Shine

A lot of reviewers have gotten fed up with the demands of their various projects as of late. Many simply abandon them, while others change formats to accommodate their busy schedules. For most, this is not their primary source of income (if any), and they can do whatever they want. For others...well, let's just say I'm a bit less than sympathetic. Perhaps things have become too complicated and they've gotten in over their heads, or they just don't find it fun anymore. If it's become a job that they're earning money from, it qualifies as work and is by definition less fun. All work requires effort, and depending on how many projects they have going at one time, it might have gotten too stressful to deal with. Mind you, they set up these expectations for themselves; no one would give a damn about when the next episode is if they didn't promise a new one every week from the beginning. Now people only seem to want to do vlogs so they don't have to put as much time and effort into scripting and editing. I don't blame them, but only on the condition that they haven't just gotten lazy.

We lost Leonard Nimoy. At least he can finally rest and won't be exploited in films and such. The Japanese voice actor for Master Xehanort died too, and that was sad. Either way, he's going to be recast (just like Even's Japanese voice actor). I wonder if Sheldon's still going to be into cloning him or how that show will handle it since they recently lost one of their own as well. I still have no specific tribute for him, but I'm still making music slide shows on YouTube, so I'm being creative, and we can say it's for them. ScrewAttack dedicated their remastered Boba Fett versus Samus Aran death battle to Monty complete with a quote from him and a parody of Team JNPR's dance number from RWBY volume 2 episode 7 "Dance Dance Infiltration."

Illya Kuryakin will be played by Armie Hammer. I was kind of hoping the guy who played Ducky in a flashback episode of NCIS would get to do it somehow, but The Lone Ranger (at least the one Disney gave us) is not who I imagined him to be. Not that I ever saw the original Man from U.N.C.L.E., but David McCallum was Illya, and that's setting the bar pretty high.

So after losing, the white collar team thinks they can copy the winning team (no collar) by walking around naked (which they aren't doing)...or are they just copying the first winner, Richard Hatch? Whatever the case, it's pathetic. Based on what happened with the Honesty versus Deceit option, it would seem as if this is all scripted anyway, or it's just that predictable.

Social Link Go!

I noticed a pattern in Persona 4, namely the problems the kids were having (except maybe Yu and Teddie). Chie and Yosuke seemed the most normal, struggling with feelings of self-worth in terms of other people and their surroundings. Yukiko and Rise both wanted to run away from their situations, only to go right back to them in the end. Kanji and Naoto had to learn how to be themselves and accept themselves for who they are and not how society perceives them. If you ask me, Naoto needed some Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher in her life in addition to the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. I wanted to use the ending theme to KNT for something (after passing it up for Justin's tribute video originally), and "To Be Yourself" might be just the message P4 needs.

Season 30 of Survivor pitted different social classes against each other. Joaquin of the white collar tribe reminds me of the boss's son from The IT Crowd. It's been clear for years now, probably the entire time, that a vast majority of the contestants come from California. Anyway, it looks like No Collar has a distinct advantage in attitude whereas the other two tribes, especially the White Collar tribe, are going to eat each other alive. I'm still a little ashamed that I'm even still watching the show, but they keep claiming it's a social experiment. On weeks I can't watch it, I just read the recaps. I'm more interested in the Ponderosa videos toward the end, as they have a more genuine feel to them.

I've found a way around choosing which waffle taco to get. Just get a sausage one and add bacon bits at home. Now, when I eat breakfast at McDonald's, I put the hash brown in my bacon egg and cheese bagel sandwich thanks to the crunchwrap. I wanted to mention this last time but forgot because of engagement issues. I guess I was too late to see if McDonald's white hot chocolate was any good, but it's still too cold for me to want a Shamrock Shake just yet. Stupid, lousy New England winter.

Fool's Hour

Despite the episode being pretty much a toy commercial, it was actually pretty good (we still haven't seen everyone's Zords, though). I already respect Tyler as a leader. A monster followed them back to the lair and was going to tell the main bad guy, so Tyler ran him over with his car. Amazing. Also, Energems make you immortal; that's the explanation for Koda, at least. And now all five of them are working at the restaurant, so Kendall had better stop picking on Shelby. I've been doing more research, and I'm not sure why there are two Aqua or Cyan Rangers as well as the two Purples we're going to get. Why did the Japanese version need to have male and female versions of the same color? It was all right when Samurai did it with Jayden and his sister, but I don't know what to think about it happening again twice. There are ten Energems and twelve Rangers; that's not as cool as it might sound to some people.

I never used to eat Taco Bell when I was a kid, but now I tend to do so a lot more since I work right next to one. It's the same with the Chinese restaurant near my boyfriend's house - it's a stone's throw away, so we go there all the time. These foods are pretty addicting but probably not very healthy (though the BLT slider is great), so it's a good thing we work at a grocery store and try to control ourselves. We just got engaged because he said he wanted to make it official, but everyone's making a big deal about it like we'd actually just gotten married. I got us promise rings, but my mom's kinda pissed because there were no diamonds involved. I'll never understand adults.

Character

These episodes with the Spectre [Dark Moon] Sisters are probably going to be the only chance at character development we're going to see for the Sailor Scouts. Everything you needed to know about Ami was crammed into that episode. It was great, but it still didn't measure up to the episode from R. It was suggested to me that Koan and Berthier might not be dead since Mars and Mercury were still being held captive by their powers when they got abducted (we all know where this is going to end up), but unless they make an appearance soon like the other guys did, I'm still going to assume they got blown up. Also, Chibi Ami was so cute!

I haven't given much in the way of character descriptions for Kagemiya/Mikage or Ienzo's parents in any of the stories I've written about them. For starters, Mikage was set up to be a foil to Namine; she has dark brown hair and wears mostly black (I haven't really decided what I wanted the sailor fuku for the Radiant Garden schools to look like; otherwise she wears a blouse and a skirt), including lace-up knee-high boots. I don't think I've decided on a blouse color in particular or her eye color. I have said before that Ludger from Tales of Xillia 2 is close to what I thought Ienzo's dad would look like. In my stories, he has blue hair like Ienzo's and gray eyes. Ienzo's mom has brown hair and blue eyes, differentiating her from Belle a little bit (and the same eye color as Ienzo). Ienzo grew up to be a scientist like his father but takes after his mother with his love of books. The daggers that appeared previously were originally his father's, so I gave his mother the same power as him too (I suppose I could have given them each a dagger and written both of their names on them, but it's too late to change it now). While there will probably never be a canon description of them, I like these ideas because they seem to make sense. As for their names, I just picked two that I liked.

Extended

Mikage continued to watch over Zexion as he slept. The next day, he noticed that she hadn't been sleeping at all. "Hey, you look like you haven't slept since we got back."
"I haven't. Who knows when they'll try again," she replied.
Zexion shook his head. "No. We'll sleep in shifts. It's my turn to look after you." He let her sleep in his bed while he sat and read at the end of it.
Saix came in looking annoyed. He knew he couldn't do anything to them while they were in the Organization's castle. Zexion looked up from his book and scowled. "What do you want?" he whispered tersely.
"I have a message from the Superior," Saix informed him in a low voice. "Axel will be held accountable for his actions once he is found or returns to the castle himself." Zexion only nodded in response; while they couldn't prove Saix was the mastermind, it was clear to him and Mikage who had really put Axel up to the task.
Saix glared at the sleeping form in the bed. "Why isn't she back in her cell?"
"Xaldin said she was relieved of duty so she could stay by my side." Zexion didn't like where this was going.
"For now. Perhaps she has outlived her usefulness."
"That's not true. Let her rest."
"Not like she's done anything to deserve it," Saix muttered under his breath as he turned to leave.
After Mikage awoke, Xemnas approached the two of them in the hallway. "I trust you received my message?"
"Yes, Superior," Zexion responded.
"I expect great things from you going forward."
"Right."
Xemnas addressed Mikage. "It's high time you went back to your cell and resumed your regular duties."
"But-" Zexion began to protest.
"It's okay, Zexion," Mikage interrupted him. "I don't want to break any rules." Nearby, Xaldin watched her walk away; he could guess what the Superior was talking to Zexion about.
"Were you about to say something, VI?" Xemnas asked.
"I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for her," Zexion explained. "We still don't feel safe after the attempt on our lives, so we've been watching each other sleep."
"I understand. I will instruct the Dusks to watch over you both."
Xaldin chose that moment to intervene. "Pardon me, Superior. I must tend to the patient's bandages."
"Very well. I would like you both to know that the loss of our comrades affects me deeply. However, I require the two of you to carry on in their absence." He patted Zexion on the shoulder as he left. "Rest well, my young friend."
"Right. You heard him. Scoot," Xaldin said, ushering him back to his room.

Five Stages

For those wondering why I let Xaldin be the drunk when Luxord usually gets that stereotype, the manga made him out to be a pot-head, so I thought this was an improvement.
After becoming Nobodies, the apprentices (except Xemnas, who had already accepted it having inflicted it upon himself) went through the stages of grief in their own ways. Xigbar, being half-Xehanort already, arrived at acceptance much faster than the rest but still retained a devil-may-care sense of denial about the whole thing. The more angry and frustrated Lexaeus became, the more darkness he seemed to exude. Vexen, ever the workaholic, seemed to take to bargaining as his coping mechanism; the more he worked, the closer they would get to solving their problems. Xaldin threw himself into despair. His coping method, as it had always been, was alcohol. Zexion observed all of this with seemingly vacant eyes, unable to commit to any stage. At first he just unthinkingly followed the others around, especially Lexaeus. On one occasion, he bumped into him when he stopped short. Lexaeus turned around to take notice of him, patting him on the head. He turned back to Xaldin and commented, "You know that's bad for you, right?"
"Oh, what is there to worry about now, Aelie?" Xaldin asked drunkenly.
"'Aelie?' You only call me that when you've had a few too many. We lost our hearts, not our livers."
"Shove off. Let me wallow in misery in peace."
"You're setting a bad example for the kid."
"A little late to be thinking about that now, don't you think?"
"...Lexy..." Zexion said suddenly.
"What?" Lexaeus exclaimed.
"...He should have called you Lexy...since your name's Lexaeus now..."
Xaldin laughed. "Guess you're right, not that it matters, of course."
Xaldin was beginning to make Lexaeus angry, but he decided to leave with Zexion before he started a  brawl. Lexaeus couldn't read Zexion's face as they walked away. "Were you bothered by anything Xaldin said?" Lexaeus asked.
"I don't know," Zexion replied.
"You can call me Lexy if you'd like."
"Maybe."
"Okay, well, you think about it."

Dino Charge

So the Blue and Black Rangers already got their powers before the season started? Would've liked to have seen that! We probably will, though, having to backtrack like before. I'd really like to hear the backstory on Koda; I thought he'd be more like Maya in some ways. Chase is pretty much Xander. Also, Kendall is unnecessarily mean to Shelby - what's going on there? I hate going into a season feeling like I'm missing something. I know Wild Force started with the four of them already, but it began from Cole's perspective anyway and he was the last one (until Merrick, that is). Since we start off knowing there are going to be ten Rangers (eleven, really, since purple goes to two different people, one being Kendall), I wonder if the last five are going to make their appearance in the "super" second season. At first I thought they were doing a Spielberg tribute with visual references to E.T. and Jurassic Park. Then Keeper and the villains got the dinosaurs killed with their shenanigans but apparently survived themselves (wahp wahp waahhhh). And what was up with that Michael Bay-exploding car that they hurled into the air with their energems? It wasn't secondary powers at work - it just happened for no reason. Again, a lot of the same elements as past seasons, but they run just shy of being a carbon copy of anything.

Thinking about it, the Ninja Turtles wouldn't have been the weirdest cross-over that In Space could have done. They could have done one with Mystic Knights. That would've been trippy.

41

My mom's family did their usual white elephant gift exchange at Christmas, and I ended up with the biography of George Bush allegedly written by his son (I'm sure he had help like the first book he put out). I'm surprised no one thought to get Bill Nye's book since someone got Jon Stewart's book another year. I didn't know much about him since I was a little kid at the time of his presidency, so I decided to give it a chance. As I suspected from my Look-It-Up Book of Presidents, he was a decent President and an even greater man. The book also proved what an ass W can make of himself. I agreed to read this in order to learn more about his father's life, not sit through anecdotes that are all about W. That being said, the episode of Futurama featuring the joke that someone is "vomiting in the Bushes" (head jars) is hilarious.

So we move into the canon R portion of Sailor Moon Crystal. Instead of what happened in the original anime, Koan gets killed by Sailor Moon and Mars gets abducted by Rubeus. I liked it better when the sisters were kept alive.

TJ is the best leader from Power Rangers, even when he isn't the leader. He demonstrated this when he mediated the epic cleaning argument between Cassie and Ashley, and when he knocked out and dragged Andros from the Megazord when the latter tried to go down with the ship. I don't really have much of an opinion about Red Rangers; Jason was okay, Rocky and Aurico won't really the leaders, and Tommy was an attention whore.

Aftermath

It appears they will still continue Monty's work without him, but I still feel sad. Upon realizing that, I finally allowed myself to grieve. I guess I felt I didn't have the right to, not knowing him personally or having met him before. But at least now I know I was feeling sad for the right reasons. Here's another vignette I've been working on:

The four remaining apprentices ventured as far as the gate to look at the world outside. It was about halfway through its transformation from Hollow Bastion back into Radiant Garden; while the layout was returning to normal, everything still had an air of gloom and disrepair about it. At a loss for words, Even shook his head and went back inside.
"This doesn't look quite like home..." Ienzo remarked.
"The people have tried to restore order themselves," Dilan observed.
"They won't want help from us. This was our fault, after all." Ienzo began rubbing his eyes.
"Are you crying?" Aeleus asked.
"No. The wind blew dirt in my eyes."
Aeleus patted him on the back anyway. They looked up when they heard someone approaching; it was Kagemiya, of course. "Is everything all right?" Aeleus asked her.
"More or less. The darkness that warped everything has yet to ebb away completely," she replied. "But it'll get there. I know it will."
"It won't be that easy," Dilan pointed out. He and Aeleus went back inside to rejoin Even while Ienzo stayed outside with Kagemiya.
"I'm sorry, Kage-san..." Ienzo muttered.
"I already told you I've forgiven you guys," she said, thinking he was referring to the damage the darkness had done.
"Not that. I'm sorry you had to watch me die back at Castle Oblivion."
"You don't have to apologize for that. I wanted to protect you, but you ended up protecting me instead. Or at least you tried to."
"No. I mean, I did want you to be safe, but my reasons were entirely selfish," Ienzo admitted. "I didn't want to watch you die."
Kagemiya looked confused and a little hurt, but she quickly got over it. "After what you'd been through, it's perfectly understandable for you to be a little selfish."
"When you came straight here after waking up, you seemed really relieved that I was okay. If Axel killed you right after me, and that was the last thing you saw, I felt really guilty while you were hugging me."
"That's because you're a good person. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Goodbye, Monty

Another unexpected death. Just like Joan Rivers, he died during a routine surgery. I guess you don't know what you're allergic to until it happens. I don't know what this will mean going forward, but everyone misses him a lot. They said to do something creative in lieu of flowers, but I don't have any ideas. With Justin it just came to me, but there's nothing I can do that would do his memory any justice. I'm not a brilliant animator like he was; I'm not even a good animator. I'd already talked about him in an article I wrote for Hubpages about fight choreography. I didn't do anything for Robin, either. I was too upset, and it was definitely out of my league to do anything else except talk about it. I didn't have any strong feelings for Joan, though. With Monty, I felt the same hurt as when I lost a family friend, an old woman named Louise who would often come to my elementary school and tell stories. I didn't cry now like I didn't cry then because I knew it was liable to happen (they weren't hopeful when they announced he was in the hospital in critical condition). As far as creativity goes, I did write another Hub article today (I'd written two on the day they announced his condition). And as for the short Kingdom Hearts stories I keep making up, it's usually the result of trying to fall asleep at night. Tonight will be no different, especially with the latest blizzard I'll have to dig myself out of tomorrow. Here's what I'm working on now.

One day when he was five, Ienzo decided he wanted to explore the cavern beneath the castle. "Whoa, you can't go down there. No one's allowed down there," Braig said, trying to stop him.
"Why not?" Ienzo asked.
"Because it's dangerous. There are monsters living down there."
"You also said there were monsters living under my bed at night, and that wasn't true."
"Okay, fair enough, but I'm dead serious this time. Be a good little Ienzo and don't go down there. Ever."
Ienzo looked at him incredulously but walked away from the entrance. He played by himself in the courtyard and waited for Braig to move on before sneaking back over there. He slid down the steep entrance and landed at the bottom. Almost immediately, he regretted his decision. Although he could probably climb back up, he wished he hadn't come alone. Then he saw something moving in the shadows. Five monsters appeared out of the darkness and looked at him curiously. He reached out to touch one of them, but it swiped at him; he jumped out of the way just in time and continued backing up slowly.
Meanwhile, his parents were looking for him. Seeing that he was no longer in the courtyard, Braig realized that he was in the cavern. "So he really didn't believe me, huh? Guess I'm the guy who cried wolf. I'll go in after him."
"It's not your fault," Marian said. "We can't leave him alone for anything."
They found him backed up against a wall but unharmed as far as they could tell. Marian opened her book and cast a spell that made them disperse. "Get him out of here, Braig!" James shouted, drawing his daggers to fight them off.
"You got it." Braig picked up Ienzo and jumped back up the entrance. "Didn't I tell you not to go down there?" he scolded when they were outside. "I know you don't trust me because I joke around a lot, but did you really want to take that chance?"
"I'm sorry," Ienzo said, looking at the ground in shame.
"You should be apologizing to your parents. They were worried sick about you."
His parents joined them momentarily. Marian was spitting mad, but James recognized those creatures and was starting to have serious qualms about their research. "I'll be good and listen from now on," Ienzo apologized when his mother was done yelling.
"You shouldn't have gone down there, son," James agreed. "You're lucky you weren't hurt. Those creatures shouldn't have existed..." He left the punishment to his wife and went with Braig to talk to Ansem about what had happened. Ienzo was sent to bed without supper or a story as a start.
***
Marian became ill and collapsed in the library. Ienzo ran to get his father, who was in the lab with Even and Ansem. "Dad! Something's wrong with Mom!"
Ansem went with James to tend to Marian while Even kept an eye on Ienzo. "Is she going to be okay?" Ienzo asked worriedly.
"I don't know..." Even replied, thinking about when his mother had fallen ill when he was a child too. "Mama..."
"Even, you're squeezing me..."
"Oh. Sorry."