Wrapping It Up

I read select sections of Greg Proops's "Smartest Book in the World." My initial reaction was similar to Princess Carolyn's after she read Bojack's: It's gibberish. Otherwise, I would describe it as "Greg really, really likes baseball." There are a couple of quotes I took from his ramblings, as Greg does have a way with words. My favorite is: "No book ever asks for the rent or threatens you with a knife. No book ever borrows money or agrees to help you move and then is too hungover to show up." I don't believe any of his stand-up bits are included in this, though I was only really looking for "America is England's fault;" in the beginning of his chapter on Women (yes, he capitalizes it), however, he does mention that "history is a series of lies written by icky white guys who beat their maids," so that's close enough to "It sounds better than the truth...so we'll all pretend it really happened. There were no women or minorities, just a bunch of white guys wearing wigs." He also includes some poetry that he introduces sort of like my English teacher did in my junior year of high school. This includes "The Raven," which was left out of the Edgar Allan Poe collected works book I have (though that might've only been short stories). Thanks, Greg!

My family knows I'm a weeb, so they got me some odd-flavored Kit Kats from Japan. The strawberry and green tea ones I already knew would be good, as well as strawberry cheesecake. However, there was also apple, azuki bean, and purple potato. The apple ones tasted like candy apples, so they were fine. The azuki bean ones are bitter, so part of me wonders why they're used in pastries and such. The purple potato ones didn't really taste like anything, though they're supposed to taste like sweet potato. I might've been burnt out by that point when I was sampling them. They also got me pumpkin spice flavored ones, and those were just as strong if not stronger than the pumpkin spice M&Ms. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied.

I really liked "The Plan to Eradicate Christmas." My favorite part was when Vegeta monologued about trying to shoot down Santa every year (before Christmas was replaced by Frieza Day) but ended up hitting his brother's pod by mistake. "They never found the body." "I have an uncle?" "You HAD an uncle." Later on, Santa tells him he did manage to hit him one year and is understandably nettled (Vegeta is thrilled). It's sad that the abridged series is ending after the Cell saga (as Toriyama originally intended) because of demands on their time and the toxic fan base demanding they work on nothing but DBZA. I suppose if there are scenes they really want to do from the Buu saga, like their short Super videos, they might do those.

There are a couple of projects I would like to do next year, including the one I've been working on for KH3 (assuming it releases before the holiday season and I can get the relevant screen shots I've been looking/waiting for). Right now I'm preparing to do an audio swap video; characters voiced by the same person will trade lines. I'm also trying to decide whether or not to make my next holiday video a sequel to the last one with other Christopher Lee carols (played straight this time, though).

Welcome to the Jungle

I saw the Hey Arnold! Jungle Movie, and it wasn't as great as I thought it would be, probably because people kept saying how good it was and over-hyped it. I don't think that it's bad or a misrepresentation of the show. The only real complaint I have is that sometimes the kids seemed out-of-character or confined to a box (yep, that's what this character is known for, don't need to do anything else with them). Olga got it the worst, as I don't remember her being boy-crazy and immature; she didn't even need to be there. I didn't get why the parents each had a skunk stripe in their hair (they wouldn't be that old and other people's parents look fine), and it seemed unbelievable that they would calmly say "Hey Arnold" (title drop) upon waking up and seeing their son for the first time in ten years. But then they become clingy in the epilogue, following him to school and asking what time school gets out because they're so eager to be with him; he even has to set boundaries with them. The movie does a fake-out like the entire thing was a dream, which was kind of annoying. As far as long-awaited sequel movies go, it's definitely the best one, even though that's not saying much (looking at you, Dark Side of Dimensions). It's most likely better than the first Hey Arnold! movie, even though both of them get crazy in the third act and have dumb, uncomfortable moments. For the most part, it was done well, and I can appreciate that. As for the new Jumanji movie, I haven't seen it and probably will not see it, but I hear it's also really good so I'll just take people's word for it. It's really a remake and not a sequel since it's a video game and not a board game, and they all get sucked into it instead of just one person. That would be like if Cuphead was actually a portal to Hell.

Yandere Simulator would make a great anime, but it couldn't be called that as a TV show since "simulator" is a word to describe the game. Love Sick would be an appropriate name for its non-game counterpart if it were to have one (but I still prefer the original for the game as well as its lighter tone). The Dev recently added the student council to the build, and I like the idea of bringing the Yakuza into it, too. I liked both versions of the Kokona situation, even though neither will appear in the finished game as she's not a real rival. I liked the non-violent approach (which is less out-of-character when you consider the animation on YouTube where Info-chan is the one instigating violence), but I also liked the scene where Ayano puts Kokona in the position to kill Musume.

Passion Projects

Emerald (along with Mercury) appeared in episode seven of volume five, doing what she does best - styling on the Shady Man. Jerk had it coming (though Yang probably did it better). I get the feeling the only two people who are important in that camp (Raven and Vernal) are also the only ones who can fight worth a damn. Or maybe they'll escape using Raven's semblance and end up with Qrow and the others. Going after Maidens is what Cinder's team does best anyway. Qrow thwarted their earliest attempt on Amber's life and could do so again with Vernal, especially with the others with him this time. He went out looking for Huntsmen and came back with Yang and Weiss.

The Power Rangers Ninja Steel Christmas episode was kind of funny but not as good as I thought it would be. It got more annoying as it went on. It was a neat idea, but it had some holes in it, as time-travel episodes often do. Cleocatra was written well and made me laugh a couple times, but when the Rangers were fighting her at the end, the writing made it sound like they had something against cats.

I get that the Teen Titans Go! 200th episode special is a vanity project, but the only good part was the beginning. The voice actors scene was the best (and I'm glad it was all of them and not just Scott). Like the Night Begins to Shine 4-parter, the celebrities called security on them. Part of me wishes Terra could've been part of it so we could've had Ashley there too. I liked seeing her in the Signal Boost video she was in on Geek and Sundry ("Pay me what I'm worth!").

I found out there was a series of six-minute Abbott and Costello cartoons by Hanna Barbera. Bud voiced himself, but Lou was voiced by someone else. Lou was probably dead by then, and Bud sounded old and sad. I only saw two of them, but I wasn't impressed or amused.

With all of these sexual allegations bringing people down and the public at large being shamed or feeling ashamed for ever liking them in the first place, I'm reminded of the "never meet your heroes" episode of Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! Chiro was ripping down all his posters of the hero team he looked up to, and Gibson reminded them that it wasn't them but what they stood for that made him want to become a hero. I think that principle still stands. You can support and enjoy projects these people made because you can separate their bad deeds from the art.

I recently learned that Daniel Radcliffe was often drunk during the filming of Half-blood Prince. That explains the Felix Felicis scene - he wasn't acting! Also, FNAF 6 came out. WTF?