A D-mail conversation with Raistlin (part 6)

All good things come to an end, as I am afraid we have reached the last installment of my collab post with the wonderful Irina. If you haven’t already, check out last week’s part over on Irina’s blog. Before I move on to the final part, on a personal note I want to apologise for not having responded to some comments left on this post. Trust me it’s not because I am ignoring you but it’s because currently I am really not feeling like my usual self. It’s hard to even write a comment sometimes or find any spark of energy to even write someting. I am sad that I have missed out on a lot of posts, and haven’t been able to keep my promise for still being around here. I am doing my best to find that energy again, so please be patient with me if you can. Now, before this becomes way too depressing, on to the fun stuff: Part 6 of the Steins;Gate review. I hope you will enjoy it, and thank you again Irina for doing this amazing project with me. It’s been a blast!

Inbox G–mail: Raistlin 0903, dated 2017/18/02

From: Irina

Contrast is key

Hello everyone, it’s Raistlin (yeah who else would it be). I’m back again to continue the review of the time travel epic anime series Steins; Gate. I hope you are all ready for this as we are entering the final arc of this series. And you know that’s where things can really go wrong. We all have probably seen countless examples of enjoying something thoroughly, and having the final ruin everything that came before. The past hours I have felt this weird pressure as if someone is overlooking my every move. It’s nothing quite as sinister as The Organisation that is looking over my shoulder, but more a guiding and helping hand that makes sure that I don’t screw this up. As I said before, this is an important review. I’m writing it to make sure that everyone ends up loving this series as much as I have. But also for that blogger that I have mentioned that you all still haven’t met. I have, she is an amazing friend, and the impact she will have on this community will be felt throughout the centuries. Irina is her name: don’t forget it, you will thank me later.

Nothing to see here….move on please…..

Okay in the last segment I talked about the fact that the first segment while slow, is very important, a joy to watch, and probably even the best thing about this entire anime.I have also let it shine through that the second half of the show is much darker. But exactly what do I mean with that, and how does it hold up in the overall scheme of things? I’m not going to tell you what happens because I have pretty much always avoided putting spoilers in my post, so I am not going to start now. Suffice it to say though that when that shift in tone occurs, you won’t be ready for it. There were very subtle hints in the first half, another thing that’s so clever about Steins;Gate. But the true shock will hit you like a sledgehammer. It will wrench your gut, and it will make you cry. You might even feel as if you are slowly suffering a heart attack. And after it happens, the anime shifts gears. Radically. It almost seems as if you are watching an entirely different show.

What do you mean we are watching an entirely different show??!!

I often had a hard time wondering what this series wanted itself to be. But looking back now that is pretty much exactly what you shouldn’t be doing. You see, what happens in this second half is that it creates an atmosphere of true desperation. A lot of things that seemed so very innocent in the beginning turned out to have very dire consequences. And you feel Okabe’s sense of urgency. You feel his heartbreak, his need to fix things in the right way. But maybe some things can’t be fixed. Or when they are fixed, they might leave a timeline that is even worse than the one created now. And I do say timeline, because the build up to the real time travelling aspects of the show, come to the fore in this second half. Think full on Back to the Future stuff and then some. As someone who really loves everything that even has a single spark of time travelling in it, I think this is where Steins;Gate really shines the most. And not for the reasons you might think. It’s not just the way that this show handles the concept of time travel itself.

Jeezzzz…..you are really making me upset here…..

No, what makes the time travel really work is the way this series is built up. The first half lures you in with this sense of calm, the funny dialogues, the establishing of the relationships, in short it seems to set the tone for the entire anime. At least that’s what you think. There are of course hints thrown your way that you might not pick up on until much later. And then that second half hits you: the tone is dark, the characters you know suddenly are much different when what you are used to, and you might even wonder where the series you loved so much all of a sudden disappeared to. But once the initial shock dissipates, you begin to go on the same journey that Okabe is going on. You want him to succeed at fixing things. You cry when he fails another attempt. You feel the sense of dread that maybe it won’t end happily. Every time jump into the past your heart races, hoping that maybe this is the one where our favorite mad scientist succeeds.

Okay, we are done, let’s go drink some Dr. Pepper.

Steins;Gates’ contrast in tones is a stroke of genius. And I appreciate the show even more for doing it in this way. It takes a concept that at first seems very innocent to a level that you simply would not expect when you first start with this anime. If all my writing about this hasn’t been enough yet to convince you that you should really check this one out, then I don’t know what I can do more. Well, maybe there is one last thing. Somewhere, in the future, a time traveller called Irina will appear. Her identity right now is still hidden in mystery. When she first appears, you might not even realise her greatness yet. Almost like Steins;Gate she lures you in very cleverly. But make no mistake. Her blogging skills are awe inspiring and will blow you away. One day out of the blue, she will start to talk about this anime. And she will convince you even more to go and watch it than I have done. If for some reason the first time you might not have enjoyed Steins; Gate, try it again. Because who knows? Maybe time will change things for you…….Psy El Congroo……

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A D-mail conversation with Raistlin (part 4)

Hello everyone! It’s time to continue with the next installment of the collab post for Steins; Gate with the totally awesome Irina. We are on to part 4 already, time (pun intended) really does fly when you are having fun. Just in case you missed the previous part from last week over on Irina’s blog, here is a link to that third part. Right, all done reading? Than let’s get one with the next part: enjoy!

Inbox G–mail: Raistlin 0903, dated 2017/18/02

From: Irina

Good things take time

Hi guys! So are you all ready to continue with my review for Steins;Gate? Of course you are. Now, you all know that this is an important review, because as I mentioned before that this is an anime that is beloved by many. So if I mess this up in some way, I’m sure the backlash on this will be gigantic. Especially by this one very special blogger you all still have to meet called Irina. It’s like her favorite show, but I guess you all don’t know that yet, and this is all starting to sound way too confusing. Now don’t deny it, I can see all those frowns appearing on your foreheads. So, let’s get back to why we are all here: the review itself.

What exactly is this guy rambling about?

In the last segment I spoke about the fact that the cast of characters is really amazing. But if that great cast has a script that doesn’t work, it kind of puts a damper on the whole thing doesn’t it? The first half of this series is slow. And slow can be boring when it’s not done right. Luckily that is not the case with this anime. This show is very dialogue driven. And the first half of this series establishes the relationships between all these characters that you will grow to love. The way it goes about doing this though is really terrific. A great example is the comedic banter between Okabe and Kurisu. As mentioned our “mad scientis” can at times be a little off, and it’s Kurisu that keeps him grounded. But this often results in some hilarious exchanges. It’s like having a conversation with a lifelong friend. You know how that is right? When these first start it almost seems as if the two don’t like each other. But…as the series progresses you will see how these conversations were very subtle in laying the groundwork for the bond that grows between these two.

Ah…now THAT makes sense.

Even more important is establishing the friendship between Okabe and Mayuri. Rintaro might at times seem totally nuts, but when it comes to protecting this incredibly sweet girl he always changes his tune. When you first hear that Mayuri is supposedly his prisoner, you wonder what that exactly means. But as with most things in this show that also has a completely different side to it. I’m not going to say what that side is for that would spoil things for you. Suffice it to say though that you really get the feeling that there is nothing that can come between these two. Okabe is always there for her, and she for him. Even though at times through some of their conversations you might think that they both have a couple of screws loose in their heads.

Some friendships last a lifetime.

Steins; Gates’ first half is full of these things. Sometimes there are moments during these episodes where you start to wonder where the show is going with this. Trust me, it all has a reason. For one thing it’s providing you, the viewer, with a great background to all of these characters. You know those shows where you simply don’t care about what happens to someone? In this anime that just simply doesn’t exist. Every time a new character is introduced it takes it’s time to let him or her fit into the scheme of things. And ofcourse Rintaro keeps adding them to his lab members (Yeah I know, he is not very good at keeping secrets, even though he himself thinks he is doing a great job). But another very important reason is the fact that when the show shifts into it’s darker second half, it will shock you to the core. Without going into spoiler territory, something happens that would have had less impact, if the show didn’t spent so much time with this great cast to begin with.

Okay, thanks for clearing all this up…even though it did still sound like a bit of a ramble.

It’s at that precise moment that you truly appreciate what the series has done in the beginning. And you realise how clever it really is. It’s something you might not even discover the first time you watch this. It might depend on your mood, or maybe hearing about the fact that it’s a show about time travelling you expect it to go into that territory right away. Trust me though: it’s better this way. Steins;Gate takes it’s time but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable in that first half. I might even go so far as saying that I liked it’s first half even more. (But heck don’t get me wrong this entire anime is amazing). But what I loved about it is the fact that you almost feel like you are becoming a part of a family, or a wonderful group of friends. Because it focuses on things we can all relate to: laughter, insecurity, love, sadness, and a whole range of other emotions. It’s part of everyday life, and even though the story for this anime of course is science fiction, it never loses sight of one of the most important things to have in life: true friendship. So, keep all this in mind when you are watching that first part of the story.

Finding Balance…..(A personal post)

Hey everyone. I’ll try to warn you all in advance, this is not going to be a happy post. It’s a post that I’m quite honestly writing with a thumping heart, as I don’t quite know what the response is going to be like. I have been blogging for two and a half years now, and next year in June my three year anniversary is coming up. When I started my blog I had really no idea what I was doing. It was just something that I created to share my thoughts on the stuff that I loved: Movies, Tv series, Anime, Books and Boardgames. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that I would reach more than 1500 followers, from all kinds of places around the world. I have made friends here, and I’m really talking about real and true friendships. That for me has always been the one thing that I have always been the most grateful for. But that said, lately I feel that things have become unbalanced for me. I will explain what I mean by that later. There really is no easy way to say this so I guess I will just spit it out: this might be my final year of blogging.

Work

If only work was more like this…

Right now, without getting into any real details, things are really rough at work. Basically what it comes down too is that the work that I do is usually done by six people, and it’s now being done by only two. Literally. And guess who one of those two people is? That’s right: me. Some days things are fine, other days I come home pretty exhausted, and just want to crash and read a book or watch something. For those of you who have known me for a while now, you also know one of the things I really like to do is read your posts, and write comments on them. But I have also started thinking that lately the balance between work, blogging and free time is to put it mildly off balance. Of the 5-6 hours of free time that I usually have on weekdays, I spent 3-4 hours of that on reading posts and writing comments. Hence I only have 1, maybe 2 hours of time to do other things. I used to comment on my phone at work in less busy times, but those times are gone, at least for the moment. I have a lot of hobbies, and I started to realise that as much love that I have for blogging, I am maybe spending a little bit too much time on this. There are dvds, books, and boardgames that are still in boxes and that I have never even opened yet. And that isn’t even a joke.

Changes

Not all changes are good…..

Having said this, I am going to be taking a step back for a bit, and be a little bit less active. You might have already noticed that I haven’t really been visiting your blogs lately, much less have left any kind of comments. No worries, I will gradually return and start reading again, as well as provide some of my customary comments. I will just not be doing it as actively as I have been doing the past two years. I might miss an occasional post, or maybe not leave a comment but just a like. I am doing this because I know that if I don’t, I might stop blogging alltogether sooner rather than later. It was beginning to feel too much like work, instead of a hobby. I guess it’s the old saying, too much of a good thing is, well too much. It is quite frankly hard to make a decision like this. But I hope you understand why I am making it. I just want to focus a bit on other things as well, and get some more rest instead of adding more pressure. That is usually the road to a burn out, and I am not willing to risk that, no matter how much I love all of you.

The near future

Always in motion the future is…..

So what does this mean for my own blog? Well, I will still try and publish posts whenever I can. I currently am still in the middle of my collab with the wonderful Irina (who has already made it clear to me that she won’t allow me to leave lol), and there is another seriously cool project coming up with the awesome Ayano that I am very excited about as well. Those will definitely still go ahead. If all goes well another collab that I am not going to tell you about just yet, and is something entirely different than I have ever done, will be seeing daylight in December as well. Next to the collabs I will try and put out some other content, including the long awaited review for the Korean drama Voice, season 7 of Game of Thrones, and new installments of Bloggers in the Spotlight and The Wors/Best anime you (might not) have seen yet. One or two book reviews will be heading your way too, as well as hopefully a few new movie reviews. In other words, I will still try to bring you as much content as I can manage.

The far future

Okay, this image was maybe a bit too dramatic…..

And that brings me to the ominous message in the beginning, of maybe ending my blogging career entirely. Well, first off nothing is set in stone yet. But next year is going to be the year of some major changes for me. My company is moving to another town, and instead of me being home in five minutes, it will now take me more than an hour of travel time back and forth. That means that the precious free time that I have, will be even less next year. I have also been living at home supporting my parents because of various reasons. In order for me to cut back on my travel time, in all likelyhood I will start searching for my own place that is nearer to my work. Which means another very big change for me. With all these things going on, it might become impossible for me to keep up blogging. The way it is now, things are already very busy, next year it will become even crazier. I don’t want to leave to be honest, and I will try to keep my blog up and running. At the same time I don’t want to keep a promise I might not be able to keep. That’s why I wrote this post as I don’t want to disappear into the night so to speak.

A heartfelt thank you

Could not have said it better myself!

While this post might seem like doom and gloom, I will try everything I can to keep spending as much time as I can here. Even if things might end completely next year, one thing I will continue to do is keep in touch. I am incredibly thankful of all the amazing friendships that I have made here, and the wonderful support I have always had from everyone for me and my blog. I could not have kept on blogging without the support from all of you, and for that you all truly have my heartfelt thanks. Everyone who has read my posts over the years, left a like or a comment or contacted me personally, all of you, are amazing. At the same time I also want to apologise for dropping this bomb and become a less active member of the community at least for a bit. I hope you understand why I came to this decision. I have to think about myself for a change, which is quite frankly something new and quite a challenge lol. However things will turn out, especially next year, I promise that I won’t fade away. You all mean too much to me for that. Thank you all for reading and have a great weekend.

Arthifis Ultimate Guide For The Anime 2018 Fall Season

We all have posts that we are very excited about when you work on them. You poor your blood, sweat and tears into them, and then the moment comes when you are ready to publish it. You push the button, and with a pounding heart you await the response from the community. Sometimes though, that excitement turns to shock, or maybe even a bit of sadness, when it’s not getting the response you had hoped for. There can be very good reasons for it though. We are all very busy people, and the reader can be overwhelming and posts are hard to miss. Yesterday the amazing Arthifis pubished something that he worked on for three weeks. He is very proud of it, and I can’t say that I blame him. However some of you might have missed it. That’s why I just had to reblog this and shed a little light on it. With so many seasonal anime to choose from, we can all get overwhelmed and might even miss out on some shows that are really worth checking out. This ultimate guide will help you with that. Do check this out, and show some love on Arthifis’ blog. He is an amazing writer, and he worked hard on this. Give him the credit that it deserves! 😊😊

Arthifis' Place

Hello everyone and welcome to our place! 🙂

I’m so freaking happy to announce my ultimate guide for this Anime Fall Season. I know this is a little bit late, but I was finally able to complete it. This guide features First Impressions to ALL the Anime coming out this season! 😀

The objective is for you to be able to know which Anime should you be following in a fast way and anywhere you want. This way, contrary to an array of posts to all of the Anime coming out, I decided to create a PDF, like an e-book, where you can find every single First Impressions

The guide features 35 Anime shows!

And I’ll leave it there! In the guide you will find all the explanations you will need to quickly understand what Anime shows you may be missing out! 

Oh, and, of course! It’s completely free! You…

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It’s a blogging anniversary…and again it’s not mine!

You know, I just realised something. My blog turns three years old next year (If I make to that date, which isn’t so sure anymore, but more on that later this week) on june the 6th to be exact. And I have never held a blogging anniversary. No idea why really. Maybe it’s because I just like being happy for other people more? Yeah I know: I’m weird that way. Today it’s time to celebrate again, as someone’s blog has turned one year old. Now a while back I promoted Irina’s blogging anniversary in this way as well, and by a strange coincidence the blogger that celebrates today is also from Canada. You would almost think that there is a certain trend going on here. Anyways, I am of course talking about the wonderful, amazing, funny and totally awesome Nicole aka the Bookworm Drinketh. I already prepared her that I was going to do something like this (because well I want to avoid physical and mental trauma, both on her side and mine). So….let’s get to the celebration already!!

Not that I won’t get punched in the face anyway.

Far Side Tuesday

One of the things that I really like about Nicole’s blog…or should I say about Nicole, is her sense of humor. Everything she writes pretty much always includes something that makes me laugh out loud. Her writing focusses primarily on books, but the reviews that she writes are not only very good (you hear that Nicole, they are VERY GOOD), but it’s the humor that adds that special ingredient to the cocktail. Another feature of her blog is the Far Side Friday cartoons that always announce the weekend and never fail to make me smile. So of course, I just had to include a couple of those in this post.

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Celebrating The Bookworm Drinketh’s anniversay is best done with a Nicole cocktail (Just probably not this one…..)

Now, no post for Nicole would be complete without at least including a drink. If you aren’t following her yet (for the love of God why aren’t you yet???!!!) she always concludes a book review with a home made drink. So it goes without saying that I have to include one here right. Sorry this one is non alcoholic (But, I guess that is just what makes this one extra funny, seeing as Nicole just loves a good drink! 🍸)

Ingredients

• One can of Cherry Coke
• One straw
• A few slices of Dutch Cheese
• A pack of cheese crisps
• A plate
• A bowl

Directions (Like you need them for this)

1. Open up the can (be careful not to cut into your fingers while doing this)
2. Put the straw in the can
3. Put the slices of cheese on a plate
4. Open the bag of cheese crips (begin eating them) and put them in a bowl
5. Put on your favorite tv show/movie
6. Sit back in your favorite comfy chair, and start binging (both the show and the food/drink)

To close things of….

Okay, I was saying to close things of, not destroy things……

All good things must come to an end, but it would not be me if I wouldn’t at least go on one final speech as to why you should follow Nicole in the first place. You see Nicole is one of those persons that doesn’t like to be put in the spotlight, because she just wants to be there for other people. She always has a kind thing to say, works hard, and goes above and beyond the call of duty to promote books for writers that she loves. And she does this all for free. Best of all it once again proves that you can really gain some great friends from blogging. And you don’t always have to be living in the same country to establish some truly wonderful friendships. So let’s try and blow up Nicole’s blogging stats today. Go ahead and leave some likes, but especially some comments (she loves those) on her posts.  If you aren’t following her yet, just go ahead and press the link, and subscribe: You won’t be disappointed! Nicole: Happy Blogging Anniversary, and hopefully your blog will continue for a lot more years! Here’s to many more years of  friendship 🍻🍻

Yep: go and rush over to Nicole’s blog: like ASAP!

 

A D-mail conversation with Raistlin (part 2)

Hello everyone!

Today I’m presenting you a new collab project that I am very excited about. And my partner in time, erm crime, is none other than the wonderful Irina. We have been planning to do a project together for quite a while now, and we finally succeeded! It’s probably no secret whatsoever for everyone who knows Irina, that she is a massive Steins; Gate fan. I however had a different opinion on it when I first saw it. Seeing as that would make for a very interesting discussion our plan was to write a post about our different viewpoints. I did want to do a rewatch to refresh my memory seeing as it had been quite a while since I had last seen it. And that pretty much threw our entire original plan out of the window (yep, that blame is on me). But everything worked out fine in the end as now Irina and me now bring you a semi fictional time travel review for Steins; Gate. The fun started out on Irina’s blog last week: check it our right here! Today it’s my turn. It was so much fun writing this, and I really hope you will enjoy reading it just as much!

You see that the original plan was all worked out already on the board.

Inbox G-mail: Raistlin 0903, dated 2017/18/02

From: Irina

It’s better with friends

Hi Guys! I have just watched an absolutely amazing anime for the first second time called Steins Gate and I just had to share my thoughts on it with you. Now this show is a fan favorite, and no one is more passionate about it than a blogger who you probably haven’t even met yet called Irina. I’m telling you all that should keep an eye on her in the future as she is destined to make an enormous impact in the wordpress blogging community. Don’t ask me how or why I even know this, I just do: and trust me she is awesome, kind and an amazing blogger, and I just can’t wait for you all to meet her!

Don’t you go and question my wisdom for this now!

Anyways, back to the show. I think the most important thing for me to start with is mentioning the great cast of characters.When Stein’s Gate starts we meet up with the strange and pretty goofy character Rintaro Okabe. He sees himself as a “mad scientist” and pretty much can’t stop talking about that fact. Seeing conspiracies everywhere he also runs a laboratory in his appartment together with his friends the loveable Mayuri Shiina and Itaru Hashida. And I do say loveable as Mayuri is just the most innocent and sweet girl you are ever likely to meet. There is not a single evil thought in her mind, and I also love the fact that she talks about herself in third person. She is a childhood friend of Okabe and the two of them share a very deep bond. Itaru also known as Daru, is just so much fun. He is a hacker, otaku, totally in love with Faris who runs the maid cafe MayQueen Nyan Nyan (don’t ask) and also a bit of a hentai (pervert). But he definitely delivers most of the comic relief in this anime.

Who are you calling a hentai here?

But if you think the fun stops just with these three characters think again! It would be a mortal sin for me not to mention Kurisu. She is one of the strongest characters in the show, and serves as the voice of reason to Rintaro’s madness (but IS it really madness??). I loved her growth as a character. Where she starts of as this pretty serious woman, in later episodes she becomes more vulnerable, and as such it’s almost impossible not to fall in love with her. And a certain someone does. Did I mention this show has a lot of great female characters? Because it doesn’t stop with Kurisu. Rintaro’s laboratory is situated above the CRT television store run by mister Braun (Well, that’s what Okabe calls him anyway as that isn’t really his name). Now this gruff, but still very kind hearted man one day, after the shortest job interview ever, hires a new employee: the feisty and mysterious Suzuha.

Sorry I don’t have a clue WHAT you are talking about right now.

This young girl soon meets up with the rest of the cast, and as the story progresses you get this feeling that she knows more about what’s going on then she lets on. I loved her warrior like mentality, as well as the many great conversations that she has with Okabe. Speaking of mysterious let’s not forget Moeka. Being the paranoid guy that he is, Okabe is at first shocked when this woman seems to be taking pictures of him with her phone. It becomes even weirder as pretty much the only way she communicates is by sending him texts on his phone. This often results in hilarious moments, where Rintaro is giving one of his many speeches, and keeps getting interrupted by texts on his cell by Moeka. Last but not least there is Ruka who looks like a girl, but is in fact a man (or is he?). Pretty much the only one who seems to know that is Okabe, but of course he is ridiculed by all the other characters (and often scolded at) for even so much as implying that. Ruka is really shy, but also very sweet and kind.

Let me see if you are feeling alright here. Isn’t this a bit too much praise?

This cast is phenomenal and one of the many reasons this anime works so well. Steins Gate is full of dialogue, some of it funny, some of it really serious, and at other times heartbreaking. But all of it feels as if you are looking at lifelike and real human beings. In fact I would go as far as saying that this show might contain some of the best characters ever seen in an anime. Period! Yep, that is a bold statement I know, but I stand by it. I could have just mentioned only three characters and be done with it, but that would not really get my point across. So that’s why I took some time to introduce this wonderful cast, and it’s importance in this anime. Because every single one of them, even Faris who I didn’t talk about much, has an important role to play in the unfolding events. And if there is one thing I like as you know, it’s characters that you grow to care about. This anime achieves that, and then some.

A busy week….

Hi everyone! This is just going to be a very short post where I’m just letting you all know that I am not going to be around much on wordpress this week. As I have four days where I have activities planned right after work, and there are some plans for the weekend as well, I won’t be home a lot. As such I unfortunately won’t be able to keep up with reading all your posts and providing my usual comments on them. My apologies for that, but I thought I would at least let you all know, hence I wrote this post. There will be one scheduled post coming out on wednesday from me, which is the second part of my collab post with Irina. Other than that the Raist isn’t going to be around again until next week. That is unless the alien invaders from the galaxy of Andromeda finally decide to attack the Earth or the horrors from Dimension X get summoned. But I guess we all have bigger problems if that happens. I hope you will all have a great week, and I will talk to you all again soon!

Let us hope this isn’t on the agenda for next week……..

 

Game Of Thrones Season 6, American tv Series (2016)

One of the plus sides of having way too many hobbies is the fact that I am never bored. There is always something that I can do, whether it’s watching anime, going to the cinema to watch the latest movie, read a book, or play a boardgame. And that’s just the tip of the ice berg. But on the flipside of that is the fact that I am always behind on pretty much everything, especially when it comes down to watching televion series. People have often asked me how on Earth I can wait with something as good as Game of Thrones for instance. The answer is pretty much always the same. I have absolutely no idea. It brings me back to the opening sentence I guess: I just have way too many hobbies, and as such way too many things that I love to do. In this world of social media though, that really is becoming a bit of a problem. As much as you try to avoid things as spoilers, these days one only has to switch to something as simple as Youtube to find whole clips of pivotal moments of your favorite shows. Some even have bold capital letters proclaiming things like “ the death of so and so” or “ shocking scene of whatshername”. For some things I don’t mind spoilers, but when it comes down to Game of Thrones I have so far managed to avoid them.

Yes, she still looks like a queen for real.

Yes people, I have only now completed season 6 of Game of Thrones. I know, I should be flogged for committing such an atrocious act of negligence. I’m afraid to even admit it but I still have to start with the next one too. Yep, I know Winter is coming and all that. Be that as it may, I am of course not going to deprive you of my thoughts on this season. Even though they are two years late. Be warned this section does contain a few spoilers for the previous season , but as probably most of you have seen that one anyway, I don’t think there will be any real surprises here. But just to be on the safe side: *Spoilers Start* Jon Snow is dead. Well, really how could he not be right? Season 6 picks up right after the horrible moment when everybody’s favorite hero got stabbed multiple times and was killed. That was one heck of a shock ending last season, something this show always excells at any way. Season 6 is Jon’s season though, and then some. Erm, wait what do I mean by that? He’s dead right?

So….I guess sometimes size does matter?

Well he was but by an act of magic by the Red Witch Melisandre, Jon is brought back from the dead to fight another day. As with every season of Game of Thrones, there are many things happening to all of our beloved (and sometimes hated) characters. Daenarys has been captured and is heading towards an uncertain fate. Tyrion tries to keep things together in the city of Mereen, where chaos seems to be ruling the day. Cersei has her own problems with her son Tommen, the King, who seems to be slowly turning against her. And then of course there is the ever present danger of the army of the dead, the unseen threat that marches ever onwards. But it’s Jon who is going to have the biggest challenges ahead of him. Especially when he has to try and retake Winterfell, from the horrific and sadistic Ramsay. Winter is coming alright….and it brings with a storm of epic proportions *Spoilers end*

Ah yes, Cersei. Probably the most gentle soul you are ever likely to meet. Erm, not.

Where previous seasons of Game of Thrones sometimes felt a bit slow, this season seemed like everything all of a sudden was put on some kind of speed trip. So many things happened this season that it’s hard to even know where to start. But that said, I think to date this might have been my favorite season. I have always thought of Game of Thrones being a show that comes the closest to a true cinematic experience. Everything from the sets, the lavish costumes, the special effects, all of those combined just leaves pretty much every other television series ever made biting in the dust. But let’s not forget one of the most important things that makes this show so highly enjoyable as well: the characters and the actors that portray them. Each season I am always astounded at pretty much all of the performances on this show, season 6 being no exception. You want highlights? Well, let’s say that episode 9 especially was maybe the most impressive episode of maybe the entire show. (Erm, keep in mind, I still have to watch season 7 lol).

When you find out what Hodor really means, your mind will spin. Trust me on that.

But seriously though, that episode pretty much made my jaw drop to the proverbial floor. So many good and memorable scenes in that one single episode. Both in terms of action, but especially in terms of acting. As usual Game of Thrones isn’t shy to get rid of it’s cast members (seriously I would be scared to work as an actor on that show), and of course we get a few that kick the bucket in this season as well. The final episode of this season brings quite a few storylines to a close, as well as drawing battlelines and setting up things for season 7. So will I be waiting another two years to start on that one? Nope, not this time. In fact, I’m going to start on the next season this weekend. And even though I am not a Lannister I plan to keep my word on that. In closing, as if this wasn’t really clear yet: this season just rocked. I haven’t had a single episode where my mind drifted off, or I got bored in some way, which did happen occasionally in some of the previous seasons. If for some reason you have never watched this show, trust me check it out. It’s one of the best television shows ever made, and that is the total truth.

I give season 6 of Game of Thrones a 9 out of 10 score.

A D-mail conversation with Raistlin (part 1) — I drink and watch anime

Hi everyone! Today I’m very pleased to present part one of a very special six part colab with the wonderful Irina. The kick-off for this has started just now over on her blog, so please press the link and check out the post below. Next week I will pick up the story over on my own blog. We both had a lot of fun writing this one, so hopefully you will have just as much enjoyment in reading it!

Hello Everyone, Raistlin and I have been looking for a project to do together for some time now and after I published my recent completely biased non reviews of Steins;Gate 0, he suggested we try to find something on that theme. Don’t let the good times end… Raistlin had a somewhat different opinion of the…

via A D-mail conversation with Raistlin (part 1) — I drink and watch anime

Halloween, American movie (2018)

We have a new kind of trend that has been going around in Hollywood for the past few years. It seems that a lof of older actors are going back to the past to revisit some of the roles that made them famous. We have Arnold Schwarzenegger once again creeping into the role of the “ It absolutely will not stop….ever…until you are dead” Terminator. Sly Stallone is playing Rocky Balboa in Creed 2, and after that he will play his other iconic character John “ my war is over” Rambo. And of course we had Harrison Ford reprising his role as Han Solo in Star Wars Episode 7 as well as Rick Deckard in Bladerunner 2049. I have seen online arguments where people were asking the question if this is a good thing. If these actors are just not simply past their prime and should stop acting. I for one am not one of them. I loved Creed for instance and Stallone did an amazing job in reprising his role which even gave him an Oscar nomination. Blade Runner 2049 ended up becoming my favorite movie of last year. So no, as long as they keep making movies that are as good as these, they can keep making them in my opinion.

The mask apparently hasn’t aged well either…..

Jamie Lee Curtis was 19 years old when she played the role of Laurie Strode in the classic John Carpenter movie Halloween. It immediately made her famous, and the movie itself was of course a huge succes. Now exactly 40 years later, Jamie again plays the role of Laurie and as such she is also going down the road of the aforementioned trend. Now Halloween has been a franchise that has had it’s ups and downs. A lot of the sequels that were made weren’t very good (although there were a few that I did like like Halloween H20 for instance), and this new version just pretty much resets the timeline. Meaning it dismisses all the events from the previous installments, and just acts as the true sequel to the original movie. After the events from Halloween it appears that Michael Myers has been living out his life in a rehabilitation hospital for the last forty years. Laurie herself has not been doing well. She has had two failed marriages, a daughter that she hardly speaks to, and she has become kind of a recluse preparing for the potential day that Michael returns. Her daughter Karen ridicules her for that, and tries to keep her own family away from her mother as much as she can.

Fight night!

However when Michael is about to be transferred to a new facility the proverbial crap hits the fan. The bus he was being transferred on crashes, and the serial killer escapes heading for Haddonfield. The unsuspecting town has no idea what’s coming. Because on Halloween night, Michael comes home. But this time, Michael himself might also not really know what’s coming for him…..I was quite excited for this movie, especially since the film so far has been gathering mostly positive reviews. But at the same time, there is always this small warning voice in my head that tells me to not get too excited. And guess what, the voice was right. While I would not call this one a bad movie, that would really be taking it too far, I also don’t quite understand why there are so many positive reviews for this film. In keeping with the positive things first, I like the fact that there are quite a few nods to the original. Some of them are very subtle, and easy to miss if you have are not very familiar with the original. But for fans, it’s definitely fun to see those.

This gives a whole new meaning to the term walk in closet.

Another positive is Jamie Lee Curtis herself. She pulled a, what I would like to call Ellen Ripley in this movie. Meaning that she was just being a very tough bad ass chick, just like Sigourney Weaver was in Aliens. First being dismissed as a bit of a loon by most people (and something that I honestly don’t really blame them for) when the threat of Michael becomes real, she is the one that people turn to. Despite the fact that Laurie appears not to have all her marbles in working order, she definitely knows what she is doing. Jamie really seems like she has been having a lot of fun playing this part, and it’s definitely the one thing that keeps this movie just on the side of a positive score. What this movie really lacks though is the nailbiting tension. Except for maybe one scene, this film just never really got thrilling. And with a horrormovie that is always a bad thing in my opinion. We see Michael killing people but it never gets tense. Because we can see the kill coming from a mile away, and most of the people getting killed are just very stupid.

Hard to tell when you look at this picture who is the crazy one.

Which is another thing that is not done well in this film: the people. Except for Laurie herself, most of the characters in this film just lack any real substance. Even Laurie’s daughter and grand daughter hardly have any background to them, and just aren’t really persons that you can form any attachment too. You just don’t care about them, like at all.  Which is also important in a movie like this. You want to be able to feel something for them, anything, when Michael is doing his hunting. It just never happened. Halloween felt like an empty movie to me. While not everything in it was bad, without Jamie Lee Curtis this film definitely would have gotten a negative grade from me. I have to say that I honestly liked Halloween H20 a whole lot more. Made 20 years after the original, it also featured Jamie Lee, but that one really had some good tense scenes, and very fun characters as well. As always though, don’t take my word for this. For the most part Halloween has so far been received very positively, and you know that means we will undoubtedly get yet another sequel. Probably won’t even have to wait another 40 years for it either.

I give Halloween a 6 out of 10 score.