manga repetitive. Best of all is the prose short story at the end, seeing Katarina having a nightmare about the villainess her otome game self is supposed to be, and the bad choices that she makes which our Katarina can’t stop her from despite yelling inside her head. Definitely get this if you like the novels. – Sean Gaffney

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 4 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – This is moving at a galloping pace for a romantic comedy, especially one with quintuplet heroines. There’s the bad—Ichika pursuing her dream would mean leaving school, which would mean Futaro losing tutoring money—and there’s the worse—various people getting bad, bad colds due to the weather and circumstance, which leads to a mass search for Itsuki and a bedside vigil for Futaro, whose cold of course turns out to be the worst of all. We also get another flash forward reminding us that he does eventually marry one of them, but continuing to not tell us who. Don’t expect that to be resolved till the final page of the series. For fans of harem comedy/dramas. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 6 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – Anubis has finally given in and allowed a trial period for Sariphi to be Queen Consort. Unfortunately, we then see the problems that this causes, which is that the majority of the populace still isn’t ready for a human girl as the Queen. Fortunately, Sariphi is made of pretty stern stuff, and even when she’s down there are folks who can cheer her up. This allows her to resolve the fractured relationship between a mother and daughter, as well as give Amit the courage to give a token to her beloved Jor, even though as a soldier he may not be able to return that love. Honestly, this does continue to remind me a lot of Fruits Basket, but that’s not especially a bad thing. – Sean Gaffney

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 | By Honda | Yen Press – My first exposure to Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san was through its anime adaptation. I’ve not actually watched the show, but I’ve seen enough screencaps of the titular skeleton dramatically reacting to a wide range of customer service exchanges to reasonably expect that I would love the original series. And, after reading the first volume of the manga, I can definitively say that I absolutely do. To a large extent the manga is autobiographical, based on Honda’s experiences as a clerk in the manga department of a large Tokyo bookstore. It provides entertaining insights into the life of a bookseller, showing the challenges presented by customers, publishing schedules, corporate management, and just trying to keep the shelves appropriately stocked. This could be rather dry as a subject, but in Honda’s hands the portrayal of bookselling is delightfully humorous, intense, and over-the-top in a way that is both engaging and still incredibly honest. – Ash Brown

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 | By Honda | Yen Press – I’ve seen the first few episodes of the Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san anime and this is going to be one of those rare occasions where I have to admit that I kind of like the anime more than the manga. Certainly, Honda-sensei depicts the bookstore (specifically its manga department) as a place way more hectic than I ever anticipated, but that frenetic energy (and the kookiness of his often-foreign customers) just translates better to the animated medium, I think. That said, this volume has a lot to recommend it, particularly if you want a glimpse of what Japanese booksellers think of the global readership manga has obtained. Read it, but maybe watch it, too. – Michelle Smith

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 11 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – I’d long been wanting more basketball in Waiting for Spring, and I finally got my wish in this volume. The latest tournament has begun, and if the Seiryo boys want to repeal the no-dating rule, they have to win. They make to the finals league, where they’re up against Aya’s team, Hojo, and though Seiryo ends up losing, there’s still hope due to the structure of the tournament. Aya realizes his kind of love expected Mitsuki to never grow or change whereas her love for Asakura inspires her to try new things and set goals for herself, so he seemingly steps aside though he does talk about returning (he’s apparently moving back to American) once she’s grown up. Anyway, this is a cute series that I like a lot and though I don’t expect many surprises from its final two volumes, I nonetheless look forward to reading them. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

[nikitasbt]

The Assassin (刺客聶隱娘, 2015): the quintessence of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s visual style

The journey of Taiwanese New Wave director and a living god of Oriental cinema Hou Hsiao-Hsien has been very long and hopefully, it is not over yet. There were many rumors on his new film starring Shu Qi, though it is not confirmed if a 72-years-old master would release it or not. Till date, his latest film is The Assassin (2015) which became another feature receiving mixed reviews in his home country Taiwan and becoming quite acclaimed in Europe. The film had brought Hou Hsiao-Hsien the award for Best Director at Cannes Film Festival, his second reward at Cannes.

According to Hou Hsian-Hsien himself, the modern audience in Taiwan has been changing a lot during the last years with the further expansion of the Internet. His films have always been not for farm obscurity in Taiwan, as the viewers there still watch Hollywood films of a different sort. Now it is even more challenging for Hou to entertain the viewers, and it seems like The Assassin was doomed to be praised only in Europe. We can't say the film is not dramatic, but it requires utmost attention towards aesthetics, patience, and full immersion into the visuality of the world created by Hou Hsian-Hsien. You can't skip anything, and The Assassin is sort of enchantment you fall under. Unfortunately, such spells might be unable to penetrate many viewers, yet it doesn't make the film of Hou less vivacious.

The Assassin is based on a plot revolving around the outstanding professional assassin Nie Yinniang and adapts for the screen the ninth-century Chinese story written by Pei Xing. The girl was betrayed by her family and sent to the monastery high in the hills to be brought up. From the age of ten, Yinniang was raised by nuns in exile and trained to become an assassin. She slays the victims assassinating different officials and big-wigs. Yinniang is impeccable in her skills, but her heart doesn't allow to execute some killings she considers dishonorable. In order to test Yinniang's spirit and resolve, her superior gives her the task to kill Yinniang's own cousin Tian Ji'an (portrayed by Chang Chen) who also used to be betrothed to her. She hasn't gotten over the feelings to him, as we learn later. Moreover, the family drama had deeply affected her being, and the assassins’ wounds don’t get healed with the years passing by. While encountering Tian Ji’an, she also meets his wife, concubine, father, other assassins and many other extra characters forming the story. In short words, the plot is all about Yinniang's inner fight between the resolve to follow the orders and her heart's desire to contradict them. However, the way Hou delivers the story is very mysterious and not quite clear, so many viewers might be confused. It doesn’t bother the director so much, as the plot is not a thing of drastic importance in The Assassin.

Commonly for Hou, the plot of the film is not something the viewers would be really paying attention at. Just like for example in Shanghai Flowers or A City of Sadness there is nothing much going on, in terms of action. The Assassin is de-facto a wuxia film, but there are very few instances where the characters cross their weapons. These scenes don't stand out in the beauty of combat but come up to emphasize the drama. But the real action is missing, and this is Hou's intention. The majority of viewers would try to follow this simple plot for the first 20-30 minutes and then they are to decide whether to immerse fully into the visual sophistication of The Assassin or to give it up.

The visuality and imagery of The Assassin are on the highest peaks of Hou's style development. It's hardly unlikely you would find so many vivid and sophisticated landscapes depicted in such manner in other films. The way Hou shows them is hard to describe as these landscapers swamp your mind and immerse into the old times you can really feel and taste. This is realistic and beautiful as in the epic legend at the same time. The work on decorations is absolutely impeccable. It reminds of Shanghai Flowers very much, but this time all props are even more tense, bright and gorgeous. There are very few locations in the film, but both nature spots and buildings are made in a perfect way emphasizing the significance of every littlest thing. The design of costumes is also just classy - watching Yinniang wearing her black outfits and her hair is one-of-a-kind experience leaving you enthralled and mesmerized.

As I already mentioned, the film falls short in the narrative part, and we just need to ignore the concept of domination of the narration in the cinema. The only way to watch The Assassin is to let the stream carry you wherever it goes and to observe every detail. The pace of the film is extremely slow and hypnotic, this is the real example of Oriental arthouse where the visual delights overwhelm all other parts of the film. However, it is very different from those Asian wuxia films that became very popular in the United States. Unlike those films, The Assassin is not really moving and it doesn't give a glimpse into "bizarre Asian culture" and crazy sword fights with wild visual effects. Hou’s film would fascinate those who are already deep into Oriental romance, drama, and culture. Hou Hsiao-Hsien is not against editing, but we see that he still employes slow dramatic close-ups and long takes to avoid too much of montage. The camera work is never frenetic. Camera sashays with tremendous grace, slowly immersing the viewers into the boundless of The Assassin. It feels like the time had stopped, as Hou's camera reveal this adorable dream.

Shu Qi's role of Yinniang is worth mentioning in separate articles and passages. A haunting and mysterious assassin would say only a few words when the film opens. The next time we hear Yinniang talking would be somewhere at the second hour of the run. Her role doesn't presume many expressions, as she lacks emotions. This illustrates the battle inside the protagonist. Many viewers might be alienated by the fact that her face doesn't change often, but there is something magical and enigmatic about her look emphasizing this Oriental drama. Shu Qi is wrapped into the beauty of The Assassin’s costumes, decorations, landscapes, diversity of bright colours and stunning images, yet everything revolves around her, and she is able to be perfect till the very end where she slowly walks away during the ending credits. Perhaps, it was a difficult work for Chang Chen to play his part as he is completely overshadowed by Shu Qi in her most exuberant and memorable role in the cinema so far.

To sum up, The Assassin is a truly Oriental romance many viewers would find dull and slow. From the other hand, for those who enjoy the boundless dimensions of the Oriental world's sophistication and mood, The Assassin would be an unforgettable delight. The film lacks a coherent narrative part, but it is extremely beautiful. It entertains with sublime visual methods of Hou Hsiao-Hsien and kills with the performance of Shu Qi playing this haunting and alluring assassin Yinniang. Once again, Hou decided to rely upon visuality, and this is a challenge the Taiwanese New Wave master accepts. He encounters the world of modern cinema where the film has to come up with moving action and call upon the similar instincts and predilection of the audience raised on the Hollywood rubbish and clips where you can always skip half or even more without losing anything. Hou Hsiao-Hsien keeps making his films against all odds, despite some adjustments. His style remains unique, and the beauty of The Assassin is worth millions of faceless features. The Assassin is another great achievement of his career and one of the best modern Oriental films I have seen.

[saiyukisecretsanta-blog]

Gift for: imaginary_dragonling From: seedling-lotus Title: Learning Curve Characters: Hakkai, Gojyo Genre: Gen Rating: T

~~~

Trying the qi blast had been an experiment of sorts. He hadn’t really expected it to work. Not really. It had sort of been a joke.

It shouldn’t have worked.

But it had.

Hakkai couldn’t help but toy with it. The very concept of it was fascinating. Using qi as a weapon. Pure spiritual energy manifested as a destructive force.

Spiritual energy in and of itself wasn’t destructive, however. Hakkai frequently used his sense of it to keep track of his companions. It also made detecting threats a bit easier even if it was mostly unnecessary.

Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, fiction loved to play with using spiritual energy to heal. Hakkai had a passing familiarity with the concept, but he didn’t know how…

How could spiritual energy be used to heal a physical wound? Did it simply encourage cell growth and regeneration to close a wound? Or was it more along the lines of using it as some form of glue to hold wounds closed until the body could heal them itself?

By the same token, how did spiritual energy cause physical wounds? Was there something in the act of manifesting it that allowed it to react with the physical world? Did it just react with normal, molecular energy, or could it only affect other living beings? Or did it not matter entirely? Did manifesting qi make it inherently volatile? Could it be harnessed more delicately? More sharply?

He wanted to spend hours studying all of it. To take the process apart to it’s simplest core and figure out exactly how he’d done it instead of just accepting that he could. Could he change the power level and only stun their opponents? Or did the amount of spiritual energy an opponent had at their disposal effect how well Hakkai’s own attacks would work against them?

Trying to analyze all of it in stolen minutes during the day was difficult to say the least of it. It made him almost miss his days at University. That academic environment would have been perfect for this sort of study. Would have been a place he could have safely experimented with the different aspects instead of riding by the seat of his pants.

He didn’t much like the feeling of having so little knowledge or control. But Hakkai supposed that he never would have had this opportunity during university.

Hakkai did his best to concentrate on his own qi. He meditated on it while he made them dinner in the evenings they were out camping. He tried to notice the way that it felt when he summoned a blast to buy them a couple seconds of breathing room during an attack. He tried to hone his attacks into something less draining. Something he could use more than once or twice a fight. Something that didn’t leave him light-headed and woozy

And in the quiet hours late at night, he tried to use his qi to heal. The qi orb he used to attack burned when he pressed it into his own skin. But it didn’t cause him harm, which had been interesting to note. Trying to direct his own qi internally to heal a wound took many hours of intense concentration to even heal a small scrape. It wasn’t efficient in any sense of the word, and only left Hakkai exhausted.

Maybe with a couple hundred years of practice he could hone the skill into something he could use in a practical manner. For now, it simply took too much concentration. It was something to entertain himself with in the quiet hours, nothing more.

But the others.

Hakkai couldn’t quite help but notice that the better he got at sensing with his own qi, the easier he could feel theirs. Sanzo’s was something soothing and quiet, flowing smoothly. Almost like the gentle eddies of a breeze or a calm creek. Goku’s qi felt like something deep and old, but with an added layer of frenetic energy on top. It felt like the way everything seemed to come to life in spring, slowly and all at once. It reminded Hakkai keenly of a wellspring. Gojyo’s qi was a at once dark and burning. It twisted around itself, almost at war.

All of this was infinitely more obvious when he was tending to their wounds after one skirmish or another. Especially when he got their blood on his skin. It felt like their qi was brushing up against his skin then. Leaking slowly out in their blood. A fizzing electric sensation along Hakkai’s senses that never quite reached his nerves.

At first, he hesitated to bring his own qi into the equation. He could only manifest it as a ball of destructive force right now, and burning their wounds into something larger would not help them heal. Especially since it seemed more like an acidic burn than one cause by heat.

It took Hakkai three days to figure out how to manifest his qi differently. It welled in his hands kind of like water, but never spilling over. Soft orange light glowed through, against, above his skin. And when he pressed that qi to his own arm, it felt… soothing. Cool and at the same time warm, like a breeze on a summer’s day. Or something like that.

“The hell is that, ‘Kai?”

Hakkai jumped, light fading from his palms as Gojyo sat down next to him. Hakkai sighed, frowning slightly before he offered Gojyo a polite smile.

“Just practicing,” Hakkai said.

“What, you gonna slap people to death now?” Gojyo snorted. A crooked smirk pulled at his wide mouth and Hakkai laughed quietly.

“Practicing control,” Hakkai explained. “Maybe if I can control it I can heal with it.”

“Heal? With qi?” Gojyo said, tipping his head. He frowned at Hakkai’s hands for a moment. “Well that’d be mighty convenient, wouldn’t it?”

“So far, no,” Hakkai chuckled. “It takes too much concentration.”

“You’ve done it?” Gojyo asked.

“I’ve used it on myself,” Hakkai admitted.

“Like that?” Gojyo asked, gesturing vaguely towards Hakkai’s hands with a cigarette. Hakkai watched him light it out of the corner of his eyes.

“Yes,” Hakkai said. “It takes too long to be worth the effort.”

“Maybe it’ll be easier on someone else,” Gojyo suggested. “Like stitches. Way easier to do to someone else than yourself.”

“That sounds like the voice of experience,” Hakkai teased. Gojyo just shrugged, smirking around his cigarette. “Shall I practice on you, then?”

“I’m not hurt,” Gojyo scoffed.

“Don’t lie,” Hakkai chided. “I saw you get scratched back there.”

“It’s not worth the energy,” Gojyo said, waving Hakkai off.

“But it is worth the practice,” Hakkai pointed out.

“Fine,” Gojyo snorted. “Be my guest.”

Hakkai smiled and Gojyo rolled his eyes but obligingly shed his coat. Hakkai unwrapped the sloppy bandages that Gojyo had covered the scratch with, tutting. Gojyo just watched him, smoking silently.

Letting the qi pool in his hands like he had before, Hakkai carefully pressed the light to Gojyo’s arm. He could feel the wound so much more clearly on Gojyo than he’d ever been able to on himself. His qi almost seemed to… to coax Gojyo’s qi.

Gojyo hissed quietly, frowning. Hakkai mumbled an apology, making to pull away. Gojyo’s free hand caught Hakkai’s wrist and Hakkai’s head snapped up. Gojyo shook his head once, pulling Hakkai’s glowing hand closer to the wound again.

“Try again,” Gojyo said.

Hakkai nodded slightly, turning his attention back down. He tried to gentle his qi, using it more as a guide than anything else. Closing his eyes, Hakkai tried to feel it out. Gojyo’s qi pressed up against his, and Hakkai could feel hot blood welling against his palm. Maybe if he just…

Hakkai directed Gojyo’s qi with his own. It took a long moment, or perhaps many, to tame Gojyo’s turbulent qi into a careful mesh over the wound. He tightened it, pulling the edges in like stiches, slowly but surely.

When Hakkai pulled back, he frowned. The wound was still there. Smaller, yes, fresh pink skin along the edges of the red line. But still there.

“Well, it’s not bleeding anymore,” Gojyo pointed out.

“True,” Hakkai frowned.

“Take a break for tonight,” Gojyo said, shaking his head. He tugged his coat back on. “You used a lot of qi today.”

“When did you get so observant?” Hakkai said, glancing at Gojyo as me moved to sit next to him again.

“You’ll figure it out, ‘Kai,” Gojyo said instead of answering. “Don’t worry so much.”

Gojyo was right of course. Exhausting himself was no good to anyone. And there would be plenty of opportunities to learn on this trip of theirs. Sanzo’s great mission to stop Gyu Maoh.

For now, this was progress. For now, he was learning.  

[dontbreakstride]

An Adventure at Annecy

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A few years ago, I had discovered the existence of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2015 when some of my online friends had attended it. When they shared their experience on Facebook, I knew I had to go some day.

In finishing the second year of my animation course, I felt this would be the best time for me to visit, so I planned my journey, got advice on what to see and how to get around and made my way.

Annecy is a really nice city. The main building that the Festival was hosted at Théâtre Bonlieu is just across the road from the huge open air screening, the lake and a view across to the mountain range. I was stunned by how the mountains loomed in the distance everywhere I went and everyone just went about their business. Since Norwich doesn’t have a mountain range, I was just in awe of them everywhere I went. There are also a lot of colourful buildings with grand architecture, large comfy cinema theatres and startlingly blue water.

Having never been before, and being unaware of Annecy Festival traditions, I was surprised by the amount of paper planes being thrown while the cinemas filled up. It was a completely different experience to going to the cinema any other day, and was a hard time adjusting to when I returned to England and no one was throwing paper planes and the like.

The experience at Annecy was very informative, and helped develop my ideas on my practice, which is extremely useful as I enter into third year.

WHAT I LEARNT

NEW CREATIVE CONTEXTS: A shared talk with Jean-Baptiste Spieser of Teamto and Tom Box of Blue-Zoo about current and upcoming things in the industry. The Teamto talk was about the production pipeline and how it can change radically depending on productions. The Blue Zoo talk was also quite interesting as it explained how they built and overhauled their render farm, as well as how they collaborate creatively within their studio.

The Art of Visual Storytelling with WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS: The two speakers were Nathan Engelhardt, an animation supervisor, and story artist Lissa Treiman (who had, coincidentally, illustrated the first few issues that got me hooked to the comic GIANT DAYS). This was a massively helpful talk, very much worth the wait. The two speakers talked about how to make good shots great, through the positioning of cameras to the two cores of 'greatness' in animation – truth and entertainment.

Triggerfish's MAKING REVOLTING RHYMES: Mike Buckland and Sarah Scrimgeour of Triggerfish discussed the creative process of collaborating on the production of the short film Revolting Rhymes, including compositing and rendering.

The Art and Science of RENDERMAN: Dylan Sisson of Pixar held a talk showing the developments and potential for their Renderman renderer. It opened my eyes to the scope of things that Renderman takes into consideration, such as a recent shot in a Pixar film that had over ten thousand individually rendered lights.

VIRTUAL REALITY is the future: Google Spotlight Stories had a VR station set up with new videos daily. I managed to catch the session on Thursday which presented a preview of SON OF JAGUAR (dir. Jorge Gutierrez) and ARDEN'S WAKE: PROLOGUE (dir. Eugene Chung, Jimmy Maidens). I had never understood the true potential of VR in animation until after watching these, so much so that after I'd watched them I wandered around Annecy in a daze. Arden's Wake was especially mind blowing, as you could actually walk into the setting and see it from all angles. This has made me want to experiment with VR in my own practice.

WHAT I WATCHED

THE PEANUTS MOVIE outdoor screening: Having seen this movie before in English, I was surprised at how easy to understand it was in French. The broad animation style of the movie definitely helped.

A SILENT VOICE: A rather touching story about communication, repentance and forgiveness. Quite interestingly featured sign language in animation, which to me feels like a perfect match of two things, visual language and visual storytelling.

DESPICABLE ME 3: This is the first world premiere I have ever been to, and the atmosphere was wonderful. This was without a doubt one of the most active audiences I have ever been in. Whenever a joke hit, there would be a wave of laughter and applause, when one of the characters did something cute, there was a collective 'awww', even the applause at the end of the film ended up slipping into the same beat as the music of the credits. It was wonderful.

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: I never read that many Captain Underpants books when I was younger, so I was pleasantly surprised with how funny this was. Much like The Peanuts Movie, it managed to capture the style of its source really well, whilst still giving it their own flair.

ZOMBILLENIUM: An adaptation of a French graphic novel. Before the film began, the crew were on stage and threw production caps into the audience. The film was very stylish, with bold colours and shapes for the characters and making the CG look 2D.

SHORTS: I caught several showings of graduation shorts and shorts in competition. I was amazed by the diversity of shorts on display, showing the talents from animators of all walk-cycles of life. Shorts that stood out to me were the following:

Wednesday with Goddard (dir. Nicolas Menard, Canadian/UK) – a humorous and existential journey as a man tries to find answers to whether or not God exists.

When Time Moves Faster (dir. Anna Vasof, Austria) – stop motion using objects like plates and curtains to animate sequences, showing each frame being set up in real time, then speeding up the footage to bring the sequence to life.

Double King (dir. Felix Colgrave, Australia) – there is something in seeing this on a big screen that makes it all that more fun.

Nachthexen (dir. Julie Herdichek Baltzer, Denmark) – documentary short about the Nachthexen of WW2, animated in the style of Soviet posters

The Burden (dir. Niki Lindroth Von Bahr, Sweden) – a musical stop motion based around anthropomorphic animals who are stuck in an anxious and existential space in their lives. Won this year's Cristal for a Short Film award

Aenigma (dir. Antonios Doussias and Aris Fatouros, Greek) – a surreal trip through a painter's landscape mind-bendingly presented in 3D

Tuhi rumm (dir. Ulo Pikkov, Estonia) – stop motion of a doll in a doll house-like setting, has a mix of a nostalgic and haunting feeling

Casino (dir. Steven Woloshen, Canada) – a musical, energetic drawn-on-film animation capturing the frenetic energy of a casino

After All – Michael Cusack (Australia) – a very poignant stop motion film about a man going through his recently-deceased mother's belongings and reliving memories he had, very heart-rendering but with the occasional splash of humour

TIPS FROM MY EXPERIENCE

Take care of yourself: In the height of summer in the south-east of France, Annecy is hot. But when you are standing, walking, waiting and surrounded by other people who are also hot, the heat becomes unbearable (so much so that my watch had condensation on it at several points). Drink lots of water, try to keep in the shade when waiting outside, remember to eat.

Learn key phrases in France: This is something I'm going to try and pick up should I go again. I used to know quite a bit of French, but having forgot most of it, struggled at points of my visit. A lot of the hosts are bilingual should you have any questions, but knowing the sound of general phrases and what they mean is helpful in a pinch.

Beat the crowd: The Festival's 'first come first seated' events will fill up fast, and the queues for the screening events might result in you not getting in if you don't book a place during ticketing. The 'first come first serve' events that I missed were with popular big names, such as a talk with Guillermo del Toro and another with the creators of The Amazing World of Gumball and Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, which I am still kicking myself over, so be sure to arrive early for those.

Patience is a virtue: The queueing process at Annecy is quite arduous, but the wait is always worth it. I got into the talk with Walt Disney Animation Studios by waiting two hours earlier. It pays off very much.

Be tactical: Annecy is a big festival in a big city. Events conflict and travel times might be longer than you expect if you are travelling by foot or if you need to retrace your steps. When it comes down to seeing a mainstream film or a studio focus talk, choose which one would be a more informative experience. This links in well with taking care of yourself too. If you haven't eaten or drank anything for a while and you are thinking of joining a queue for something that needs you to wait for an hour and a half in the sun, it's better to take care of yourself first and foremost.

If you can, go in a group: Not only will this be a 'strength in numbers' type deal, where you can book into the same events and wait together in the queue and tap out should you need to get food, but this experience is one to share if you are enthusiastic about animation and the like.

Don't be afraid to try: I hate plane travel. I knew very limited French. I have the worst sense of direction in the world at times. But I went to Annecy regardless of these things and actually had a brilliant time.

[rallyanime-blog]

Unraveling the Monogatari Series (Part 2: The Appeal)

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Now that we’ve gone over the basic aspects of Monogatari, I think that it is due time to look into how Monogatari has garnered its cult popularity.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Monogatari is its visual presentation. Spearheaded by none other than Akiyuki Shinbo, Monogatari presents a visual direction and aesthetic quite unlike any other in the medium. 

Although Monogatari is quite unique within the anime sphere, Monogatari takes great influence from the likes of French New Wave Cinema. Frenetic editing and strange imagery and metaphors are the bread and butter of the Monogatari experience. Close-ups on body parts are used quite heavily to emphasize certain emotions and to illustrate where the character’s eyes are drawn. In addition, a somewhat infamous aspect of Monogatari is its tendency to utilize half-second long text pop-ups that usually have an accompanying passage from the LN not included in that anime scene.

Perhaps one of the less immediately noticeable aspects of Monogatari is its insistence on bizarre or abstract architecture and set design to populate its world. One thing that viewers may notice is the distinct lack of background characters in scenes where they should appear. Monogatari chooses to completely forgo traditional world design in favor of a more visually distinct and memorable setting.

If there is one thing that I can respect about Monogatari is that it keeps itself looking interesting. A common complaint I see levied against Monogatari is that it is basically a PowerPoint presentation with little actual moving parts in terms of animation. However, I would rebuke that, for one, this is obviously a stylistic choice that the creators decided to do. Also, even if there was not that much traditional animation seen, one cannot deny that Monogatari does not try to keep things moving along and interesting. 

Shots last for no longer than a few seconds before it is interrupted by either a new scene, text-pop-up, or metaphor. This is coming from an industry in which long, static shots of characters talking to one another with just the mouths moving is considered the norm. If anything, we take into account all the jumpcuts and the sheer amount of new images being shown on screen, Monogatari is perhaps one of the most visually dense shows that have come out in the last decade.

While the visuals of Monogatari may serve to draw viewers in, the very obtuse and seemingly inaccessible way of communicating its story. Monogatari is set very heavily on the arc structure. Following the format of the LNs, Monogatari is divvies its runtime into three to four episode arcs that adapts that specific LN (Also accompanied with its own new OP). This leads to the unfortunate side-effect of not having a clear story structure with a climax over the run time of the season but will rather it will have the arcs be self-contained with a climax of their own.

Dialogue is massively important in Monogatari. In fact, 90% of Monogatari is delivered either through Araragi’s unreliable monologues or by long (And I mean long) extended bouts of dialogue between two characters. It can’t really be said to be exposition per say because so much of the dialogue and monologues has nothing to do with the actual events of the story itself. However, it is within this dialogue that I see the fundamental appeal of Monogatari. 

Monogatari’s take on ‘Show Don’t Tell’ is to show the telling and to tell the showing. What I mean by this is that at its core, Monogatari is a character driven narrative where the character development is what drives the plot development. The ingenious of Monogatari is that it chooses to present this type of story in the from of these weird, long, and meandering inner monologues and conversations. Although mundane, it is a fascinating way of examining the relationship between what we can extrapolate from a character from their inner monologue and what we can extrapolate from how they interact with others.

For example, we learn very little about Koyomi Araragi’s view of himself through his inner monologues as most of his attention is spent on just observing other characters. However, from his interactions with others, we learn that he is extraordinarily inattentive. We learn that he is very easily swept up into the flow of things with very little resistance. We learn from how he is incredibly quick to spill his guts and reveal everything with a little probing. All of these things completely omitted from his inner monologues.

Monogatari doesn’t necessarily take its seriously all the time. Full of ironic and self-referential wit, Monogatari doesn’t shy away from commentating on how stupid or cliche it sometimes is. Monogatari makes many references to other anime or anime culture in general. In fact, some of the most clever writing in Monogatari comes from its subversion of expectations in some of the most mundane ways. As I have said, Monogatari isn’t interested in creating a grandiose narrative but rather values cleverness or strangeness.

Conversations are always lively as we get to see how these characters play off one another in interesting ways that fit perfectly with how these characters have been presented. Although the more cultural references and wordplay are difficult for Westerners to comprehend, the spirit of what is being said gets through.

The characters of Monogatari aren’t ‘deep’ by any traditional standard. In fact, most of the characters are largely based on pre-existing anime tropes. However, Monogatari seeks to take these tired tropes and to add additional layers and nuance to them. 

Each character, by virtue of the type of story Monogatari is, undergoes two to three arcs of development across the multiple seasons of Monogatari. And since these arcs come one after another, the viewer experiences a constant rotation of new character revelations and individual stories. Whilst bombastic and at times over the top, the Monogatari characters feel genuinely human because we as the audience get to see first hand how they learn and change. This is possibly one of its greatest strengths; characters that are lively and entertaining on a superficial level whilst also being well developed and multi-faceted on a intellectual level.

Perhaps this is the best way to explain the appeal of Monogatari. A show that fulfills having really fun and colorful characters backed up by strange and unique visuals that satisfy on just a base level. There is no doubt a section of the Monogatari fanbase that exclusively watch the show to partake in the ‘Best Girl’ Wars and to argue which fanservice scene is the hottest in the show. However, Monogatari also serves to provide these well written and well developed characters and emotional arcs that also features directing tricks and narrative subversions you can’t find anywhere else in the industry. It’s a win-win situation.

It is no wonder hat Monogatari has endured for so long with such great popularity. 

Thank you very much for reading. Look forward to the final installment (Not yet named) of this series of Monogatari posts.

Until next time!

[papaculture]

Superheroes

I loved Wonder Woman. Sitting through Man of Steel and Batman V Superman was kind of like being made to endure a dark episode of Scooby Doo, where Shaggy’s implied drugs habit gets out of control and he reverses over Scooby in the Mystery Van. Or to put it another way, it was like going back to your favourite childhood comics and colouring them in with a black crayon.

I loved comics as a kid. I wish I still had my collection. Superman and Batman were early favourites, before I grew into the more complex dynamic of X-Men and ultimately moved on to 2000AD (I recently reread Nemesis the Warlock from the latter and heartily recommend it to anyone who likes Monty Python, Michael Moorcock, Douglas Adams and anti-hero demons with heads the same shape as their spacecraft).

I get the adolescent imperative to transform childhood pleasures into adult pursuits, which seems to inform much of the current vogue for superhero blockbusters. But there’s no question that the DC films (pretty much post-Batman Returns) have been missing the sense of wonder and imagination that made those three-colour strips so appealing to me as a kid. The basic premise that you could have a secret life — that you could be ordinary, even unpopular, but don a disguise and go off to have fantastical adventures of world-shaking importance was a source of great comfort to this kid.

Wonder

As you’d hope, Wonder Woman goes some way to restoring that sense of wonder. She is a hero whose greatest weapon (apart from her shield and lasso) is compassion. She understands that being a hero isn’t a chore, an affliction or a way to get revenge on the world, but a duty you perform because you care about your world, your society or humanity at large.

As a father of two young girls, I wish I could take them to see the new film. They’ve certainly enjoyed the Pop! figurines I brought back from the premiere. But, for all its heart, the film retains the grubby sheen of recent DC films and a focus on extended punch-ups that mean the intended market remains pubescents and above. There are also scenes of mass murder and warfare that might be confronting for younger children. Our four-year-old still hasn’t had to face up to the idea that humans kill other humans. (She’s very interested in death, particularly the deaths of rock stars such as Bowie, Eddie Cochran and half the Beatles, but I’ve so far had to put down Lennon’s death to an “accident”.) In our household, monsters either eat you or “zap” you.

So where does a superhero-loving dad go if he wants to share these stories with his offspring? There’s the recent The Lego Batman Movie, but I found that a bit too frenetic. I wanted simplicity. I thought back to my own childhood and the Christopher Reeve Superman films of the 70s and 80s. There’s an appealing innocence and brightness to them, but Christ they’re long. I’ll admit I struggled to get through the first and am yet to plough on.

Batman ‘66

For me, the Batman TV series (1966-68) was far more influential. Movies were a special treat, but television was daily fare. You could spend twenty-five minutes a day with Batman and Robin. Of course, I didn’t realise these stories weren’t straight-faced drama. Their outrageous antics felt very real to me. Returning to them now, it’s the humour that appeals.

I’m not sure what kids raised on the Nolan films will make of it, but to this adult the show’s self-aware comedy is a refreshing reminder of how much fun superheroes used to be. Batman 1966 knows exactly how silly it is and there lies its appeal. To a child, it looks like drama, because kids’ rules are different to those of us oldies. The nonsensical stories, the high stakes cliffhangers and balletic fight scenes are perfect springboards for children to dress up in a sheet and improvise their own escapades. For me, only the Burton Batmans have come close to embracing this show’s great sense of imagination and wonder.

We first watched Batman with Child One in an attempt to find some more proactive female role-models. I’d remembered Batgirl being in the show for the entire run, but she actually doesn’t appear until the third and final series. While there are undoubtedly outdated attitudes displayed by the characters around her (and the omnipresent narrator), Batgirl herself is pretty great. By day, she’s a brainy librarian (she’s shown to be at least as clever as Batman, if not more so) who seems to turn to crime-fighting for larks. She plays a pretty active role, usually investigating in parallel to Batman and Robin, and often riding to the rescue on her rather girly motorbike.

Unlike the dynamic duo, she doesn’t actually punch anyone, but isn’t above a few balletic kicks or thumping a henchman with a handy prop. The violence here is largely playful. Nobody ever gets hurt and the infamous pop-up slugs (KAPOW! etc) give the sense of the fight scenes being a game, rather than acts of anger. That said, we did have some discussion about why it was never okay to thump anyone.

Child One loves this show, although the occasional moments of peril for Batgirl have proved a little unsettling (she’s growing to enjoy feeling safely scared). A great place to start is with a 7 minute film included on the DVD and Blu-Ray set that works as an introduction to Batgirl. It was never broadcast, but is basically a pilot for a show based around her. Series Three follows on from there.

Batman: The TV Series is available on Blu-Ray, DVD, Netflix and is soon to be broadcast on SBS.

Age and stage: 3+

Gender stuff: The female characters are few and far between, but pretty appealing when they arrive. Three Catwomen, less glamorous women villains and, of course, Batgirl offer a few different roleplay options.

Drama: largely comic, with moments of tension outrageously signposted (and usually quickly resolved).

Outdated bits: The sexual politics is seriously off, whether it���s the narrator talking about “all manner of girls in Gotham City” being nurses, secretaries or librarians… or Barbara Gordon (AKA Batgirl) flirting uncomfortably with her own father.

Themes: adventure, heroism, responsibility, bravery and the importance of good grammar.

Danger Mouse and Bananaman

For younger children, there are two other superhero series we’ve enjoyed. The first is Danger Mouse. David Jason (also the voice of Toad of Toad Hall) voices the rodent superspy, who zaps around in a flying car with cowardly sidekick Penfold, foiling the plans of villainous Baron Greenback. The show has recently been remade with a new cast, at a more frenetic pace, but I was surprised how fast the early shows were. As with Batman, there are plenty of jokes (good, flat and deliberately awful) to entertain parents. In fact, it’s hard to think of a contemporaneous kiddie cartoon where the focus is so much on comedy. Compared to the staid Hanna-Barbera shows, Danger Mouse feels positively anarchic. Unlike Scooby Doo, which would generally end on an embarrassingly lame one-liner resulting in baffling laughter from its characters, this is a show genuinely packed with jokes. Every kind of joke. Danger Mouse owes as much to the knockabout humour of the Carry On films as it does to the surreal intelligence of Monty Python, with a good dose of Looney Tunes and The Goodies thrown in. There’s slapstick, wordplay, satire, pastiche, surrealism, wit and Edward Lear–esque nonsense.

Even more beloved for Child One is Bananaman. I had only vague memories of this show and watched it primarily out of loyalty to The Goodies (who voice all the characters). But it’s fantastically silly, has a suburban cosiness and is likely to encourage kids to eat more fruit. The villains are never particularly threatening, while the real hero is Bananaman’s less credulous raven sidekick. The joke ratio isn’t quite as high as with Danger Mouse, but it can work as a double gateway — opening the door not only to the world of superheroes, but that of The Goodies (which we are yet to share with the kids).

Danger Mouse and Bananaman are available on DVD. Bananaman is also available (officially) on YouTube.

Age and stage: 2+

Gender stuff: Non-existent. There is not a single recurring female character in Danger Mouse, while female roles in Bananaman are minimal (to put it politely). The recent DM reboot has gone some very slight way to addressing this.

Drama: slapstick, fantastical adventure. Some cliffhangers, but no real sense of peril.

Outdated bits: A distinct lack of diversity, with some racial stereotyping.

Themes: humour, adventure, decency, honour and the importance of fresh fruit.

[thesoundofplunder-blog]

Conan by Modiphius Games

Ever since I first saw Arnold Schwarzenegger swinging a sword in all of his muscled glory, Conan the Barbarian has fascinated me.  It was one of those films that I learned to appreciate anew when I grew up and realized how much effort must have gone into making that film, and how awful it might have been, yet wasn’t.  If you want to know how bad it could have been, look no further than its sequel, Conan the Destroyer, which killed the franchise faster than a broadsword to the face.

Ok, it actually could have been worse - there are plenty of movies in the genre that were.

But Conan the Barbarian was superb, and while it may not have been completely faithful to the original stories of Conan by Robert E. Howard, I feel like the stories owe a lot to the film for introducing a generation of impressionable moviegoers to Howard’s work.

And while I was too young to have seen it at the cinema (I wasn’t actually born yet), I will one day look back and say that I’m old enough to remember when Modiphius Entertainment released the Conan roleplaying game using the 2D20 system.

I’ve let the cat out of the bag now - if you read no further, then at least know that I like this game.  A lot.  If you’re still reading, then let me explain why.

Also allow me to preface the rest of this review with the fact that I’ve only run the quick start adventures - one found on the publisher’s website, and one given away for Free RPG Day 2017.

To Race The Thunder

I downloaded the quick start PDF, To Race The Thunder, from Modiphius’ website a couple of weeks ago, and in between my day job, preparing for two job interviews, running two Savage Worlds games and spending quality time with my wife and kids, I managed to read through the rules and get a feel for the game.  At that point, it still seemed complicated to me, and I thought perhaps I’d bitten off more than I could chew by agreeing to run it for Free RPG Day.

But I arranged for Thom, a good friend of mine, to come over on a Saturday night, and rather than watching England beat Argentina in the rugby, we pretended he was an adventurer in Hyboria while I threw Pictish barbarians his way.  The adventure was ideally designed for 4-6 players, so Thom taking on the Pictish horde on his own had some hilarious consequences.  For instance, I described how the enemies were swarming over a homestead, trapping the family inside, then checked how many there were exactly: 3 for each character.  Oh.  There are three.  They are swarming.  All three of them.

The other hilarious consequence (although I’m sure Thom will disagree) was that in 3 hours of gameplay, 4 characters met their grisly end.  Thom would then pick up a new pregen, who would wander down the road and find the body of the last poor sap to play at being a hero.  It’s a system that feels brutal, but very appropriate to the setting.  When I later played the Free RPG Day quick start - The Pit of Kutallu - there were 4 players, and one still died, kicked to death by pirates.  Players have to learn that things can go very bad, very quickly.

Momentum

I won’t go into detail on the game mechanics, since you can download the PDF and read for yourself.  But I will talk about what seems to be the universally most loved element of the system, Momentum, as well as its counterpart, Doom.

Many systems have some sort of mechanic for what to do when a player rolls above and beyond what they need to succeed.  For instance, in Savage Worlds, when you get a raise on your attack, you deal an extra 1d6 damage.  In Conan, you generate Momentum - tokens that you can use to make things go your way.  This includes rolling extra dice (to increase your chances of success), dealing extra damage, and almost anything you can think of.  If you generate Momentum and don’t use it, it goes into a shared pot that any player can draw from in a moment of need.

Conan is pretty rules light, which I love.  Rather than having a rule for every different thing the players might want to do, the game encourages you to use Momentum.  Want to disarm your opponent?  Use Momentum.  Want to swing on a rope and kick the pirate captain into the sea?  Use Momentum.

The GM has his own resource, too.  It’s called DOOM!  When you need Momentum but there is none in the shared pool, you can instead pay the GM Doom to achieve your goals.  This means it will come back to bite you later, but works surprisingly well at rewarding proactive players.  If your back is to the wall, paying the GM 3 Doom to roll an extra 3 dice on your attack usually pays off - the extra successes you are likely to generate end up as Momentum, so that the needle swings back in your favour.

And certainly the needle does swing,  Wildly.  In the two games I ran, the players would find themselves devoid of Momentum while I sat on a mound of Doom.  A few rounds later and our roles were reversed.  The key way of generating Doom during combat seemed to be reactions, which brings me to the other thing I love about this system.

Reactions

In most systems, defending yourself from harm is a pretty passive experience.  You load up on armour, toughness, parry, or whatever your system calls it, and hope that your opponent does not exceed that number.  While this often represents your character ducking and weaving or actively blocking blows, it becomes uninteresting for the player being hit.

Conan does away with that.  You can choose not to defend yourself, in which case your opponent only needs 1 success to hit you.  This is a good way to get killed quickly.  Alternatively, you can choose to gift 1 Doom to the GM and perform a defense reaction, in which you roll against your parry skill to try and cancel out your opponents successes.  This feels MUCH closer to how parrying should be, especially since parry is a separate skill from fighting, meaning that you can be good at landing blows, but not very good at defending yourself from harm.

And every time you want to defend yourself in the same round, it costs you 1 more Doom than last time.  As a result, most characters will get 1 free parry from carrying a sword or having the right ability, making it easy enough to defend yourself from a single opponent.  But as soon as you find yourself under attack from 3-4 opponents, it starts costing 6-10 Doom every turn just to counter your opponents attacks.  At this point you get the sense that it you don’t deal with them quickly, you are doomed (quite literally).  Even if you do get hit, certain items like shields allow you to actively try and soak the damage, rolling to cancel out damage that would be dealt to you.  Making the player roll dice when they are under attack increases the sense that they are in some measure of control, rather than waiting to be told how many hit points they lose.

Conclusion

This was a short review for a short experience of the game.  I haven’t tried magic, character creation, or any of the stuff that turns this into a campaign rather than a one off adventure.  But just looking at the one off adventure, I was very impressed by what I saw.  My players were equally enthused, talking about the Momentum swing after the game had finished and eager to try again.  That’s when you know you’re onto a winner.  For my players, they didn’t care so much that this was the world in which Conan "trod the jewelled thrones of the earth beneath his sandalled feet”.  They were raving about how fast and frenetic the game was.  What is best in life?  To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the GM!