LadyCrimson

Trying to make my way through k-drama Alchemy of Souls, a period fantasy/drama (magic, mages, soul-shifters). It's by the Hong sisters, who created one of my fave older k-dramas (2013 Master's Sun) and a couple other at least digestible ones. They tend to focus on some early comedy, romance, and then flip to a whole lot of tragedy. Thought AoS was finished (with 20 episodes) but then realized there were still more upcoming when I scrolled down the list. Apparently a 10 episode part 2/conclusion is planned/starts airing in Dec. >.> 7 episodes in and the series is ... I'm not sure. It feels like a show I ought to like but it's not really fully capturing me yet. Visually grand at times, some of the usual tropes/cliches, fun mentor and villain chrs, etc. I think the bits that are supposed to be all emotional aren't striking a chord or are too familiar. I miss those early-mid 2000's k-dramas I started with. They were cheesy, trope-y, melodramatic and all of that etc, but in a way they had more heart. They're starting to get too "polished" now. Oh well.

Oh, that. In my inexpert and "I don't actually know her from Adam" opinion, at some point (a while ago) she had injected fillers in her upper lip and maybe her cheeks. Eventually that stuff starts shifting, and if you keep trying to re-do/correct it maybe it won't look so great eventually. Such seems pretty common these days (along with botox ofc) - thus they can claim they've never had any surgery, but ....

Also watched Bullet Train. I found it entertaining enough, mostly for the humor aspects. I found the plot and storytelling a little lacking, but it's probably a style type thing. re: Sandra - I think it's largely the different (well, to me) thicker eyebrow styling, hairstyle (covers more of her forehead) and that (again, to me) aging dark racoon eye make up. Just cosmetics that aren't really flattering to her.

*randomly reading about various you-own-nothing in this digital age stuff* Pretty soon you probably won't be able to flush your toilet without a registered account and subscription to the toilet-maker company to unlock the software that permits the flushing "feature" to function.

Hehe. Yeah it's not anime of the year or even decade or anything. It just gets decently more chr engaging after a few vs. all otp comedy. I ended up liking the female lead a lot.

^ I mostly used the car auto-drive mode when I wanted to leave the room to do something else for a few minutes, like grab a snack or feed a cat or.... Edit: there's a few pieces of music I liked in the car but since I'm not a player of the old FF games most didn't do anything for me. This is making me want to try replaying the game from scratch again (not a completionist run). I haven't touched it for months and months outside of an occasional 1 minute memory check for something.

The shop from the car has a Portable MP3 player you can purchase (it's cheap) which IIRC was for chocobo riding. I don't recall if it appears from the get go or at a bit later in the game. I also do not remember how complete it is re: the music choice vs. the car. I tried it once on the PS4 version, decided I didn't like it since it became default (I'd have to turn it off all the time I think) and have never purchased/made it available in a save since. Edit: the Regalia is too road-locked for me. But yeah, I don't often use fast travel either, except when trying to rush sidequests or something.

The open world is rather empty. I mean, ok, I don't want enemies every 5 feet, and I did like galloping around on chocobos just for funsies (more fun than the car), but it is ... spacious, haha, especially in daylight. I think it's because a lot of the empty is filled with areas intended to be reserved for side-quest spots. No side quest, no enemies there. Late game or post-game I would often re-take max number of higher level sidequests at once and/or purposely trigger the dropships for more action. World items (beyond the periodically respawning ingredients and potions etc) largely work as: ---in specific dungeons (easily missed if you miss a turn/corner), from/during sidequests, or certain big-bads. Most original best items are in dungeons or from sidequests, many not available until late or post-game, or very late story game. There's one added cross-content quest/arena available whenever, that has a few current best items but it requires a lot of grinding to get them. --some better gear items do appear in the open world but not until after certain story points, and/or post-game. So for example a spot will be empty/no treasure dot until then. --there are quite a few items that don't seem all that useful but actually are...but they may require a certain mode of playstyle/strategy, or are best for specific situations vs. wear all the time. The thing about the game is it's one of those where everything is largely really easy/casual to push through (they didn't even add a "Hard" difficulty...), but there are options for more strategic methods (or, well, less 1-button mashing or more "fun") and/or massive DPS gearing and the like. But since it's not necessary, except for maybe a few/several optional bosses, most never bother. Oh, sidenote - dunno if you know this already but if a Hunt-giver runs out of quests, I think it was after you reach certain Hunter ranks, more would pop up at some of them. Most side-quests are the Hunts - there are a few independent quest givers but not a lot.

A version that doesn't spoil anything from the movie. >.> I need to buy this soundtrack (in Telugu), assuming I can somewhere.

...I think the thing that bothers me most about potential mega lottery winning is you'd be publicly named/listed as one (I think? No anonymous option?). Hard to trust anyone, new or old, personal or business, afterwards/relationships possibly destroyed etc. ...also, if wanting to be lotto-generous to all your friends/family, never forget about gift tax. ...I wouldn't mind still trying it out, tho.

General combat in FFXV consists of three methods: ---rather mindlessly spam attacks and warp strikes, occasionally toss in a Technique, and stock as many heals/elixirs (elixirs are better but expensive if buying) as you can and just spam those constantly since they are "win buttons" ---learn/use the special directional and weapon type moves (I don't know how well those work with KB/mouse vs. controller), kite/move slowly to mostly block/parry vs. constantly directly attack, and utilize the bro's linkstrikes, use Techniques a lot for "invincibility frames" and hardly ever use healing (but this is a slow/patient method) ---get the nodes in the tree that let you switch which bro (assuming you have that available, it was added later, should be there on any PC version) and switch to/get good with Prompto and use his artillery. Boss fights and certain strong enemies block/parry does not work well and story bosses often have QTE's anyway. Daggers cannot proc the team linkstrikes, thus if you want those, do not use a dagger on Noct. The magic grenades can be very powerful for mobs like the soldiers. The soldiers are eventually fodder, but yeah they're very annoying to many in the beginning/middle. Their spawn point triggers/circles are always the same tho, so if you figure them out you can avoid them entirely outside of some side quests. Story - most of that is in the back 1/3 of the game. The story itself isn't terribly long really, like most such games. EditEdit: the fishing was definitely one of the highlights on first-run for me. Sometimes I spent an entire session doing nothing but fishing. >.>

Romantic Killer, on Netflix. Based on a manga, as usual unread by me. A kind of satirical otome flavor, turning a few tropes upside down, with magic fairies, silly premise, winking nods at many tropes, and an "anti-romance" female lead. That sort of thing. It sounds stupid and it sorta is, and yet... First episode isn't all that impressive or feels too over the top, and may initially make you think about turning it off. I'd give it three episodes before deciding tho. It gets better as it actually goes into chrs/motivations a bit more and goes slightly deeper/darker towards the end then one might expect. I found it a decent short binge. I'd give it a solid 3.5/5 and it made me want a 2nd season (the first has an ending but doesn't resolve the larger plot aspect).

The only reason I went to see Avatar was because I wanted to check out if/how well the (non-Imax/regular theater) 3D aspect worked. It was "eh, sorta works in a few scenes, but not enough to pay extra ever again." I was mildly entertained by the film (the cartoonish villain gave me some belly laughs) but nothing special. ========== After watching (or trying to) quite a few Indian films from my personally available streaming sources I have come to a few self-conclusions: ---In general I still don't like Bollywood films (there are always exceptions) and I think they've become even worse re: my tastes (last time I briefly tried was 6-9 years ago probably). ---Telugu/Tollywood is more successful in my book but often still don't appeal to me pacing wise (too drawn out for what I expect/like). ---One of the things I really liked about "RRR" (and to a degree, Bahubali) was the use of a lot of wide/full scene framing, even with action. I'll definitely keep an eye on that director. But I didn't notice that aspect being a general dominant Indian film style feature overall. I did watch Bahubali pt 2 at some point. It was a little better than the 1st part but for me it would've been far better cinema as a single 3hr or maybe two 2hr films vs stretched over 2 films of close to 3 hours each. It's interesting that they have largely kept up the tradition of actual "forced" intermissions in films (apparently often even inserting them into shown Western films) and I'd assume/guess length structure may often be based around that.

Finished Manifest season 3 - not quite as good as the first two, but yeah, that cliffhanger ending would have ticked me off a little. But I guess the new season 4 is going to be in two parts (10 ep. each) ... I have no idea when part two is going to release (a month? six?) so now I'm wondering if I want to watch part 1 yet. >.>

No no, I told you, my toes have spoken, I'm sure to win. Mine, all mine. ...today I made a pot of sausage/chicken/veggie soup, washed my 99zillion socks and everything else, and the rest of the time was spent wrapped in light blankies and watching TV or snoozing. Cause it's winter again and that's what I do in winter.

The Powerball Lottery is up to 1.2 billion. My left and right big toe and the tip of my nose tingled and itched while reading about it, which, y'know, is the divine sign that Imma fur sure gonna win, so I must buy some tickets tomorrow. It's a sure thing. Don't let me forget, now.

Re-watching the first two seasons of NBC-cancelled Manifest, then will watch the third season (which I skipped because - mega cliffhanger+cancelled), because Netflix finally decided to pick up and do a 4th final season (starts Friday). I was going to "reminder" blaze thru the first two seasons but then hubby decided he was interested so no FFWD'ing for me now. It's one of those series that grew on me over the first season - it has a little too much family melodrama and it's nothing super original (or logical...), but it has that sort of comfort food bingeable feeling, or something. Here's hoping that final season won't suck while actually giving viewers at least some answers.

Peanut butter cups ... to me it's not about rancid and more about moisture loss being more of a factor, so you lose the softening yet binding of the fats or emulsifiers, becoming kind of crumbly/chalky over time. Although for me it's seemed more like a year for store boughts. Hard candies/lolipops and some toffee and brittles etc are the worst when it comes to room air moisture absorption, imo, becoming not-brittle and a little outer-layer soft in 3-12 months depending on storage (hard cough drops do the same thing).

But isn't AM/PM needed as a result of the 12 number clock, where a 24 hours clock wouldn't even need that extra distinction?

Yeah, we're the same way. I think back in our early 20's I did the candy thing a few years but after that we became the "Halloween bah" curmudgeons of a neighborhood. I've also observed over the many years that less and less children where we've lived are out and about, too. When I was little I remember lots of us kids still being out long after dark - nowadays it's very few. Although, that might have to do with changing when daylight savings time kicked in, too. It used to happen before Halloween, not after. And I definitely don't have the willpower to not binge-eat any leftover candy - my "willpower" is having nothing sweet in the house - which for me is a no-no now. Speaking of DST, I heard one US govern. body let a "get rid of it" motion pass, but the other has let it sit stagnant for near a year or something. Just get rid of it. Maybe we should all go on "military time" too. Never looked up the history of 12 number clocks, but it's always seemed a bit non-sensical.

Jokes aside stuff like this is why I never rush to buy the first release of hardware. Initial drivers, connectors etc ... I let others be guinea pigs.

Most modern candy (where mostly sugar, with or without nuts) will keep a very long time as long as it's not in warm/humid storage conditions. I don't have stat facts but imo it's like canned goods - a year, maybe two it's generally fine, beyond that it's still perfectly edible but may not have the best consistency/color or flavor anymore. So a lot depends on how the candy is stored.

I was in no way suggesting CC shouldn't exist, only that I wish they would always have/use the options (as example) English English (CC) But as mentioned by someone already, this would likely end up with an unwieldy extra cost to time and cash which companies would often like to avoid I assume. I have no clue how subtitles are programmed, but maybe one could do some kind of programming which utilizes the CC subtitles (vs. separate translation) under "English, non CC" that just removes (again, re Netflix's seeming way of doing things) anything in brackets [ leaves rustling ]. I don't know if that's actually possible however. And even if it is/was, there'd have to be some standard (always using brackets, if that isn't standard). Subtitle options have become better - at least on major streaming services - over time but they're still lacking in the options area. I've noticed many, if not all, K-drama's, for example (US-Netflix anyway) have "English" but no CC version at all. Or other (to the US) foreign may have a CC but it's only in the "native" language vs. a common local (English). Edit: Netflix has been including "Audio Description" (verbal narration) on some titles lately, (for sight impaired?) too. I checked it out once, seems pretty effective.