Not Nearly Enough

Finding a Black Lives Matter donate playlist and running that in the background is the easiest thing you can do unless you have adblocker. And while you’re doing that, maybe educate yourself a little.

The first few episodes of Power Rangers after the hiatus were pretty funny. I especially liked Scrozzle’s line of “Oh, and Vargoyle’s back” and Steel’s “I miss Spot.” Betty saying “mac and cheesy” instead of “lemon squeezy” was cool too. Captain Chaku looked like a cross between Robo-Cop and Cyborg.

The new trailer for Phase 2 of Kingdom Hearts games has me thinking about how this story could’ve been told differently. Imagine if Kingdom Hearts 1 had started with Kairi running from Xehanort and then cut to then-present day on Destiny Island where she has no memory of what happened and is setting off with Sora and Riku to find out. Birth By Sleep (and by extension all of the mobile games) could still be a prequel. I’m just annoyed with the holes in KH3 being filled by the Re:Mind DLC, only to cut off abruptly and continue in this new game we’re getting with Kairi’s flashback and mission with Riku. That’s not good storytelling. I just hope we finally get a clear picture of what happened to Kairi (and the rest of the Radiant Garden group) a year(?) following the events of Birth By Sleep. I will be glad to see them again, no matter how briefly. Dark Road started before Union X finished, so I’m waiting on the translation on that.

The Fruits Basket dub did three more episodes and then stopped again. Oh well. Pokemon came back but Digimon didn’t, even though the article I read said they would. Devimon was supposed to make an appearance. I’ve also gotten into Ascendance of a Bookworm even though Isekai stories are hit or miss for me. Main characters dying in the first episode isn’t something I enjoy, even if they’re transferred or reborn somewhere else. Death by book avalanche reminds me of the Boy Meets World episode “And Then There Was Shawn” where it happened to Wil Friedle and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Since we don’t spend much time if any on her previous life, it feels less like that anyway and more like Spice and Wolf like one reviewer said. Like the clip I found that got me into it in the first place, it's all about that library science. I'm not sure if I like the main character yet, but I'm enjoying the anime immensely. To quote Travis Willingham (though he was talking about Ouran), "What is this show?"

Lucky Charms Honey Clovers is more like Kix rather than Honey Nut Cheerios, but that’s all right.

Delayed Update

Cooking tofu didn’t go as well as I’d hoped the first time. I did not see the results that I wanted using the soy sauce, so the second time I used olive oil. That time I got the results I wanted, but the sweet and sour sauce I opted to use was too bland. The jerk sauce made my husband’s diverticulitis act up, so that’s out, unfortunately. I also ate some of my Sakura pocky; it has a subtle flavor, and I could taste the salt on the stick more.

If nothing else, the music this season on Survivor slaps. While Natalie didn’t necessarily HAVE to win the whole thing, she definitely deserved to. I was disappointed at the old-school mentality of not voting for Natalie simply because she had been voted out first. That’s not how this twist works. It’s how Chris won last time they did this (unless his boldness at fire-making when he didn’t have to was what really won everyone over). Natalie earned her way back and then some. She made extinction her bitch. The only way Tony was losing this was if he lost at making fire, which sucks. Tony winning was whatever, but it was sad to see Ben step down for Sarah only for her to lose at making fire. I would’ve liked a different final three: Natalie, Sarah, Tony; Sarah, Tony, Ben; or Sarah, Natalie, Michele. Okay so maybe I wanted Sarah to win more than I previously thought. I would love to see a buddy cop show starring Sarah and Tony in the same vein as Castle.

The Fruits Basket dub started up again. The sub is still three episodes ahead, so I’m watching both now. I do like Tohru’s new Japanese voice actress. Laura’s voice acting during the haunted house scene was epic; if she recorded it from home, I imagine Travis had something to say about it, seeing as how she ditched him in a haunted house run by their friends as part of a fund-raising stretch goal. Speaking of Critical Role, they are four episodes into their Narrative Telephone series, and it just keeps getting funnier with each installment as they flub and forget details and make up new ones. The Digimon and Pokemon anime are also returning in Japan next week, and people are speculating that the fall lineup will mostly consist of cartoons as well considering that they have been the least impacted by the pandemic. Some people are saying this with snobbery and others are pretty excited for it.

Joel Heyman finally said something crazy enough to get himself cancelled, or maybe it was just the final straw. I know none of the details for certain, but there are more important things going on right now, and if his politics differ from that of the rest of the company, then… Well, it's been compared to them letting Vic go and the crunch scandal that saw Gray fired, but I don't think any of them are comparable. All bad situations, but all of them are different. Me, I'm just tired of everyone's bullshit at this point.