Spy x Family: Code White: About as entertaining as an average episode of the show. Had hoped for more. Unnecessarily long poop joke thrown in there, too.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: A solid but unremarkable action flick. Cool bit of history, though. Alan Ritchson is the highlight and I hope his star only keeps growing from here.

The Office. I don't know who's more punchable, Dwight, Kelly or Angela.

Ok, some updates of stuff I liked. I watched Gyeongseong Creature, a korean historical drama about the japanese occupation of Kora (or Joseon). It is a story that is fictional, but based of the very real Unit 731, a unit of the Japanese Imperial Army that was tasked with researching biological weapons and that did experiments on living subjects, mostly Korean and Chinese. the drama fictionalize what they did, but remember this unit was real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3YgWMxaq8o

Then I watched The Apothecary Diaries and really enjoyed it. It depicts old china and is quite real. Don't be fooled by the pretty imagery, this is a real mystery drama and Maomao with her great intellect and scientific knowledge can solve these riddles, even though she has to naviagte dangerous political waters, as her life as a lowborn servant isn't worth much and she can easily be executed when offending powerful persons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYNGkSvFT8c

And I just started Dead Boy Detectives, two episodes in. It is in the Sandman universe (and if you haven't watched Sandman yet, then treat yourself). In difference to Sandman it can be quite a bit more silly and fun at times, although it also gets pretty serious. Even two episodes in I met a lot of weird characters mthat I all love: the Witch, the Walrus cursed to live as a man and having a magic shop, the girl infected by supernatural parasites that make her puke colors, the Cats and the Cat King, the butcher shop lady with the meat cleaver, the ghost mail men and so on. I enjoy it a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwJmZ2Ekfbc

Station 19. The writers on this show are too focused on having everybody fuck without committing to just one partner.

I just did a full watch through of Satoshi Kon’s four feature films. It’s really hard to rank these, because while they all speak with the voice of Satoshi Kon, they all speak about something different. I think they’re all great.

All four films are ones that are often as enjoyable, if not more enjoyable, on subsequent viewings. The only downside to them is that Satoshi Kon only made four feature films before his death in 2010 at the age of 47… an age when many filmmakers are just breaking in.

Perfect Blue is his first film, one of its most (unfortunate) claims to fame is being repeatedly plagiarized by Darren Aronsky—although, I think inspired/homages is a fair argument. Perfect Blue has a great story, inspired by films by Alfred Hitchcock and the Hitchcockian films, especially Gaslight. The story revolves around a young woman transitioning careers from a squeaky clean teenage J-pop group, into an actress. Her first role involves a rape scene, and this angered some fans, and one of them wants to kill her for it.

Millennium Actress, his second film, is generally considered his masterpiece. Although, it is probably his least accessible film due to the heavy arthouse elements. It delves even more heavily into the whole “what’s real and what’s not” than Perfect Blue; although, it’s more of a Mulholland Drive thing (both films came out in 2001) rather than Gaslight. The film is Kon’s most artistic of the four. It’s perhaps his most emotional film in the lineup. The story is about film biographers interviewing an aged actress who tells them a story about falling in love with a artist who is part of the rebellion against the fascist Japanese government—and then proceeds through her life while pursuing him; although, mainly in the 1930s and 40s. As the story progresses, reality, the story of the films she acted in, and storyline of her real life starts to blend.

(EDIT: The reason the clip is in Japanese is because they're the only ones that appear on YouTube. This film, and all four Satoshi Kon films, can be watched in any of the EFIGS languages).

Tokyo Godfathers might be the most accessible both plotwise and tone. The film is emotional, much like Millennium Actress, although it’s a comedy-drama (think something like Chasing Amy in terms of the comedy/drama split). The story revolves around a makeshift family of three homeless people (a runaway teenage girl, an older transgender woman, and a middle aged gambler) who discover a baby in the trash and decide to look after it. The story then blends in their own life stories about how they became homeless, their relationships, as well as the mystery of who this baby is and why it was abandoned. I’d say there’s some Don Bluth/Secret of NIMH spice in the film (except with humans instead of mice).

Paprika was his fourth and final film, released about four years before his 2010 death. This is a science fiction featuring doctors who enter the dreams of clients… and is a heavily surreal film with dream logic physics and a blending/confusion of dream and reality—and the seduction of the dream world… until one of the machines is stolen. And yes, the film Inception is often considered to plagiarize or be inspired by many elements of Paprika—not just in terms of concept, but the physics, scenes, and philosophy.

I recently finished watching Carol and the End of the World.

In the show, a planet is on a collision course with Earth, and people are figuring out what to do with the few months they have left. Most people take a YOLO approach, go skydiving, have wild orgies, etc, but Carol just kind of wants her life back. To punch a time card, pay her bills, and maybe have a night out with friends at Applebees now and then. Don't want to say too much to avoid spoilers, but it is an absolutely brilliant animated series exploring our struggle to find meaning in life. Highly recommended.

Station 19's season 6 finale. The night Dixon finally died. No real fucks were given when he went 6 feet under, considering what an unapologetic bitch he was.

Banshee on Max. Pretty fun though a bit surface level. Frantic actions scenes, heists that involve Ukranian gangsters, a criminal pretending to be a sheriff, and a former drag queen, Amish, Native American and Neo Nazi militants, raunchy sex scenes.. List goes on. Rarely a dull moment to be had haha. Almost feels more like a video game more than a TV show at times, but as (obviously) a gamer as well, I enjoy that aspect.

Watching Peaky Blinders with the family. Apparently based on a real English gang in Britain circa 100 years ago. Kinda cool to see the dynamic and clashing between the Blinders and rival gangs, plus British police, Irish separatists, Commies, Italian and Jewish mafias, and just the general gritty, socialpolitical turmoil of that period. Being a History major I find it interesting as this is an area I never knew much about. Lacking in the action dept. but more a crime drama. Staging, atomsphere, and acting is great as is much of the dialogue.

Boy Kills World: Not sure why this is getting such a tepid reception; the story is a bit lacking but it's a fun, energetic action movie with kinetic camera work and a unique sense of humor. Bill Skarsgard does a great job committing to the physically demanding role. Would watch again.