I didn't even like Guardians of the Galaxy but enjoyed Thor Ragnarok. Not gonna bother with the last Thor. I'm pretty done with cape stuff.

The whole problem is the driving force of it is the school part, and that's the least enjoyable piece of it.

Ha, I saw a bunch of clips being recommended to me on YT and was all 'what, this show's about the little girl going to school now?'  I mean, the little girl was the most entertaining part of the show but still... I'm gettin' Poochie vibes here.

Structurally, pretty weird. I'm trying to imagine someone trying to watch this just as a movie without any context, but why would anyone ever show up to a One Piece movie if they don't know One Piece?

I mean, I wouldn't think so. I would imagine the people that do so are curious about One Piece or with their friend-group that likes One Piece. I watched a trailer for that movie and recalled the designs seriously put me off of One Piece. Among other things, of course. (Like the number of episodes.)

You know, the content's just not my taste. I have read several chapters of the manga--up to somewhere after Pinky dies--but I'm not a fan of too much gore in this type of story or the main character. I liked Aki and, er, well... Anyway, after four episodes, I have no investment in the story or even any desire to continue this show. But, that said, I really like a lot of things they're doing with this show. The people behind this aren't half-assing it, I can appreciate that. The different endings and the animation in simple things like smoking cigarettes or making coffee is really nice.

Also... as much as I don't care for the MC here, he's still a way better MC than Yuji Itadori in Jujutsu Kaisen. At least Denji's life sucked fucking ass so his dreams are, for the lack of a better word, "small." It's way more forgivable that Denji's the way he is and than Yuji "for muh grampa, er, I guess" Itadori. I'm not even sure why I'm comparing the two of them. Maybe it's the hair or something.

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I watched the first episode of Beast Tamer today. It actually started off good with the guy being fired from his, er, team (?) and needing to reinvent himself as an adventurer. (Like, I thought he WAS an adventurer with the hero's party so I was hella confused.) Then once the first beast girl he meets enters the picture (because this dude will end up with a collection of beast girls or whatever), the show nosedived for me. The MC--don't remember his name--who moved the story forward at the beginning sorta becomes passive and the girl's all "you're so good and kind and I STAN YOU and YOU WiLL TAME ME BECAUSE I IS ULTRA RARE NEKO BEAST NYAN NYAN (ﾐㆁ ﻌ ㆁﾐ)" You just MET HIM, BRO.

Okay, I'm majorly exaggerating but that's what it boils down to: the guy who was going to become an adventurer and was hyped to kill enough goblins to do so suddenly decides to throw his life away to save rando catgirl he doesn't even know. Alternatively, the show could've had this guy fail to kill the goblins he needed to be an adventurer. Because then he's so sad about it he doesn't care if he dies saving catgirl. But, no, let's throw in a completely inconsistent motivation in our very first episode. The people behind this show also have to make her his fucking stan the day he meets her. It's super gross.

It would've been so easy to have this dude to invite the catgirl to be an adventurer with him since she's bored and wanted to explore. But she sorta adds herself to his party and declares he will tame her because she is beastie or whatever. HUH?

So, yeah, not moving forward with this one.

Finished The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent. I enjoyed it, I did. But I see some low ratings/reviews on this and I understand where those people are coming from. This show is like a plain sugar cookie: not what most people want when they order desert but it's passable. There's really no stakes. It has no actual antagonist. The only antagonist we get was Good All Along™ and he's set aside well before the ending of the series. I walked away from this show several times to get food or go to the bathroom, left the show running, and missed practically nothing of value. On one hand, that made it the perfect show for me to watch to relax but, on the other hand, I could see other viewers being really bored by it.

------------ I needlessly needle this show in the giant wall of text below. ------------

I liked the concept of the Saint: a person from another world with other-worldly magic being desperately called in. But it seems she has no real purpose other than to be glowy and showy. I thought she'd be a figurehead for war, an omen for the successor to the crown, or a needed cure to a disease. I thought this was gonna be a bit more like Twelve Kingdoms where you need a specific type of person to be isekai'd in like the ruler or the kirin in that series. But it doesn't appear to matter who it is or what they do when they get here. The Saint can sit around making potions, reading books, and brewing tea for fuck all with her finger up her own ass. By the end of the show, it's clear that the Saint's best use in this world is traversing the land and using her saintly powers to fix miasma and cure folks. But she's never given orders or made to do so. Some of her friends were even trying to decline the crown's wish for her to go on expeditions. WHY? She's the all-powerful Saint and you want to keep at home? For what purpose? These aren't common, you know. There's no telling when they'll get another Saint. She regrew fucking severed limbs on injured soldiers. But, yeah, let's just have her chill at home.

I liked the idea of the romance between the Saint and the dude she saved. The execution was bit meh. This man is her's forever and ever and that's, just..., it. He's nice to her, she gets flustered and rinse and repeat for eleven more episodes. I mean, it would've been nice if there had some some sort of shake up somewhere to make it exciting. Like, I almost thought her being the Saint would mean she wouldn't be able to marry or something. I can think of about ten different ways to introduce a romance conflict that wouldn't have been a lazy love triangle. But, at the very least, there was no lazy love triangle in this story. Thank God.

Also, for being a society that's very limiting on how men and women interact, it's like they don't give a shit if it's Mary Sue, I mean, the Saint. There's a young girl also isekai'd in this story at the same time who was also the possible Saint. This young girl is all but outright slut-shamed for being mere friends with betrothed young men who were only trying to take care of her. But the Saint can hang out with all sorts of dudes by herself--high-born to scruffy--and nobody bats an eye. Even before she was the official Saint, she's hanging out at the sausage fest of an institute or the other sausage fest of the palace. She's alone several times with several men but heaven forbid she flashes an ankle? It seems extremely inconsistent. Early on we're told that societal behaviors dictate a lot of in this world but other than being used to bully the not!Saint or to have a romcom gag between the Saint and her love interest, nothing is done with this shit which makes it hollow and pointless.

For the Saint's love interest, all this guy has going for him is that he's hot and nice and protects the Saint. On one hand, that's a lot going for him. On the other, it's truly ALL he has. It's like, dude, didn't you have other goals or dreams before the Saint came around? It's all right if you didn't, but if that's the case, it should've been a plot point in the story. He compliments her and is nice to her and she just gets flustered, many times running away from him. There's only so many times I can watch her do that. I thought he was going to second-guess her feelings since she's giving him so many mixed signals but that never happened. At the end, you can kinda infer their relationship progresses, but this show needed a bigger payoff than what we got.

Oh, yeah, and it was kinda funny with the last couple of episodes where they clearly ran out of money and we got a shitload of still frames during an action sequence.

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to the Grand Magus dude, who was the most interesting character of the show as he manages to both greatly aid and greatly irritate the Saint. He also is self-interested and works towards his own gain, which was actually refreshing in a show that wants to paint so many people as being so annoyingly selfless. Too bad the guy's asleep for a large chunk of the show.

Started watching The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent. I meant to watch this one a while ago. Three eps in and it's nice. I've seen too many anime where the person goes to another world and everyone's an asshole trying to get them killed. I thought this was going there but instead it's chill and mellow. At least so far.

I tried that Raven Consort anime and really, really liked the first two episodes. But afterwards, it felt like the show had blown its load.  For lack of better phrasing.  Also, I was disappointed she doesn't really have black hair.  That second part is just a minor gripe.  Maybe I'll come back and revist this show when there's more episodes.  But no promises...

I started watching I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss because the Crunchyroll clips on YT managed to catch my attention. It's not, like, outloud ha-ha funny or anything. I can smile at it and I have a mild investment in the plot. The characters have visual appeal and the music is a solid B+.

I find this chick comparable to Bakarina from My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! in that they are villainesses in general assumption only. Sure, the character they are each supposed to be was a conniving bitch but that isn't who they are now. And I find myself kinda wishing they could be actual villainesses in some capacity and do evil things in a funny way.

I had a feeling this show, like My Next Life as a Villainess, might sputter out for me like that one did. I don't know if it started out as strong as I would've liked it to. But the plot moves really fast which surprised me. Several threads are tied three then four episodes in and the then fifth episode launches into a different plot that's completely unlike the previous episodes but still manages consistency with what's going on. At first it felt a little too fast but as I settled in on episode five, it felt nice to have the main characters be a couple but each independently needing to deal with what basically amounts to the same problem in their own way. And they get to do that without any tired "will they"/"won't they" shenanigans that have bogged down similar shows before this one.

So I checked out the audiobook version of new Stephen King isekai Fairytale. Imagine: being so rich and successful that you can put out a book where a character enters a portal to a magical world and then not fucking go there for over four hours.

I'm not gonna finish this.

Yeah, it's a 24 hours audio book. Even if the pre-magic stuff, or whatever, takes another two hours, that's only a fourth of the total book. But it feels very superfluous, like knowledge the reader doesn't actually have use for and never needs to refer to again. It doesn't serve to make the world feel more alive and rich. It feels like I'm hearing about nonsense like someone going through their sock drawer or making an omelet. Also, the audio book narrator sounds bland as shit.

I went to look up some reviews on this and of course there's tons of Stephen King flagellation. One of the two star reviews made a good point about something that nagged at the back of my mind but I couldn't put it into words: this book is written in first person narration of a 17-year-old in--presumably--modern times but sounds like a 45 year old man. Which, yeah, this sounds less like a modern kid at all and more like they'd be a member of my board. The choice of the narrator almost supports the notion. Now, I'm not finishing this. So for all I know, maybe this does take place in the nineties or something where the narrator's lack of tech and dated references make more sense.

I read reviews and a summary if only to see if I should continue this and didn't care for the rest of the plot. I also jumped around the book a bit and that's how I know the kid's still not in the other world four hours in. Anyway, there's going to be a movie version and I'm not interested enough to waste any more time on this.

A couple of reviewers made alternate suggestions in their reviews: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. (Yes, someone recommended a diff Stephen King book in their review.) But even reviews for the other Stephen King book mention a slow start. Don't know if I'll try either one of these.

Meh, it's the Rock. People love the Rock. Not me. But, like, other people. He could be taking a big stinky dump and flocks of fans will give him money and coo his praises. The movie should do fine.

I've started my foray into Fire Emblem Binding Blade. I wanted to play The Forgotten City like in my earlier post but my computer's being a bit funny and I'd like the game to be on sale.

Yeah, it took me a while after I saw her death in the news to go "oh, yeah, the country singer lady."

I assume Amazon is like YouTube where it recommends stuff you've already consumed or inane shit that has nothing to do with your tastes?

I'm listening to the audio book version of Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World by Philip Matyszak. I like the way this guy writes. He writes about ancient history but mainly in the context of ancient Rome. I don't know if the library has any more of his books in audio version form but I'm definitely interested.

I'm also reading Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty a.k.a. the Ask a Mortician lady on YouTube. My library doesn't have any of her books in audio book form unfortunately so I have to read this on my phone. I've found I really don't like reading books on my phone so it's a bit of a slog. No knock on the book itself. It's decent. But I don't enjoy reading whole books on my phone.

I was gonna start Metamorphoses by Ovid ("start" being the keyword, not necessarily "finish") in audio book form but my app told me someone else was waiting for it so I turned it in early and let them have it. I would've needed to renew my loan anyway since I had it for several days without touching it so I might as well try again another time.

I watched about a two minutes of Elvira's Haunted Hills before shutting it off. Should I bother?

I recall he's been trying to make another Mallrats.  It was a movie and then a 10-ep series but nobody wanted the series so now it's back to being a movie starring his daughter's friend who was in Clerks III as Brodie's daughter "Banner" (another cringe name) and bringing back Shannen Doherty.