REM Time

So instead of making up new "bedtime" stories, I've been focusing on thinking up "happily ever after" scenarios to get myself to sleep at night. It still doesn't work, but I've got "missing father returning home to his family," "husband waking up from a coma," and "exonerated prisoner drinking beer with his friends." Earlier this week I had a dream which included Percy as a cyborg.The depressing thing about Critical Role lately was the Raven Queen saying to Percy that everyone is broken from birth and the meaning of life is to try to better yourself before you die. I don't like that. While it's true that no one's perfect and there's always room for improvement, I just think that creates more conflict than it solves sometimes. We all just need to find some form of happiness before we die. It's sad to see Ashley go again long-term, and even sadder that Scanlan has given up pursuing Pike.

Sailor Moon Crystal episode 39 dragged too much, focusing on still shots (some reused) and rewinding too far into the end of the previous episode. If any episode needed to be abridged, this one definitely qualifies. Saturn and Pluto saved the day, and Sailor Moon fixed everything. The abridged answer to Pharaoh 90 asking to be sent home would be "F**k no!" Also Saturn could say that she will take lives and Sailor Moon will give life (which is a Tales of Zestiria reference), to which Sailor Moon would respond that she's taken plenty of lives already. I'm surprised that the main cast is in high school at the end of the episode (that didn't happen until the beginning of season 5), doing a time skip so we didn't have to sit through a study montage. And we get more character development as they talk about what clubs they're going to join. But then there's an eclipse, and the Crystal Twinkle Bell is heard, and Chibi-Usa isn't going to be able to return home just yet. I thought we'd get a special end credits sequence since this was the end of the S arc, but instead we just got the first ending again. No preview either, but we know it's amazon time.

Memory is the Chi

So the black coat in Chi is the Master of Masters and not the sixth Foreteller? Is there even a sixth Foreteller?? I'm beginning to think there's nothing special about the coat - it's just what they use to hide secret characters before they're revealed, and then the Organization made them a thing. Diz even had them readily available for Riku and Mickey. I'm done trying to fathom the meaning behind his now-iconic piece of apparel. Anyway, Ansem's segment got a couple views and a like overnight. That's really something. The Next Mutation videos are getting more views too, probably since the show is "universally reviled" according to one Internet source. Xaldin is trailing behind with only one view, but at least it's more than zero.

This week's SMC was a good one. My only joke to add is when Saturn gets summoned. The Outer Scouts could be like, "Hey remember that whole coming to kill you thing? Just kidding! Could you help us out?" and she'd be like, "Beg!" or something smug like that. It'd be so cool. That's why Saturn is best Outer Scout (except Pluto, I guess). A cancellation joke would also work. This week's Whose Line was great, too - very funny.

Milano cookies have so many secondary flavors now that I will seriously never buy regular ones again. There are even two different caramel ones - dulce de leche and sea salt. My favorites are mint and orange (also double chocolate but my brother eats them all). The Dunkin Donuts I pass on the way to work has maple frosted donuts, so that's incredibly awesome. When they went away in college I thought they'd never come back. Who knows if they even left this location to begin with? I only just started going there. Since I don't go to Wendy's anymore these days, I've been getting the frozen hot chocolate from Dunkin to substitute for a Frosty. It's basically the same thing and it's delicious.

Uncanny Valley

What I learned from Critical Role earlier this month is that Laura and Travis have a disagreement about oatmeal. Laura likes maple brown sugar (as do I), and Travis likes apple cinnamon. That would be my second favorite if not for strawberry, so it's a very close third. Brown sugar makes everything better, especially baked beans. The funny part was that Travis was set off by Matt saying Grog's skin was melting off like oatmeal. It just came out of nowhere. Are Matt and Travis in Kingdom Hearts Chi Back Cover? That's what I've heard, anyway, and a couple of them sounded familiar (although I admit I was going in under the impression that they were going to be voiced by Aqua, Terra, Ven, Kairi, and Riku - did that trailer ever get dubbed?).

Not much to say about Sailor Moon Crystal other than its awful animation in some parts, and also the padding. At least Hotaru and Chibi-Usa had dresses on as souls like the manga. If not, they would've been added later for censorship, which is appropriate in this case since, again, THEY ARE UNDERAGE! On top of references to the horrible visuals, all I'd have to add is elevator humor and a body swap joke. Speaking of animation, the RWBY Chibi animation looks like either Rankin Bass or Jimmy Neutron. Or the Peanuts viewfinder reels.

I wasn't going to watch Camp Camp, but Michael sounds like he's worth it. And they put Travis in a position of power, which always turns out great (TINY MINISKIRTS!). It's probably also better than Camp WWE, which I was just reminded exists by LittleKuriboh. The trailer reminded me of Dawn Somewhere's Gym of the Romantic Journey. The first episode was mostly Travis' character giving a speech. Miles' character had better not grab his leg and say something along the lines of "You're a miracle! I'll follow you forever!" while Lee Eddy's character mutters to herself and walks away. Speaking of camp, I've had the Salute Your Shorts theme song stuck in my head lately.

I like Diamanda and Count Jackula as reviewers even though I don't usually watch their videos. Their special appearances in other videos, like Count Jackula in Some Jerk's Haunted Mansion review (especially his song in part 2) and Diamanda in the RPG version of Advent Children.

Nice Work

Xigbar's zodiac segment is up. I'm happy that Zexion's has one view now. I'm also amazed to report that the Sins videos I posted have ten views each! If I was following PokeSins' format, I would've added a few "Plusles," but since regular CinemaSins doesn't have them (usually), and I was trying to make a point, I left them out. One of them would've been Splinter making me laugh when he says "Yes I can. I am old!" in response to Leonardo saying he can't change his mind - about helping Raph no less. Leo was a dick in this version. I might've given one to the guy playing Shredder too, since he seemed really into it despite only appearing in a grand total of three episodes. That had to be nuts getting the part of the Shredder only to learn the series wasn't about him. That's like the girl playing "Sailor Luna" thinking she was going to be Chibi Moon. I had a few more audio swap ideas too, but I either didn't have access to the audio I needed or it was for a different episode entirely, and I'm not doing the whole series. It's too much work and I don't have that kind of time. And it's not that I don't like the Nickelodeon Ninja Turtles; I'm just all Turtle'd out at this point. It's great that kids (and other fans) like it.

Operation Dude Rescue turned into Girls Night 4 on a recent episode(s) of Teen Titans Go! I had the same reaction to the boys' chivalry as Raven did. Having manners is one thing, but they were just being annoying and kinda creepy. Jynx's personality can only be explained by her relationship with Cyborg. When she's not in jail or the Hive, she's with him. Now she acts like him. I don't know when Terra had the opportunity to betray them while they were breaking in because she was with them the whole time. They were working together, they got captured because of her (including her too but she didn't care), and the answer was more teamwork? I guess the real takeaway a la "What I Learned" is that milkshakes are awesome.

I had a couple more fan art ideas that I may or may not do. The first one is Ienzo dressed as Tuxedo Mask because they share a voice actor. The other is Ken getting emotional over teaching his son (whom he probably named after his brother) how to blow bubbles. 

Fan Service

If anyone asks Pluto who's guarding the Gate of Time, she could joke that she found someone to cover her. Cut to Time Patrol Trunks. "Guys...?" I liked the first version where Hotaru's house goes nuts and all of the scouts including her are being chased through it by Kaorinite and her minions. The Sailor Planet Attack was awesome, but in this version all they do is summon the grail again. This episode was kind of dark. Chibiusa is clinically dead, and Mamoru is using his bullshit powers to keep her on life support until it kills him. It's like what happened with Nanako in Persona 4. The new ending with Tuxedo Mask/Endymion and Serenity was good, if not a bit heavy on the fan service. Next time on SMC: nudity! That's another thing that StarS got censored for. Speaking of, there are only a few episodes left before this storyline concludes and SuperS starts. I'm looking forward to seeing that, although there will be more differences in that too. Maybe since pure heart crystals weren't a thing this time around, dream mirrors won't be either.

There are bacon PopTarts now. Plus some more Oreo abominations that probably aren't going to show up where I work. Suzy Q's are back too (though I didn't realize they were gone). Also, who's this Casey they mention on the box who will be happy about it? I'll admit my only exposure to it is that movie with Amy Jo Johnson. At least the Hostess section is a bit more organized now.

If David Dayan Fisher wanted to, maybe he could be a guest voice on Archer since it's similar to what he's already done. He wouldn't even have to be a villain, just some random asshole. Since I've been watching Archer instead of NCIS for the most part this past year, I was imagining lines from Archer while watching the NCIS finale.