Extreme Consumption

[extremeconsumption]

Anime: Vinland Saga, Season 1 Episode 24 "End of the Prologue"

This is an incredible show. Askeladd is one of the best characters I've seen on any TV show. What a complicated person... he's despicable at some points, honorable at others, but always entertaining. With him gone, I'm not particularly looking forward to what happens next... Thorfinn is a pretty boring character. I have empathy for Thorfinn, seeing your father killed in front of you is going to affect a person deeply. I guess the big question does become, what does Thorfinn do now? That *is* interesting. Season 2 bring it on.

[extremeconsumption]

Ping Pong: The Animation, episode 4

Sports anime is my "I've done everything I need to do for the evening, it's time to wind down" consumption lately. I find them relaxing and the plot is usually not as involved as more action oriented anime.

Ping Pong, a story about the cocky and rambunctious Peco and his more mild mannered friend, Smile, hits the right spot for me.

[extremeconsumption]

What We Do In the Shadows - "The Collaboration" - Season 2 Episode 8

I made a go at watching What We Do in the Shadows a few years ago but fell off during the first season. I don't know why, I remember enjoying the series overall, but threw myself into another TV show, I guess.

This time through however, has been incredible. "Colins Promotion" is my favorite episode of the series. Colin Robinson makes the show for me, he is hilarious. I do think that plots involving Laszlo tend to be lacking. The episode where he saves a volleyball team I didn't like too much. He is just way too zany of a character and his beats don't hit as high as the others-the vulva garden is an example of a recurring joke that never hits its target.

This episode, The Collboration was another good entry. First off, it expanded the mythos of the show by involving other familiars including one from Nandor's past in Benji, but it was also heavy on the Nandor and Gizmo relationship, which is always a delight to see.

Not much of a follow up to the previous episode, where Nandor became suspicious of Gizmo after he killed Carol.... but I'm sure it will be re-visited in the future.

[extremeconsumption]

Film: They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)

Saw this film yesterday with my girlfriend. This movie felt like it has a lot in common with Sorry to Bother You. They are thematically similar and the plot just keeps getting more and more ridiculous.

I thought that all three of the principal actors did a great job, but John Boyega especially. I really felt his hulking, brooding, kind of a hardass character Fontaine.

[extremeconsumption]

TV: Reservation Dogs, season 2 episode 4 - "Mabel"

I absolutely love this show. I guess maybe I'm not supposed to - there are a lot of complaints about the lack of afro-indigenous representation, Bear's father made a bunch of tweets using the n-word last year, the Ocean Spray viral guy acts on the show and he was chastised for rapping along to a song containing the n-word some time back.

There is no way I'm going to live my life being the n-word police. And I don't know if I need black representation on every show that I watch. One of my favorite shows is Mad Men, and THAT show didn't feature a prominent black person until the fifth season or so.

Back to the show, this episode was incredible. A great showcase for the community depicted in Reservation Dogs and every character gets to shine in some way here. The death of Mabel is handled is handled beautifully, showing that she was a complicated woman, there was some good, some bad to her... but it was all human. I loved the ending when she appears as a ghost... "Hey shitass!"

[extremeconsumption]

Comics: Vigil #1

Ram V seems to be one of the IT guys in comics right now. He's writing Detective Comics, and Laila Starr is still being lauded. I find his Batman writing to be middling, but thoroughly enjoyed Laila Starr. It has been a few years since I've read Blue in Green, but I remember being non-plussed about the story of a musician and the relationship with his parents.

The Vigil is Ram V's version of a super team. We don't learn too much yet, but it all seems promising. The most interesting character gets gets tortured and possibly killed off in the last panel, unfortunately. It's still too early to have an opinion, but it'll be on my pull list.

[extremeconsumption]

Anime: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Season 1 Episode 4 - "Overdrive

I recently became current on Demon Slayer so Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is next up. I found the first two episodes to be mostly boring... both Dio and Jonathan Joestar are pretty much cookie cut characters with not a lot of personality. With episode 3 however, things took a turn for the better: The mystery behind the mask is revealed and things start to get weird. This episode featured a zombie coming out of a horse's mouth for chrissakes! I also liked the addition of Speedwagon and Zepelli - they can make up for the lack of personality of our two leads.

[extremeconsumption]

Wrestling: AEW Dynamite 3/22/2023 Kenny Omega vs. El Hijo Del Vikingo

I've watched Dynamite every Wednesday since the show started in 2019. I thought this was a solid episode. It started out with a very Nitro-ish ambulance injury scene. Then the 6-man with Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin and Sting vs. Kip Sabian, Butcher and the Blade was great. Other standouts included Jon Moxley vs. Stu Grayson. Poor Skye Blue is getting paid to be a jobber at this point.

[extremeconsumption]

TV: World Baseball Classic, Japan vs US

Turned this on because a friend was really into it. Another friend is Japanese and she turned it on but didn't care too much. I wanted to watch the Dominican Republic games with my girlfriend but she didn't care too much. Congrats to Japan! That last at bat with Mike Trout was classic. My baseball fandom was pretty much killed by the Pirates, but I think I'm going to try to give it a go this season and watch the Yankees.

[extremeconsumption]

Anime: One Piece, Episode 1000: "Overwhelming Strength! The Straw Hats Come Together"

This was a milestone. Not just for the show, but for me having watched so many episodes of this one show. I started almost 3 years ago to the date at the onset of the pandemic. It took me about a year to get current at the time. Two years ago I watched Naruto and some of Boruto and last year I watched Bleach. For the past month, I have been trying to catch up. This episode was fun. The show is in the middle of the insanely long Wano arc that looks to clock in at just under 200 episodes. I have no idea if it will currently finish. The episode itself is mostly just a reason to get the Straw Hats together, show clips of them over the past 20+ years and have them look. I couldn't complain, I was entertained.

[extremeconsumption]

Film: Midnight Run (1988)

There is a lot of this movie that makes little sense, but it still works. It's a nice caper story with enough twists and turns to keep you satisfied. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Grodin and DeNiro. This was apparently DeNiro's first big comedy starring role.

I really enjoyed the cast as well. I grew up watching Homicide so Yaphet Kotto was a welcomed surprise. Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, and John Ashton as well. If you watched movies from around this time period, there's a lot of "THAT'S THAT GUY!" moments.

I saw this film at the IFC in NYC. Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall hosted a viewing with a talk afterwards. This is Sepinwall's favorite movie of all time. While it is certainly not mine, it was a fun enough watch.

[extremeconsumption]

Youtube Consumption // Botchamania 460 and 461

Botchmania is a wrestling spoof show, created by MaffewGreg. I only came to know of it because people complained it was always getting kicked off of youtube and other video upload sites. I've watched a few episodes but always fall off. I've also randomly tuned into Maffew reading Sabu's autobiography a few times on Twitch.

Either way, I find this show to be funny, but it's somewhat hard to keep up with because their Youtube Accounts get deleted every so often. The segment above, "He's Off his Nut," was my favorite of the two episodes.

[extremeconsumption]

TV Consumption // Umbrella Academy Season 2 Episode 1: Right Back Where We Started

I put down House of the Dragon and picked up this show. First off, I should say that I love the comic. I haven't read the most current book but I enjoyed the first a whole lot.

As for the TV show I thought the first season was really good with some caveats: The episode that ended up getting rewound so none of it actually occurred was frustrating and there was little, if any, resolution at the end. Still, the characters are great, everything is shot well, and this episode in particular is a blast right from the start.

I loved the time travel aspect of everyone arriving short periods of time apart. I loved seeing where everyone ended up as time had passed, Diego and Klaus were the standouts, while I didn't care much for whatever Vanya is up to. Luther has the big for a mafia boss is great, too.

Looking forward to seeing where this is going!

[extremeconsumption]

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law: Episode 5 - "Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans"

I am confused as to what kind of show She-Hulk wants to be. Is it a half-hour comedy with some superhero elements but ultimately focuses on law? Or is this a more serialized superhero story like every single other Marvel property with some law elements in the background? The former is much more intriguing for me as superhero fatigue has hit me pretty hard. I'm mostly watching because these shows aren't difficult watches and don't require my full attention. It is refreshing to hear that Jennifer Walters does not care about being a superhero. I hope the show sticks with that assertion. If they go with more standalone and little serialization, these individual offerings need to be a lot better. This episode was pretty bad, right down to the concept. I fail to see what the endpoint was? To set up Titania as the end-season villain?

Last week, I think it was terrible and unbelievable that Tatiana Maslany couldn't get a date no matter how hard she tried. This week it was terrible and unbelievable, full stop. Overall: I find this show easy to watch. A thirty-minute Marvel superhero show is refreshing and novel. I think it's passable as far as entertainment but not necessarily memorable.

[extremeconsumption]

Bleach: Episode 278 - The Nightmare Returns... Revival of the Espada

One thing that Bleach loves to do is introduce a lot of characters at once. As such, I had to look up who the character was that was so bent over so awkwardly in the picture. The show is made for pubescent boys, what can you do?

This episode was set up for the arrival of the Vizored. I was enjoying the individual shinigami battles more so than Ichigo's conquests, but the Vizored are a welcome addition that is a long time coming.

Overall: Bleach is the first one of the big 3 (One Piece, and Naruto) that I've taken long breaks from. There are some points where I am really entertained, but many others when I'm not. I'm going to take a pause on this show when this arc is done and return to One Piece. I'm really excited to continue the Wano arc.

[extremeconsumption]

Star Trek: Lower Decks s01e06 - Terminal Provocations

This is one of the busier shows yet. I found the three-story plot somewhat confusing, but I was only half paying attention while fooling around on my computer. The murderous holodeck pin got the most laughs out of me.

Overall, I find this show passable entertainment. I don't know if I'd be watching if I weren't such a Trek fan. I really disliked the previous episode, where Mariner thinks Boimler's girlfriend is an alien - It made Mariner seem overly mean towards Boimler and painted him as more of a loser than usual. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds really fills that niche for me.

[extremeconsumption]

Consumption

So I’m going to write about shit that i’m consuming here. Movies, music, video games, let’s get it.