Ahh, heard of some of those. It's a good list! Shape of Water was interesting. It was a really beautifully shot film. I'm still trying to figure out some of the symbolism though, like with the colours, I feel like there's definitely something to be said about the use of green and red. Green = toeing the company line and societal expectations, red = passion and individuality? Not sure how I feel about it overall though; I didn't really like the ending but I don't think it could have ended any other way given it's kind of an adult fairy tale.

I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and that was really well done. Been trying to see more of the Oscar nominated movies before the awards with my mom so we're going to try and see Lady Bird soon.

Okay, Black Mirror!

Maaan I typed up a whole reply a while ago but it must not have gone through! I only just found out. Sorry!

Heh, the good thing about the topless scene is all the memes that came out of it it.

Hmm, well I recognize Logan, The Shape of Water, IT, and... the movie with the guy with all the split personalities? Other than that, no idea! What are the others? (I'm hopefully seeing The Shape of Water on Saturday, by the way!)

I've seen all up to and including Hang the DJ. I liked Crocodile (other than how the ending happened) and Arkangel, but not so much Hang the DJ and USS Callister. I realize that ordering is probably opposite than most people's list... and I've heard Metalhead is apparently the worst episode but my brother said he thinks it'll be my favourite

Turns out my brother got me a new D&D dice set. (My old one gives me notoriously bad rolls ). Yeah Hot Fuzz went over really well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Have fun

I don't know how I'll forgive you

Yeah, you're right actually! Didn't think of that.

Glad you enjoyed it! I was so-so about it. Granted, I had a huge expectations going in and loved TFA. And there were definitely some good parts, it wasn't all bad. Nowhere near as bad as some fans make it out to be. Kylo Ren's characterization was great and I agree he was the best thing about the movie. I was a huge fan of his after TFA despite a lot of people seeming to be disappointed/underwhelmed by him and I'm glad people are starting to come around and seeing what a great character he is. I loved the force connection scenes with Rey (other than that random topless Kylo one... why). The cinematography was also good! There were specific things I didn't like, but I guess I was disappointed that it could have been a lot better.

Don't tell me what you thought yet! Been so busy meeting with family I haven't watched episode 1. Tonight, though. Tonight. Nice shirt . Christmas was lovely! Hope yours was too. I still have a present coming today, too, from my brother (he said it got delayed in shipping ). I feel like Christmas passed really quickly this year. Can't believed it's already almost 2018. We're deciding on a movie to watch tonight as per family tradition and I think we're going to watch Hot Fuzz

Youtube's got some of the original Iron Chef Japan episodes and they're such a treat! It's super dramatic. Chopped is great too! It always gets me how the host can say "You've been Chopped" with a straight face every time.

I really don't know what you're talking about!

Haha, yeah that was pretty bad, and still some of the worst I've seen. In the Flash the episode afterwards Crisis 4, they even throw some shade regarding what happened... it'll make sense when you see it . I agree, Overgirl was a lot better.

You wouldn't!

Yeah you're right, I think they really under-utilized her. I would have also liked to see Aquaman do more water things. Instead almost all his fighting was on land where he was basically just a generic super strong guy. And even in his one fight underwater he seemed underwhelming.

Don't worry, I'll keep quiet for now! Ahh, so you are aware of the reactions. I'm very curious to hear what you think. Yes, Black Mirror next week! And Christmas Eve tomorrow! Have a wonderful Christmas eve if we don't talk before then

That's good to hear! People are so overwhelmingly against repealing net neutraility and I really do hope that that will have an impact on congress. And at the very least nothing bad is going to happen for a while anyways.

I love the Cooking Channel! The ones with the most sugary foods are sooo good because of how amazing the food looks, totally agree. I love things like Extreme Cakes. Oh and Iron Chef is an absolute classic. And Hell's Kitchen of course, that's still a must-watch every week

Thanks!

I don't know what you're talking about! I've never done that either... especially not for my past take home exams... and it's definitely not the first thing I do when I get a homework assignment...

Crisis was pretty good! I thought parts 3 and 4 were the strongest and part 2 was the weakest. Pretty exciting to have a huge crossover like that on TV. However, I wish I could erase the last few minutes of part 4 from my memory. So if you plan on watching, brace yourself .

Naw man, I love reading nitpicks!

Yeah I saw it last night! Let me know when you've seen it. At least Black Mirror's only out in a couple weeks!

I heard . I was so surprised to find out that the vote by the FCC only involved 5 people... just 5 people had the power to get this to pass to congress. The vast majority of Americans are against the proposal yet that doesn't seem to matter. I really hope congress puts a stop to it. I saw one of the California state senators proposed net neutrality laws for California, which at least would be good for you if that goes through!

We picked up our tree today actually! Going to decorate next week! Naw, we have just a random assortment of ornaments. From traditional things like bulbs and lights and snowmen figurines, to decades-old school and childhood Christmas projects, to Star Trek and other genre figures. My dad's favourite is a light-up Bird of Prey .

Glad to hear. Sounds like you'll be able to relax soon enough! Good luck on them! Thanks, I got one over with yesterday which was okay, and it was definitely going to be my hardest. Only other one is a take-home exam starting Saturday which I'm not worried about at all.

By all means, rant away! It's far, far from a good movie. I think my standards were just so low after Batman v Superman that anything better would have been amazing. JL is certainly not a good movie but I did find it entertaining. I agree Superman had some really cringy dialogue and acting throughout the movie (also the CGI animations of his body were particularly bad). I like Gustin way more as well. I think I liked Miller right after seeing it because he at least provided some comedy while BvS was so devoid of it, but having gone back to tonight's Flash I definitely agree with you. (Oh and he really mispronounced "viola" when he joked about playing it, and as a violist it was a cool reference but a conflicting one ). I'd love to hear what you think!

Yeah, all the big theatres near me have been sold out for a while. I did dress up in my Next Gen uniform last time for the early screening, maybe I'll do it again this time . Oh nice, I didn't even notice there were Black Mirror trailers yet! I just watched them, and that's definitely Trek. Star Trek went into some pretty deep stuff occasionally so I think you're probably right.

It snowed for a few hours back in October which got me really excited for early snowfall this Christmas but there's been nothing yet! But otherwise, there's certainly a lot of Christmas spirit here . I'll be picking up a tree in a couple of weeks and decorating with my brother, as is tradition.

Just need to get through final exams first. I'm done by next Monday at least. Do you have finals?

I haven't actually seen any of the Thor movies yet . Nor Wonder Woman. But yes, I did enjoy Justice League. I saw the audience rating on rotten tomatoes is quite a bit higher than the critics reviews, and I agree with the audience rating a lot more. Superman's CGI mouth was pretty distracting . It was just... weird. It was definitely the worst in his first scene, and in later scenes his upper lip just looked kind of blurry. There was really just some terrible CGI mainly when they were animating people - super obvious dummy models.

Did you get tickets for an early Star Wars showing? I managed to get some at my local theatre for December 14!

Yeah, I've seen so much activity on reddit about it. It's good to see people are taking initiative and voicing their concerns. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on the next couple weeks. Hopefully under the next president they will work towards reversing it as soon as they can, if it does go through

I'd seen that clip before! I can only imagine how frustrating that kind of stuff would be to happen.

Hmm that's a good idea too, doesn't look like too hard of a costume either. Not yet, but I definitely will be making the mask! Probably just with some paper-mache.

Sounds like a classic Thanksgiving . Can't believe we're within a month from Christmas and the 2018 already!

I saw Justice League yesterday and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. There were some weak moments and the CGI looked pretty bad in some places but it was definitely better than Batman v Superman and many of the other recent DC movies. I really liked Ezra Miller's Flash.

Also... heard about the net neutrality stuff going on for you guys. I hope it works out for the best in the next two weeks.

There's an insane amount of stuff in games like those! Sounds like you'll have to go back and redo everything . Speedruns are mindboggling. They can make for some pretty funny live stream moments too.

Yeah it keeps pleasantly surprising me by not falling into the usual tired plot devices they always do.

Yeah I kind of have the hair length for it and there aren't many female characters that have short brown hair, so it works out well. And it's way more wearable than my costume last year which was Squirrel Girl... that tail! . Will you grow out a moustache? That would be dedication

Thanksgiving is coming up for you isn't it? Hope you have a good dinner planned!

Haha I have that habit too! I have to check every nook and cranny and do every side quest possible before moving on in games like Fallout. It's slow going but I get super rich with all the ammo I'll ever need pretty fast . Glad you're enjoying it!

Ahh well, I still tune in every week and it does have some good moments. Flash is pretty good this season although the last episode was terrible. Supernatural is actually really strong right now! Really enjoying it so far. There's a nice balance of monster of the week/main storyline, a cool new character, and the Winchesters are actually talking to each other rather than keeping secrets bottled up to explode at mid-season .

My brother's birthday is a few days before Halloween so we always have a nice party. I didn't do much other than that. I did dress up to school again (Star Trek Next Generation science officer). I'm already planning next year's costume - I think I'm going to try to be Princess Mononoke! Did you have a costume?

Good to hear!

Sounds good , I hope you enjoy it. I'm getting further and further behind in my shows with school being so busy right now (big midterm on Monday ). I guess that is one thing PS4 people get that console people get I've heard such good things about that game!

Heh, you're not missing much at least now. With last season's villain gone the show feels pretty stale again. Yeah that was a nice reference. Can't see them bringing in Batman as a cameo but one can hope.

Any plans for Hallowe'en?

Nice! Haha I didn't know either. I never watched either show but I have seen clips from Malcolm in the Middle and it seems pretty funny. Now I'm curious what you mean . I haven't actually seen much of Louis CK.

Well you know where I stand on that . The episodes are short and there are only 37 so it'll be a fast watch! Give it a shot, especially since you watched the movie! Mia was really dislikable but I found Light (when he wasn't around Mia) wasn't that bad. They made him more sympathetic than in the anime.

I agree with you about L at the end.

Did you ever end up catching up with Arrow? Just about to sit down and watch the season 6 premiere in a minute. And then Gotham, Supernatural, and Hell's Kitchen tonight too

Haha okay!

Thanks!

When Light screamed when he met Ryuk, everyone watching laughed out loud, it was so ridiculous. However, we also agreed that we would have done the exact same thing . Light did feel more like a regular teenager than in the anime, and we all actually quite enjoyed that. He felt more like a good guy honestly out trying to do what he thought were good things, being a teenager making some stupid decisions, and as the movie went on, instead of being like original Light getting more and more corrupt, he started realizing how far Mia/Misa was going and tried to stop her. Mia was really the bad guy. And in the anime, Misa was super obsessed with Light and he takes advantage of that and fakes loving her back; in this version it felt almost like a role reversal in that respects, with Mia faking loving him (in my opinion, at least) in order to abuse the Deathnote. He was certainly a different Light but I actually really liked him and thought his character difference worked with the movie. Also the way he plans everything out at the end with the Deathnote was really cool.

Heh I noticed the Asian guy dancing part too! Yeah I can still understand wanting to do a movie-length, but they only used 1.5 hours; it could easily have been a half hour or even an hour longer and would have been better paced as you said. Lakeith was great as L! Light's dad was well done too, I thought.

Okay last thought, about the music. One of the people I watched it with had an interesting theory for why the cheesy 80's song played at the end with Mia falling. Not sure if it was entirely serious, but it's basically that Light and Mia's relationship was super fake and blown out of proportion, including the I love you's from Mia in the second half of the movie, so what better song to represent that relationship?

Man that's so disappointing . He didn't deserve that at all. People seriously need to chill out about that stuff.

Yeah I was looking for it on Netflix and just assumed I'd find it. The final season of Orphan Black was good, but not as good as the first 1-3 seasons. I still highly recommend it though! I still haven't gotten around to watching Legends! But it did pop up a few times in Flash so I really should, soon

I would looove for them to play more rarities in NA tours. I'll certainly be interested to see what kind of songs they play in the US soon!

Thanks ! A good birthday present was finding out today that I passed!!! Well, I hope you have good profs/interesting classes this year at least!

Oh man... Death Note . To be honest I watched it with a friend who also appreciates the manga/anime and... we didn't hate it. I actually liked a lot about it. We went into it with an open mind and honestly there was some stuff that was really good (... and other stuff that was preeeetty bad). We concluded that with different music choices (which were REALLY bad at some points) we'd give it about 6 or 7/10. I think it was doomed to fail anyways because of the whole "whitewashing" thing... but personally I don't think that should have been a problem. Also people seemed to be expecting a perfect one-to-one adaption but it would have been really hard, if not impossible to fit the story - which is basically a long, drawn out, methodical cat-and-mouse game between two people locked in mental chess - into a movie length, so being disappointed with the fast pace (and resulting required changes to characters and story elements) seems unfair. It would have been better as a tv series, but considering what they had to work with people judge it way too harshly. Anyways, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. /rant

Watched the first couple episode of Preacher season 2 and it's good to be watching it again! I've heard of some of the crazy stuff they've been doing and can't wait to see for myself. And I finally got around to the last season of Orphan Black - which I still highly recommend for you to check out . Yeah me too, if it's not on Netflix I'm much less likely to watch it. Running out of show ideas that are easily accessible but at least the regular shows like Supernatural are coming back soon.

I'm glad you've re-discovered them! Yeah their Showbiz performance was incredible. It's really aged well and Matt sounded amazing. I can only hope they play it again like that in the future. Europe seems to get the better setlists though.

I should find out if I passed my qualifying exam by the end of this week. Back to school tomorrow... how are things going for you on the school front?

It's a cool atmosphere at least even if you don't know the lyrics but everyone else around you does. Downfall of Us All is the one I know best too. Aww jeez, that lineup situation sounds no fun, I'm glad you weren't in the sun for longer! Too bad for everyone else

I keep meaning to try Jessica Jones one of these days. Speaking of shows I keep forgetting Preacher season 2 is out and have that on my to-do list too.

That's fair (and a good idea for your eyes!), and to be honest it wasn't a big spectacle up here, and I think you would have gotten a similar view as me considering how far we are from Oregon. I did have glasses and took a few peeks, I guess it was kinda cool, but it was nothing compared to what totality would've looked like. I'd like to see that one day!

Great to hear! I didn't realize A Day to Remember was the opener, I like quite a few of their songs. That's too bad , I hope you didn't get too drenched. Did you have floor tickets/were you in the mosh pit?

Thanks... I need all the luck I can get. I'll have about a week before school after the exams and I'm totally just going to just binge TV shows and play video games . I have managed to watch Westworld though, finally - I just finished it. It was really compelling.

Did you have a chance to look at the eclipse today?

Yeah that's what I think too. In Supernatural, no-one ever dies anyways. Yeah it seems so! I really like how they dialed the story down a bit and aren't always trying to up themselves with bigger baddies, and it sounds like they are continuing that next season. I've heard they want to make it to episode 300 and I think that would put them in season 14.

Awesome! And nice , you can never have too much birthday cake. By now you'll have gone to the concert, hope you enjoyed it . I hope you get your chance next time around.

Sorry I've been so late to respond (well, even slower than normal), been studying for my PhD qualifying exam. It's at the end of August... the end is near...

I have! The teaser picture looks great, perfect style and everything. I'm really hoping something as crazy as that means Gabriel is coming back. Still don't completely believe he's gone forever.

Ahh and I'm sorry I missed your birthday... Happy belated birthday!!! I hope it was great! And that you enjoyed the A7X concert too!

That's a relief! I hope you're right!

Sounds just like the show then, from what I've seen and heard. I love how he has a Bat tool for everything! Like shark repellent! Yeah he was such a good fit for the role, and he certainly made the role his own. This is a gem:

Have fun!

Holy crap that's hot! I hope it will cool down a bit before the middle of summer hits

Yeah Gotham has got some really obscure villains, and I don't recognize all of them but it's fun to read people's theories nontheless. Heh I've been planning on doing a watch through of the 1960's show! I haven't actually seen all that much of it, just clips here and there on TV, and haven't seen the movie.

I watched a few more of the videos on the channel and it's definitely given me a new perspective of how bad things can be . This is where I got up to in the Christmas Special... 20 minutes in. And not the worst part:

So I just arrived in Mountain View for the week and I... cannot imagine... how you survive in this heat .

Speaking of good DC shows, Gotham just had its 3rd season finale and it was fantastic. It actually felt like a series finale and is setting up Batman really well.

I see . I'm impressed at your selection! I know Samurai Cop (and it's so hilariously bad ) but not the others. That looks like a fun youtube channel too. I don't know too many really bad movies but I probably would choose the Star Wars Christmas Special... partly because with Star Wars associated with it you'd have high expectations, but it's so bad! I still haven't made it through watching.

That's bold, considering we have the much, much larger games library

Wild Dog got more tolerable for me, but Curtis was still pretty bad I think the other speedster was The Rival, and I don't remember much about him other than that he had a horrible costume! A lot of people have been saying how they were surprised that this season of Arrow was actually better than Flash and I agree with them for sure.

Here's a question: if you were to make a bet, and the winner would get to pick any movie for the loser to be forced to watch, which movie would you pick? My brother and I were discussing this and we unequivocally agreed on our pick... I'm curious if you'll think of one that could be even worse to watch.

Thanks!

Ahh I see - console peasants, the lot of you! I will admit I've probably been assimilated. Except, as I said, when it comes to my Nintendo. Still waiting on getting a Switch though, I'd like to see more games.

I hope I'm not overhyping him for you, but yeah, he was fantastic. Also Prometheus is voiced by Michael Dorn which is pretty great. I'd consider him juuuust edging Deathstroke out, personally. I'm curious what they'll do next season with the flashbacks since they're now all caught up with timeline of the show. I agree, about the writing and the repetitive villain on the Flash... and not even how they all have twist identities, I hope the next villain just isn't a speedster like always. They seem to not know how to challenge Team Flash with anything but speedsters for the big bads and it's getting tiring.

Episode III >>>>> Rogue One imo. That must've been it!

Orphan Black is back for its last season next week and I'm so excited

I was just wondering since I feel like you could always get the game on PC instead of getting it plus a Playstation. It's why I only get Nintendo consoles since you can't replace things like Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Super Smash on the PC. But I know there are benefits too, like multiplayer/playing with friends.

It was pretty good, for sure Season 5 was a huge step up in quality from Season 4! The villain of Season 5 was incredible, namely in the second half of the season when his identity is revealed - I think the best done villain of the whole series actually. Deathstroke had a great role in the finale and some other characters showed up too. Yeah the last few episodes of the Flash were so predictable and how they dealt with Iris felt like a big copout. I'll still watch the next season but I was definitely disappointed.