No, not THAT one, this one!

... In my defense, I stumbled upon it in BJs and tried to skim to the end to see if there were AIs.

SPOILERS below:

Alas, there were only bots. :( And humans, and their imperfect social media algorithms. And here I'd been looking forward to Cassie having to deal with providing moral input for her previously-unknown digital sibling, alongside other family drama...

I did appreciate the biracial protag despite, that, though. Also the prevalence of coding knowledge (though I still call it CAMELcase, not InterCaps).

I have something to say about Sword and Shield, and I don’t know whether a lot of people know this( it’s not related to the national dex).

The problem is related to the online part of Sword and Shield. There’s no battle spot or Global Trading Station. I’m not kidding. They are gone; you can’t even find it in the Y-Comm.

I can forgive Game Freak for taking out most of the pokémon( even though I can’t bring my shiny Tapu Koko over:( ) and that the graphics are inferior to Ultra Sun and Moon on more powerful hardware.

But I am angry at them for removing the battle spot. How the heck am I supposed to prove myself as a good pokémon trainer if I can’t fight anyone? I know that the Y-Comm has an option that allows you to fight random trainers, but no one even wants to battle me!

It’s Zubat sh*%t crazy! They added mints so that you don’t have to breed a thousand Magikarps for the “perfect” competitive shiny Gyarados, but what’s the point if you can’t even battle people with that perfect Gyarados? That’s rubbing salt into the wound.

It would be useless until the next generation which might take another two to three years. My point is, if you play pokémon for competitive battling, play showdown instead( even though I don’t know how to play it).

I say 'of all things' because it's pretty far from being a favorite of mine, much less something I watch frequently...but it's on Netflix, and I've watched a few episodes here and there since its early days, so why not?

I still wouldn't say I really love this show. I'm well aware of some of the criticism about it, and agree with a good amount of it; it bugs me that almost none of the recurring female characters are even remotely into any of the 'nerdy/geeky' films the guys like. Not even a little. As a viewer who is most definitely female and also most definitely got very into things like Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the MCU and more mildly into Star Wars (it's possible to like something a little bit, BBT writers! Seriously, I'd describe myself as a casual Star Wars fan at best, and there are installments I'm not really into, but I've still enjoyed going to see some of them even if I'm not generally the one pushing to see them and don't really care too much either way! It's possible! Why are you so blind to nuance?)...er, where was I--right, as a woman who did get into some of these shows and movies, and not in a reluctant, faked, or to please a boyfriend way (1), this bugs me. A lot. Repeatedly. As with other things I dislike about the series, it starts bugging me about three to five episodes in. Every time.

(Also, for the record, I'm also pretty into dresses, nail polish, makeup when I feel like wearing it, fun hairstyles, even rom-coms, which are sometimes good and frequently amusing to analyze...you get the picture. I mean, I also know how to put up a set of shelves and develop film and chop firewood, but--my point is, nuance exists, and so do women who a, frequently look pretty 'feminine', b, enjoy doing all sorts of things that are currently female-coded, c, are very into fantasy and sci-fi and not faking it in the least, especially not for someone they're dating, and d, are also capable of doing and enjoying tasks that are currently male-coded. Just. Nuance. Argh.)

This shows up with the male characters, too, of course. Even when they break out of their stereotypical roles a bit, it's often treated as something embarrassing, or someone implies they're weak men or lesser men because of it. Going past that, the characters frequently aren't nice to each other; the show reminds me of Friends that way, honestly. In the early seasons, at least (I'm told it gets a bit better in the later seasons), they treat each other horribly! It's awful! I came away thinking they were horrible people who didn't like each other very much at all! I mean, Phoebe is kind of fun, and I generally like Joey, but just--no! Unless the title of the show was kind of meant ironically, or as something for them to grow into, it just doesn't work for me!

(And yes, you could say some similar things about How I Met Your Mother, which, oddly enough, I kind of love. My rebuttal there? Even in the first season, you can see evidence that they love each other. Over the course of the series, they all show some very good parts of themselves. And the episodes where a psychologist joins their group for a bit and ends up exploding with analysis of how messed up they all are doesn't hurt, either. But they mostly aren't as cruel to each other, and, well, for the most part, it's very clear that there actually is a strong undercurrent of love, loyalty, and friendship, especially once you've seen more of the series. It works a lot better for me.)

...wait, I'm supposed to be talking about the Big Bang Theory.

The thing is...a piece of what I actually had in mind to talk about when I started this post is a positive. Weirdly enough, that positive is Sheldon and Amy's relationship. I don't remember too much of the beginning, and I didn't see a lot of the middle...but in the last two seasons? They're very sweet, and have possibly the healthiest Spoiler description of the lot. Think about it: they're supportive of each other--heck, there's a moment Amy comes in and Sheldon goes "Can you believe X?!" and Amy puts down her bag while saying, "No! I'm shocked and outraged!" and then, as she sits down, "Now tell me why I'm shocked and outraged?" She has his back without yet knowing what's going on; if she sees a flaw in what he tells her, she finds a way to talk him into understanding why the other person is upset, without tearing him down or even giving the impression that she's not in his corner even though she believes he's in the wrong. They do clash, obviously; the thing is, though, once they've stormed away and cooled off and talked through it with a friend...I mean, there's a scene where Sheldon keeps trying to turn a conversation to his accomplishments, despite it being colleagues from Amy's field who want to talk about how amazing they think she is, and, at most, how lucky he is to be with her, and come on, talk her up with us, tell us what you thought when she first told you about her amazing theory about x! Understandably, this leads to a big fight.

The thing is...when he comes back, he gives a sincere apology, and includes the realization that this was a time when he should have been the 'cameo in her movie' (like Iron Man being in a Captain America movie and not being upset he isn't getting all the attention or trying to take it over). It's sweet, it's fairly genuine, and he promises to work at doing better in the future, even though it might take him a lifetime to get good at it.

But that's how they are at this point. They're supportive, they know how to fight and apologize and work through their issues...it's easy to buy that there's something there, and that they really are suited for each other and in a pretty happy and healthy relationship. And that's amazing, both because they're incredibly unconventional and because they're doing much better than their 'more normal' friends, who don't have similarly solid or healthy dynamics in their marriages. The show does acknowledge they have issues, though, at least, so that's something.

Anyway. I'm in the final season, though right now I'm at a point where I'm fed up with the show again; at some point I'll keep going, probably skipping the episodes with less interesting summaries (what can I say? I'm barely a casual watcher of this show), to see what they do in the final episode. I'm curious.

(And finally, a disclaimer: if you happen to love Friends, or BBT, or hate HIMYM, that's perfectly fine with me. Heck, I've had roommates who were Friends superfans. These are my personal impressions of the shows, minus some influence from critiques I've read of BBT; I absolutely don't mean them as an attack on you, and if your opinions run counter to mine, that's great! There are certainly good and bad things in all three shows, and while we might not share opinions, the different things people see in the same piece of media...that's always interesting.)

~Z

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(1) To be fair, I did start watching Doctor Who because my boyfriend at the time--or possibly my good friend who became my boyfriend the next year, I'm a bit unsure of the timing--kept forgetting I hadn't seen it, and eventually I got curious and decided to try it out. I ended up loving it, and got a new show, fandom, and conversation topic as well as being able to catch the references. We wound up writing bits of fanfic together--ohh, yeah, no, this was before we dated. I remember now. So I got into Doctor Who because my new good friend (well, newly close--we'd been in the same grade for years) kept referencing it to me before remembering I hadn't seen it, and I got curious. Remind me to tell you my impressions of Rose and the Doctor before I watched the show and only knew them from fanfic summaries--I was waaaay off. I had absolutely no clue who they were or what the show was really about.

Anyway. I did give the show a chance because he kept mentioning it, and I think I saw Avengers on his initiative, too (I think we were dating at that point, going by the release date), but I got into both because I genuinely loved them, not because he bugged me into it or I wanted to impress him or something like that. At most, we're talking about the kind of influence that looks like 'this person that I like a lot is into this thing and it doesn't sound horrible; I'll give it a shot. Ooh, I love it, new fandom!'

(Actually, if you were around in 2014ish, you might remember him--he was on the Board for a bit, going by Time Engineer. In a slightly roundabout way, you can thank him for Jacques' existence. I mean, it's possible I would've tried the show on my own someday, or that Lily would've created Jacques on her own, but in the version we've got...yeah.)

Well... uh. Golly. What is there to say about FLCL, the anime that proved that Gainax only needs six episodes to confuse the hell out of you and not resolve anything, instead of 26 episodes and a movie?

Well, firstly, I can say this: Watch the dub. I watched the sub and that was a mistake. This show is DENSE and the sub is really good. Being able to hear the characters and actually tell what they're saying makes all the difference.

Secondly, the second and third seasons probably aren't worth it. They were fronted by a different creative team and were... not well received, as far as I can tell? But if you do, tell me about it because I haven't yet.

But anyways, what do I think of FLCL (which is pronounced "fooly cooly" for some reason I guess)? that implies I was able to rationalize it enough to think. I wasn't. This show is Gainax at their most surreal and nonsensical, but I definitely had fun with it, at least. Even if I wasn't sure what was going on. It involved a woman trying to get close to a 12-year-old because of the things coming out of his head, a TV robot, an evil megacorp maybe, an ongoing war between space police and space pirates, and many things being hit with guitars. Maaaany things. Oh, and it's got a killer soundtrack, provided you like 90s alt-rock. And it might be a coming of age story? I dunno.

So I guess FLCL is good. Although I suppose that... should have been obvious? It's critically acclaimed and widely loved. Ah well.

The six seasons they have on Netflix, anyway.

It's been a while since I watched the first three, but I've enjoyed the heck out of 4, 5, and 6. Everything is better with wacky adventures through time and space, right? Right! I really could have done with lots more Search for Spock Fitz. Both halves of that arc were so much fun. Enoch is the best, and everything that happened around the space casino was just the right balance of serious drama and silly hijinks. I would like more of S.H.I.E.L.D. bumbling around the galaxy and running into trouble with alien cultures who are simply going about their business (for better or worse), please. I would also like a crossover involving the Guardians of the Galaxy, but I know that's not in the budget. Sigh.

Also, everything involving FitzSimmons is perfect. I don't have especially strong feelings about the rest of the cast, but FitzSimmons are just the best. Their love has survived six seasons of a show created by Joss Whedon! This is unheard of! They are my heroes, and also a big gooey cinnamon roll. Well, mostly. What do you call a cinnamon roll if it's fluffy and adorable, but it also gets pretty dark sometimes? (What do you call it when your cinnamon roll couple's dark alter egos were trying to kill them in a mindscape they were trapped in, but ended up sloppily making out with each other instead? Because that was brilliant. A little worrying, but brilliant.)

I like Deke, too. He's annoying, but also fun. I want Deke Shaw to meet Deke Sun-Crichton and have madcap space adventures. Possibly also with the Guardians of the Galaxy. ^_^

Madcap space crossover adventures!!

~Neshomeh

Plugging is recommending people stuff right?

I recommend reading Esio Trot. It’s tortoise back backwards. It’s written by Roald Dahl and it’s about a man tricking her neighbour in believing that he can make Tortoise grow.

I also recommend the Magic Finger, it’s also written by Dahl. It’s about a girl who has a “magic finger”, which has terrifying powers. She uses it on a family of hunters.

Both are short stories, and very enjoyable.

On the epic gaming side of things, I never miss a chance to plug the works of Toby Fox! UNDERTALE is a gureito geemu and I'm sure you'll love it! Let's just hope Deltarune delivers.

On anime, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Wacky, but good. I suggest you start with Part 1; you'll be very confused otherwise.

Yeah, I finally watched this. It was good. Spoiler warnings for The Incredibles and The Incredibles 2.

The original Incredibles stands out for leaning so heavily on the family dynamics between the main characters, and the villain having an interesting and not completely misguided philosophy that leaves you thinking after the movie. The Incredibles 2 followed up on that quite well.

Since Bob was the Super in the original movie who was most desperate to return to his glory days of crime-fighting, I like that this movie engineered things in such a way as to force him to stay home while Helen, who was more reluctant to return to crime-fighting and cared more about protecting the family, gets roped into superheroics instead. While Bob initially gets overwhelmed trying to take care of the family solo, I’m glad they avoided the cliché of everything descending into chaos because the dad doesn’t know what to do, and instead have Bob rise to the challenge, despite not being able to utilize his main advantage of strength in that context. (Although I guess he does fail at fixing the problem he caused for Violet, but I appreciate that this forced Violet to overcome her shyness even more and take care of matters on her own.)

I’m actually a bit confused about Jack-Jack. Based on the end of The Incredibles I thought the rest of the family had observed him using powers to attack Syndrome, and therefore knew he had powers. Plus, wouldn’t the babysitter have told someone about the weird stuff Jack-Jack was doing while she was watching him? Plus, why would they have kept Jack-Jack’s suit with them to have it present at the Underminer attack if they weren’t aware he had powers? But this movie pretty clearly shows everyone being surprised at Jack-Jack’s powers. Seems weird.

But let’s get to the best part, the villain. Unfortunately, since Evelyn was introduced immediately after her brother, when we heard his surname, I immediately put them together in my mind as “Evelyn Deavor” which is of course basically “evil endeavor” so I immediately spoiled the reveal for himself. Usually I’m not smart enough to do that to myself . . . oh well. Evelyn makes an excellent successor to Syndrome, in that her philosophies are basically valid, but she tries to express them in destructive ways that prioritize her ideal over the safety of others. Aside from her critique about the existence of superheroes making people more helpless and incapable of taking care of themselves, I especially agreed with her point about the overabundance of television screens in society making people complacent to sit in their home and watch the world from a far, only experiencing life vicariously.It’s interesting that for both Incredibles films, Pixar has opted to use villains who threaten the concept of superheroes on an abstract level, rather than more traditional villains who threaten the whole world and must be stopped by the heroes out of basic morality. It makes for much higher stakes that way.

One minor nitpick that I can’t overlook: after Evelyn has trapped Helen in the frozen room and deactivates her hypnosis goggles, Helen knows the screen in the goggles is the source of the mind control. At the end of her monologue, Evelynn communicates with both words and the motion of the remote control that she’s about to turn the screen back on. Helen could have easily shut her eyes in that moment and feigned being hypnotized for a while until she had a chance to turn on Evelyn. Oh well. At least that gave the kids a chance to full-on rescue the parents.

—doctorlit, screen-slaved?

"Baby want num-num spoiler?" "Baby want num-num spoiler?" "Baby want num-num spoiler?" "Baby want num-num spoiler?" "Baby want num-num spoiler?" "Baby want num-num spoiler?"