Bartimaeus

Jared Goff has been pretty below average to bad the past couple of years, with a very good supporting cast. He's had a 42-29 TD-INT ratio over the last two years with like an 88 passer rating. Good numbers 40 years ago, not so much now. McVay got a lot out of him in 2017 and 2018, but that team is set to implode due to contracts coming up - their future is grim, so they're going to take their shot.

I'm on episode 6, one before your mentioned Makoto episode. Wow, I actually got her name right on the first try for once. For some reason, I always think her name is "Matoko" instead - she's the only one whose name I have trouble with. Minako has consistently had some of my favorite episodes, so it's difficult to envision me not liking it, . As for Adventure Time...it's a very frustrating show. I was put off by the animation style as well, but eventually got used to and started liking it to a degree. The real problem is that the show is so incredibly up and down in terms of enjoyment - there are times where the show is incredible, meaningfully tackling issues of life and being human, having great characters play off each other, interesting overarching plots and character development...and then there are stretches of the show where you could literally skip 10 episodes at a time and only miss either episodes where most or even all of the cast decided just to not show up, episodes where characters act outrageously stupid (and not in a funny way) or out-of-character, with just the worst episode plotlines. I eventually started paying attention to the writers of each episode because there were a few writers who would consistently put out absolute garbage and a few who would consistently put out great stuff and so I better knew what to expect on an episode-to-episode basis, but it was still incredibly frustrating and no way to run what should be a good show.

That does sound like a lot of wasted effort - as I mentioned in an earlier post about Adventure Time, I'm really not a fan of spending major time and investment on characters that don't really matter (at least, not in a show like this where clearly the focus should always belong to the main cast).

Seems like a major misstep to kill off the body double before Trump left office.

@majestic Sailor Moon Crystal is so gosh danged ugly. How do you willingly go from such a good minimalistic art style that was specifically designed to be cheap to...that? ...Once I finish the original show, I'll probably try it out just to see if I can hack it, especially since it's the same great new English cast doing the dub for it, but my goodness. It would definitely make more sense to just pick some favorites from each season than try to go through everything. That spoiler sounds quite silly on all fronts, . ...I'm not looking forward to that unicorn as well as the Tiger's Eye guy, man that stuff sounds weird.

I think it's my third favorite show all-time, and it's honestly not that far behind the next two (and I say this as someone who, while I do love cartoons, has never been able to even kind of get into an anime show). It can be a little odd at times and it's definitely always stupid, but it's also hilarious, cute, pretty wholesome, and just overall a very fun watch. @KaineParker I think right around there is pretty close to when I consciously realized "oh no...I think I actually genuinely love this show!". What started as a sort of ironic meme watch had turned completely unironic. That particular episode is even more filler-ish than usual...but it doesn't stop it from being so good. @majestic I legitimately thought at first the Professor was like a...from-the-future Umino at first (which I'm pretty sure he's not at this point...pretty sure). He has that same kind of wacky nerd vibes. If you have a list of "best episodes" that you think is particularly good, feel free to post - I'd be greatly curious to see how it lines up with what I think are the best episodes. Also, what're you talking about? Re-writing them into being cousins was a brilliant masterstroke. How else are you going to get the coveted Alabama market in the U.S.?

The cousins have finally arrived. (e): Season 3 is amazing so far. This is like full mid-season 1 levels of ridiculousness, I'm having to frequently pause because I'm laughing too hard. What the hell was that introduction for Haruka? She is so clearly a woman, but gets the full "this is by far the hottest guy we've ever seen in either of our lives" treatment from both Usagi and Minako (what a great pair to be the ones to do it, they're both so lovably dumb - the show is usually as its absolute best for me when it's those two). What an absolute farce, .

More Sailor Moon mania: I watched the first episode of S. Pretty great opening. Halfway through the episode, I was thinking, "Man, Rei is so great*...they really should have had more Rei-focused episodes...of course, now that I think about it, whenever I see a Minako-focused episode, I say they should have more of those too...and when they have Makoto-focused episodes, I want more of those too...and when they have an Ami-focused episode, I say well we should probably get back to Usagi or Chibi-Usa [note: mostly kidding]. Rei is really great, though."

That's the scene I saw on YouTube. Felt like I needed to call the FBI. I believe the title of the video was literally called something like "no, please stop, Chibi-Usa". I watched R the Movie. That was...interesting and sure went places. A bit more hammy in places than is the usual for Sailor Moon, but still a lot of fun. The whole Mamoru..."""friendship""" plot sure was a thing. That 3D effect they used for the asteroid or comet or whatever it was...was not good, . Besides that, the show looked fantastic in HD.

I think I have an 8600 GTS lying around somewhere as well...should really find a way to dispose of the old electronics I have.

Also featuring some truly classic fighting techniques, Mario Bros. patent pending...

Haha, doesn't Usagi turn into like a giant tennis ball or something insane in that one?

I just about died reading this

I already have it, so I'll at least try it for sure, . Sailor Stars is the only thing I don't have currently. Actually, that brings up something else...when's the best time to watch the movies? I just finished R, so I'm wondering if I should watch R: The Movie right after (by the way, that moment about how Ami interrupts their final moments to talk about eating cakes happens in at least the new English dub - which didn't surprise me, as it's my understanding the new dub stays pretty true to the original Japanese). I'm watching at a slower pace than you, so maybe by the time I get to SuperS, I won't have too much of a problem with it (...although I'll still probably be weirded out by some of the more...questionable writing decisions). My feelings about Chibi-Usa are pretty complicated at this point. There were times where she was more like an...early Rei-like character (expressive and headstrong, but also clever and witty!), times where she's like...the worst parts of Usagi (paralyzed with fear, crying, screaming, being generally unreasonable...), and times where she was more like Ami (kind of cold/flat and analytical). I'm not sure if it was intentional to have her display so many different traits as a result of spending time with the Sailor Guardians or what. I would not mind her returning as a supporting character like she often was (though hopefully a little more mature and consistent), but I don't particularly want to see her be the main character for entire episodes at a time again.

One thing I noticed early on is that Sailor Moon just *slaughters* all of the minor women villains (and there are a lot of them), literally disintegrates them by the dozens, but tends to fall to pieces against the mid-level male villains. That finally started change halfway through season 2. I'm usually not that into the battles to be honest - it's probably usually my least favorite part of the show (although they occasionally have some very fun and silly concepts that make for good ones, but I can't think of any particularly good ones early on into the show). It doesn't help that the low level minions do often look like they were literally randomly generated.

I've actually seen that clip of Usagi after she's called Mamoru, only it was with the original S4 English voice actress (who is hilarious but also a terrible fit for Usagi), and I have to say, I get the feeling that season 4 might be difficult for me. Sounds, uh, sounds kind of weird. Actually, um...wait a second, I think I've seen a clip from the weird pegasus plot, now that you mention it...and I can't link it because it was actually kind of horrifying. ...So what're your thoughts of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars?

Oh yeah, I've actually tried out a few animes on Netflix, like...Kakegurui, some weird antiquity/demon-hunting one, that Castlevania one...but I usually only last 5 minutes before I realize "oh yeah, anime is absolute garbage, whoopsie" and turn it off. Prognostication at work. (e): And that's not even mentioning My Hero Academia, which I super wanted to like because I read about a bunch of the characters in advance and convinced myself it was going to be decent, and it ended up being the absolute worst.

what the hell kind of ****ed up **** are you watching man -person who has watched almost no anime

Also, Kaine, I have a friend on Steam that uses literally your exact avatar, has a drinking problem, is incredibly cynical, and is disappointed by everything. His name even starts with a K - it's very weird and disconcerting. He hates anime (although I think he watched and enjoyed Death Note), though, so you can't be the same people. (e): @majestic This Ami episode... (e): Wait, why did I spoiler it? You and Kaine have already seen this...

RE art styles: I have the same issue/make the same kind of excuse. Art style shouldn't matter. It shouldn't. It should not! It has no bearing on writing, characters, themes, or anything else important. But so often when I'm considering a new show (or game: note that I almost exclusively play smaller, shorter indie games, often 2D - lots of different art styles), that's what I'm looking at first. I don't have to love it (especially not immediately - I certainly didn't for Sailor Moon or Evangelion or...Steven Universe or plenty of others), but I do have to at least not immediately hate it. There's a certain level of prognostication involved when talking about art styles - your example of South Park and Bojack Horseman are good, because their art style very well matches their show's personality. They might not be the style I want (or can even tolerate), but they make perfect sense for what they're representing. I'm very much of the opinion that while you can't *always* judge a book by its cover...with art styles, I think you at least usually can, because the art style in the vast majority of cases will be intentionally married to the kind of media that it is, giving you a decent feel for how the media will operate as a whole. And if it's not a good marriage, then it's probably not going to be great to begin with - outside of rare exceptions (particularly ones that are deliberately designed to mislead, like...say, Doki Doki Literature Club or something). So when media presents to me its art style, I tend to believe that it is representing itself well - for better, for worse. Of course, I'm not the most familiar with anime styles in particular, so it's been more difficult for me to prognosticate from just a glance. I decided to give Sailor Moon a try because I accidentally landed on this video from a only semi-related video a friend sent me: ...and it somehow appealed to me enough that I decided to give it a try. I don't know why, I really don't, since this just by itself is just nonsense that meant absolutely nothing to me and I shouldn't have gotten anything out of it, but somehow I did. Also, I'm a moron because this was the first video I ever saw of Sailor Moon and it still took me like a third to maybe half of the first season for me to consciously realize that Mamoru must be Tuxedo Mask - I'm not saying I didn't have suspicions before that, but that was when I was like "ok, yeah it has to be him". I blame it on the show making me laugh too hard to think straight. I think I once read that the art style of Sailor Moon is the strange minimalistic result of an absolute shoestring budget with terrible deadlines that they gave the show, thinking it would only be a one-off one-season thing as air filler for whatever Japanese channel it debuted on. I'm just glad they didn't screw around with the art style after it actually became a success. I can't say the same for SM Crystal - that art style is straight-up revolting for me, .

Exactly how I felt starting out. Supremely stupid, but also hilarious and nice (and also specifically the first season gets funnier as it goes on right up until the end, as it gets more and more ridiculous and almost starts becoming a meme of itself).

So it's the final remnants of the old Evil Empire versus the new Evil Empire. Joy. Earlier today, I told my buddy "either everything will go well and it'll be Packers-Bills...or everything will go badly and it'll be Buccaneers-Chiefs". Phooey.

He played pretty great this season, but the team around him has been great as well (although all of them have been kind of inconsistent together).

Offensive line, which was so magnificent the entire season, had two really bad games this season. One was in week 6 against the Buccaneers, the other was while hosting the NFCCG against the Buccaneers. It was the difference between winning and losing multiple times in this game, and those last few drives by the Packers showed it very clearly. Don't know what the Buccaneers are doing that nobody else did, but we couldn't do much about it. Tom Brady goes to his tenth Super Bowl, and is the first to host one in his own stadium.

Yeah, so this is going literally exactly how I thought it would go. Absolutely dog**** Packers' defense against Tom Brady that has made a career of destroying our type of soft, finesse defense combined with our offensive line having a bad day and not being able to get the easy plays. Gee, it's almost like I said exactly this would happen like 5 days ago. We always lose to the team in the playoffs that we got destroyed by in the regular season.