majestic

I'm not Hurlshot, but... Allergies... also to wheat and peanuts, I think. Perfectly certain on the wheat, less so on the peanuts (vs. actual nuts, and all). Soy farming isn't that great for the environment, and eating too much of it can cause hormonal problems. Well, actually, it's more like farmers illegally burning down wood to farm soy beans that's causing the problems, but they'd also do that for animal farming. It just puts a real damper into the going vegan to save the planet spin.

Why is Nanami so put out by Anthy being as much into her brother as she is into hers? Except they aren't related. Also: And... what's with Anthy's hair in that scene?

I tried to binge myself through, but ended up playing Master of Orion 3 and a mobile game instead. Yeah, I don't think that's a good sign, is it? edit: Jury is kind of the only character I actually care about in the sense that I do mind when bad things happen to her, and the episode I'm watching now is essentially Jury torture porn. Great. What a mess. I wonder about which blade they were talking about when Shiori mentioned polishing Ruka's sword every day. Was that intentionally vague or did that crop up in translation? Is that even an idiom like that in Japanese? edit: Look at that, Jury giving up after Utena cuts her locket off instead of her rose is something that's meaningful, profound and understandable. Even the Shadows have something useful to contribute. Why isn't every episode like that? edit: Is there anyone on this show Akio isn't, uhm, sleeping with? Like anyone at all?

Utena is worse than that. That's certainly possible. Who knows, between the cows, chickens, kangaroos, loose horses and whatever else is going on. Right, I forgot the Shadow Aliens.

Yeah, the bowling ball clip. I'm getting the feeling that Chu-Chu is some sort of cosmic evil mastermind creature. He either was playing that prank on Nanami or he actually transformed into an egg and only, uhm, hatched near the end there. Maybe he is a space alien? I think so too. Feel free to bookmark the post and blame me later if you ever happen to see it and actually like it.

Nanami has an egg and Toga thinks she's a lesbian and starts lecturing her about the natural order of things. Hey Toga, you, uhm, forgot your little escapades with Akio there? Just sayin'. Hypocrite. Also, what the hell am I watching?

Rocky...

I felt cheated watching Mulholland Drive. I'm not going to tell you that you should not watch if it you want to try it, but I think that's two and a half hours of your time you won't be getting back and I'd be surprised if it changed your opinion of David Lynch films if you already didn't like Blue Velvet. I guess I can say that without it being a spoiler, but it begins with a car crash and a woman who loses her memory as a result. You then have like an almost regular amnesiac crime/mystery film where the two main characerts Betty and Rita try to piece together who Rita - the woman with the memory loss - really is. All they have are the contents of her hand bag, which include an awful lot of money in cash and a strange blue key, as well as a name that eventually leads them to a woman they find dead in her appartment... Sounds like a decent enough setup, if one likes that sort of thing. I do. You mentioned don't really care for mysteries, so that won't even start well, right? Spoilers from here on out: It's not like I actively thought about these things, I watched the episodes last night and went to bed, and woke up with the idea for that post. Don't ask me how that works. We'll see soon enough, I guess. It's time to binge finish this thing, because if I leave it hanging around for longer it'll just make me think about it some more. Consciously or not. Heh. edit: Utena episode 25 is off to an awfully great start. Sister-F*cker Akio and Toga are speeding down an endless looking road, talking mysteriously and the title card reveals the episode name as "Our Eternal Apocalypse". Man, using an empty, endless looking road as imagery is so 90ies... look Mr. Ikuhara, if there's something that James Cameron of all people used in Terminator 2, then please, don't bother. Look at the episode suggesthing that Akio is Utena's prince. Prior to the last few episodes, I would have said that doesn't fit withe the provided timeframe, but given that now any character's age is in doubt, perhaps he really was, and it's not Anthy's father but brother that was Utena's prince. Well, that's one mystery down, at least. Look, Akio isn't only into his sister, he also really likes students of all sorts and genders. *sigh*

Utena, episode 24: Nope. I'm not even going to bother until the arc is done. What the hell was that?

If I had watched episodes 22 and 23 I would have saved myself from writing the mile long post about the various degrees of metaphor to try and explain why Revolutionary Girl Utena crossed the line for me from being somewhat brain-wr(a)ecking to follow to being obscure and opaque for the sake of being just that, i.e. the feeling that I got to sit on the other end of a joke by the creators. The anime rolled the dice, scored a natural 20 and made its saving throw. The two parter essentially moved it from being intellectual in-joke m*sturbation level to merely poorly paced. It's now a case study in how not to make a "mystery" arc, and I'm someone who is extremely easily entertained by any given mysterious happening. It really takes some doing to mess that up. It makes the preceeding episode better in hindsight and again we're stuck with the issue that what works in a feature length film doesn't necessarily work in an episodic format, even if the actual runtime of a 10 episode arc - minus the two standalones that had a clear, distinct meaning outside of the main plot thread - is the same. We're left with roughly a 2:30 runtime of episodes related to the actual story arc here, and that would be fine if exhaustingly long for a properly organized movie, but in this episodic format it's just not working. You'll most likely watch a film to its conclusion, particularily if you already sat down in the theatre and paid for it. An episodic show can lose you at any time. I mean, not me, so that's that, but in general, nope, this is really not how to do it. I also just realized that one of the writers involved with Revolutionary Girl Utena was another writer for Sailor Moon: Ryota Yamaguchi, who by far and large wrote the Sailor Stars filler arc. I'm starting to blame Ikuhara for the pacing issues of the show, or perhaps we can lay this at the feet of the manga. At this point I'm not (yet?) willing or forced to check the manga out just to see where the pacing issues of the anime originate. I think Mamiya was a real character at some point, and he either died of his illness or died in the fire that Nemuro/Mikage set at the behest of who I still think is Anthy's father and Utena's prince, i.e. Th End of the World and "Dios", the power that falls from the upside down castle to empower Utena to win her duels. Either way, this is what caused him and Tokiko to fall out. The anime helpfully pointing to all the images used in the flashbacks of episode 22 was hilarious. Even before Utena and Miki end up at the Nemuro Memorial Hall in the end, seeing only the burnt out ruins of what was a normal building just moments prior, that made it fairly clear that it's a construct of Mikage's mind. That's why the stupid imagery was present everywhere. Most of it ended up having no deeper meaning just like I thought - the butterfly transitioning back to a caterpillar meant... maybe something. With a lot of good will you could see Nemuro as caterpillar and the butterfly as Mikage, and his desire to go back to how it was in the past. That doesn't explain how it supposedly worked for Wakaba's friend who was rejected, or the other characters in the elevator, so I'm still leaning towards this meaning nothing - of maybe only something for Mikage, which means it means nothing in the scope of being on the elevator ride. Either way, it means nothing in its given context. Good job, show. The reveal at the end of episode 23, I suspect, just means that Anthy was with Mikage in all these scenes, and he just either superimposed Mamiya's image over them, or she really appeared as Mamiya for him. I'm leaning towards the former, because the skin tone of Mamiya is different - darker - in the present than it was in the flashbacks, and Anthy never appeared as anything but herself for other characters. Mikage not aging while he was Mikage, well, that's still open for debate. It either was because in the setting of the Othori Academy, time means something else (might be a reason why Miki keeps using his stopwatch, number puns aside) or the Academy is a sort of purgatory for the people who attend it. Either way, graduating from the Academy apparently doesn't mean being finished with studies, but successfully having let go of the past. That might also be why Saionji never left the Academy proper, even after being expelled. That's because nobody who is enrolled can leave. The only way out seems to be either having been there without actually studying or working for it, like Nemura's supervisor and love interest Tokiko, or by overcoming whatever it is that enrolled you. Or "die" trying. Because there's the question of what actually happened to Nemuro after the fire. Mikage was the unaging persona he created for himself - the one that kept him at the Academy. A persona that never existed once he lost the duel to Utena. The memorial hall is gone, ruins now, Miki and Utena pretty much never met Mikage or know of him. He's been cut out of existence. Nemuro still must have existed, because he set the fire. Does that mean Nemuro, while failing to win the duel, is free now and simply left the Academy at the same point as Tokiko did? That's a good question. There's no real answer, and some parts of this don't make any sense. Tokiko clearly aged, and she came back to visit her brother's grave. So going in and out of the Academy is possible, and time advanced normally outside, so presumably also normally inside, characters might just not age, or even realize that they're stuck. Might be that half of the ramblings are thrown out by the next couple of episodes. We'll see. edit: It might be that Nemuro is actually Takiko's husband that she mentioned, and that they both left the Academy after the incident and Mamiya has died, and that Mikage is a reflection he left behind, an Academy spun persona that is only there and disappears from existence because it was never truly real. That would also explain his part as unrelaible narrator and give a reason why he's the only one to have disappeared after losing a duel. Will we find out? Probably not. Yes, there's definitely a use of Anthy to reflect people's inner thoughts and feelings, and defining what holds them back. That's also why all of the Black Rose duelists come with the desire to kill her, rather than own her like the regular duelists. It is also why there's an upside down castle, I think (a mirrored reflection, like on a still lake). Mikage might have manipulated them into attempting to kill her, but the desire was still here. You can even see the theme of reflection going on with who draws swords from whom, and what their issues are. First, it was Akio's fiancee, who doesn't, or at least does it off-screen, and we don't know where her sword came from. It might just have been a regular sword, who knows. She does tell Utena though that the Black Rose freed her personality, and she's no longer her phony self. It's a nice clue in hindsight, but also something that would have worked much better in a feature film. Unless you binge, you'd need to rewatch the episodes after their conclusion. A ridiculous proposition, especially for something made to be shown weekly on regular TV. The others fit though. Kozue, who does everything she can to annoy Miki into paying attention to her again. Miki, who wants nothing more than to restore the past where he and his sister only paid attention to each other, and to play with her again. The piano, as it were. Miki here is trapped in his memories of playing the piano with his sister, making her a much better player in his mind than she is in reality. Shiori and Juri, where one desires the other - romantically in case of Juri, and personality wise in the case of Shiori. The flashbacks, also from the first arc, seem to imply that Juri kind of superimposes the boy that Shiori "stole" from her (that she probably never wanted, given her obsession with Shiori) over Anthy, because again, darker complexion, and the off-beat hair color (as much as that can be in an anime where girls have natural pink hair), and perhaps vice versa too, with Shiori seeing Anthy as something that stands between her and Juri and her desire to be as popular, stuck in the memory of being less than Juri. Tsuwabuki and Nanami, with Tsuwabuki wanting to grow up and failing, because he's stuck in time just like everyone else (probably). He wants the one thing he cannot have, much like Nanami. Nanami might see Anthy as the object of her brother's desire and the little guy sees Anthy as the reason why Toga doesn't move on, and therefore blocks him from getting anywhere with Nanami. That one's a bit of a stretch. Either way, Namami's interest in her brother keeps her stuck, her brother's stuck trying to please the End of the World, whatever that is exactly (outside of Anthy's father and Utena's prince) and Tsuwabuki is, ironically, held back by his desire to grow up. Wakaba, Saionji and Wakaba's former school friend - the school friend gets rejected by Mikage beause he, unlike everyone else, isn't actually stuck. At least, not relating to Anthy and whatever her family is doing. He just really loves Wakaba, and it's unrequited. He'll probably get over it, and the reason why we won't see him, ever again, isn't just because he was a random one-off side character, but that the tried, realized that Wakaba doesn't love him, went to the seminar, was rejected and finally just left the show for good because he's normal and over that. Wakaba herself draws the sword from Saionji, obviously, because he desires Anthy above all else, and Wakaba's desire for Saionji is reflected in that. Anthy gone would potentially mean that she might have a shot with Saionji. Nanami and Keiko is a variation of Nanami and Tsuwabuki. This episode also does something else insfoar as it shows how the bully parade group around Nanami operates, and that they sometimes turn on themselves. Keiko desires Toga, obviously. Anthy needs to be gone for Toga to move past desiring her, Nanami is the mirror of Keiko's feelings towards him. Mikage doesn't draw a sword from someone, like Akio's fiancee. Could be the swords came from themselves, they don't have a mirror for their desires, just an object that's in the way in Anthy. I also think Toga is missing from the arc mostly because he can't be around and involved. Someone would draw a sword from him, but his role is too undefined or maybe reserved for some reveal later. This harkens back to the problem of the plot driving the character, and the themes here driving the plot, so... Toga's just not there. Except for that party and sharing an umbrella with Keiko. So there, this is how the last episode saved the earlier ones with the power of hindsight. I still stand by what I said earlier, watching this was not really good, and it's a bad, bad, bad idea to structure your TV show like that. Strange late edit there. Did you watch Dune and not realize it was by David Lnych at first? What was the other movie then, or two different ones? Dear God, let's hope that never happens. Ikuhara did an admirable job adapting Sailor Moon under his direction, but Utena... I don't know, really, that kind of put a damper on things. It's worse in the case of The Blacklist because the mastermind is essentially the break out character of the show and was turned into something of the lead character over the time of the show. The intended main character and female lead turned out to be a bit of a letdown, so she's... well, right now, she's the main antagonist of the season. She's the Ted of this show. I mean, yeah, I know you haven't watched How I Met Your Mother, but Ted Mosby is pretty emblematic for this sort of problem when you get a long running show where every other character than the one that's actually supposed to be the main character is more interesting.

Utena 22 + 23: Mikage turns out to be Peter Pan. Sure. At least we're back down a couple of notches from the pointless drivel that the earlier episodes in the Black Rose arc were. It's episodes like these that make the think that the ones who have obviously no meaning at all are really just there to mess with us. I'm also getting as tired of hearing "Gogai! Gogai! Gogai!" once per episode as I was of "Onegai, Pegasusu!" in some other show that Ikuhara directed and Enokido wrote for. I'm just not sure which show that was, because that was a season that doesn't exist. Like Star Wars prequels.

I will, of course. There is no other way, or, to reference something I didn't like as much as everyone else did, apparently: "This is the way." It's not as bad as it reads. I don't actively have to force myself to click on the next episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena in the same way I had to force myself through the 22+1 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. In the Black Rose arc, so far, there were many more misses than hits, and even the hits weren't actual hits, but mere grazes. For me, there are several levels of metaphor, allegory and symbolism in thematic exploration. There are probably more, but this is how it works for me: Normal - this is where you'd end up when its fairly clear what it sets out to do. It might borrow symbology from certain mythologies or religions, reference perhaps arcane knowledge, but that merely enhances the experience, it doesn't make it impossible or even takes away from it when you don't get it. Funny as that may sound, Sailor Moon ( and in particular S) is this. Going with S for a moment, even if you don't see the incredibly obvious connection between Usagi and the (Christian) messiah, which I guess for us Westerners isn't as much of a problem as it might be for someone from (South) East Asia with only a cursory knowledge of Abrahamic religions, you can simply appreciate the episodes, the characters and the funny hijinks. Then there are the themes of accepting yourself that are present in the season, and the ongoing theme of utilitarianism vs. idealism. Realizing what it attempts to do might make the ending a little better for the viewer - and by that I mean the part that doesn't come from the manga. Arcane knowledge would be Astrology. It's not required, but it clicks with the characters, up to a point. It's a fun exercise, but not necessary to enjoy the show. Heavy - this is where you'd probably put stuff like NGE or Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion, the one you didn't watch. NGE dips heavily into Judaic mythology, but that's not the core of the show, the core is, at the end of the day, the characters dealing with the reality of fighting off world ending alien entities in giant mechs and how they deal with the strain this puts on them. There's this juxtaposition of Shinji and Asuka, with the same issues but diametrically opposed coping mechanisms, for instance. The ending goes off the rails and is a sollipsistic mess that's not really an ending - unless you watch the movie - but that's also simply heavy on the metaphor. Here we're already on a level where the understanding is required to properly enjoy what you're watching. It might still be good if you don't get it, but it certainly helps. The ending of Lost is there too. Now, before someone who stumbles into this thread once again berates me for saying that, I do not think Lost had a good ending. Lost had an ending that fit the themes of the show. It makes sense in the context of the show. It is a terrible ending to the show insofar as it simply doesn't end much, and leaves questions unanswered that the show should have answered. There's a major difference between leaving something blank or not explored in detail because it would detract from the experience through overexplanation (i.e. Kyubey's motivations in Madoka) or simply not explaining anything at all that's going on even though it would be required and is effectively being hinted at. Lynchian - well that's self-explanatory. This is borderline metaphor and allegory indulgence to the point where it comes off as pseudo-intellectual m*sturbation (I have no idea why that word is censored, seriously Obsidian). I might insult David Lynch fans now but that's what it is. His films are interesting and I up to a certain point enjoy watching them, but when you sit through an hour of a fever dream like phantasy of a failed actress only to shift to her real life near the end like in Mulholland Drive then that's not interesting any more, it becomes something that's there to show off. This often doesn't just require knowledge of whatever topic it is about but also knowledge of the artist involved in its creation. There is no clear cut line between the Heavy and Lynchian categories, I guess. Nanami's Cowbell episode in Utena oscillates between heavy and Lynchian, insofar as it requires one to know that Ikuhara has a history of being very critical of capitalism's more stupid excesses - which should be fairly obvious from some Sailor Moon episodes. It's unique in this also becaues it's just a fun, stupid episode even if you don't get it, there's also this heavy theme of peer pressue and brands exploiting it. Pretentious - this is where we leave everything behind and it becomes mired in metaphor simply to be mired in metaphor. At this point, a lot of Utena sometimes sits here, however, it's the wrong category (there's one more coming up). It crosses the border and becomes actual intellectual m*sturbation. This doesn't happen that often on TV, because that's often dependant on ratings, but you can see that in a lot of art in general. Go to the Museum of Modern art and look at the works of Kazimir Malevich and tell me that isn't just that: Art from one artist for other artists to jerk off to in their perceived intellectual superiority of getting what a white square on a white background represents (I'm not joking by the way, that's an actual oil on canvas painting - White on White). And last, and certainly least, is the (in-)joke - this is where you can't shake the feeling that you're sitting through a joke of the arist at the expense of the audience, or an in-joke between the people involved in its creation. This is probably what Utena is. It's less the authors trying to drive home obtuse themes and allegory, although that is there as well, in certain episodes - because when that happens, Utena episodes oscillate between Heavy and Lynchian, and they are understandable. The Black Rose arc episode with Miki and Kozue is one of that. It has a shadowplay that perfectly encapsulates their relationship, the character motivations make sense, it's still full of symbology and metaphor, but it's not obfuscated to the point of becoming impenetrable. The episode where Utena is doing gymnastics while talking to everyone? Well, that has GOT to be a joke. There's nothing, absolutely nothing else that could possibly be. I absolutely detest getting the feeling of sitting through an (in-)joke style episode. You can hear Ikuhara and Enokido laughing in the background, at the people who really are trying to make sense of the episode while there probably isn't one, and it's just there because its funny. I base this pretty much on the fact that Utena has fun, whacky episodes with no real meaning at times, then heavy episodes that actually do where it's understandable, if a little harder to see, what they were going for. How well I can deal with the pretentious category depends on how interested I am in the subject. It still won't like it whenever I get the feeling that something is just an excercise in feeling superior to others (I get it, yay, I'm betterer than the unwashed masses), but I might get some enjoyment out of it regardless. That's not to say that I don't like doing things that make me feel superior to others, heaven forbid. What other joy would my life entail if I wouldn't have at least that? But I do that on my own and don't demand an audience for it. Speaking of something else that bothers me, and that should go in the TV thread and I might still post it there, but this final season of The Blacklist is a bit of a letdown. The last season already wasn't that hot, but really, they've spent 6 seasons showing that one of the characters on the show is a mastermind that's always two steps ahead of everyone else, and then introduced someone who was supposedly his peer in terms of being SMRT and thinking several steps ahead. And the only way the writers managed to convey the idea is by making the mastermind character to act stupidly. Like Tyrion in the later seasons of Game of Thrones. It's still fun to watch, but it's really annoying. They even lampshade that when in one of the earlier episodes of this season one of the characters even tells him to his face that he's falling for the most obvious of ploys possible and if he really were disloyal he'd do a much better job of covering his tracks. To be honest, at this point, I don't think there is a point to any of that. When there is a point, the episode will make that apparent, even if it's hidden in layers of weird, but it will be there. Most of this new arc so far has just given me the feeling that it's using imagery just to use imagery. Take the butterflies on the elevator rides. They change, just once, they did not - when Mikage rejected an applicant. That's something you can see, if you pay attention, and that's okay, but that doesn't mean the butterflies have any actual meaning. They're just there, I think. I might be wrong, but eh... really, screw that. True, but you can't weasle yourself out of it now. Welcome to the club.

The last time you wrote a post this long you denied that you've joined the essaying club based on that it's just a few observations. I let that slide. However, now... Welcome to the club. Take a seat, here's your membership card. I'm afraid we're a little low on snacks and drinks right now. Going through arough patch here, being close to eviction after losing my job and all. I'll reply in more detail later. If there's one thing I'm majorly disappointed with about Utena, it's that it really is a letdown character wise. Considering it was written by the same guy that managed to and who was the writer behind Minako's wonderful insanity in S (as well as Makoto's Haruka worship episode), which all tied really well together with the first half of the season's character theme of accepting yourself as you are, instead of trying to be what society expects you to be, it really is just... just nothing of the sort in Utena. Pure thematic exploration is fine for me in a sense, assuming it is limited to feature film length or with an anthology series. However, at 39 episodes with recurring characters, it would really be a lot better if those characters were good. I don't know what I was expecting going into Revolutionary Girl Utena, but the longer it goes on, the more I find myself barely caring. It was fun in the beginning, had a weird setting and strange things happening, but the more it progressed, the more it became weird for weirdness' sake, and thematically obtuse for no reason, and then the squick began. Utena in itself is a manga adaptation too, but it comes from the same group as the anime that was founded by Ikuhara after leaving Toei, I doubt that counts and was probably pretty much planned. I wonder if that would be a good time to contrast this with Violet Evergarden, which has an entirely different approach. You watch the anime, and Violet's entire "plot" in the 13+2 episodes is almost pure character development, while her interactions are limited to characters that need to be strong because most of them you won't see again after the 25 minutes of the episode. The premise of most of these episodes is thematically tied to a continent recovering from a devastating war, and people trying to move on and live their lives as best they can. Everything that happens with the secondary characters only works because they were given the same care and attention as the recurring characters. They were drawn up and put in the situation/premise of the episode, and then act accordingly. That's how the show gets this massively emotional reaction from its viewers when watching episode 10. The premise is really simple, the plot is barebones as they come and you can see it coming from a mile away, but nothing of that really matters.

I just had one of the weirdest talks ever. I'm working from home today beause nobody else is in the office so why bother, suddenly someone knocks on the door. I often get to take deliveries for neighbors when working from home, so I think nothing of it and open the door without checking, which turned out of be a funny mistake. Nope, no delivery guy, just a Greenpeace activist. Since I'm working from home today, I'm just wearing a white, plain cotton t-shirt which right now has copious amounts of food stains on it, and comfortable but severely oversized running pants. I still haven't gone to the barber shop and hairdresser, which means my hair and my beard is a major mess right now. Between that and having had a rough week at work with barely any sleep, I literally look like a bum living on the streets. He stares at me and goes: "I came to tell you about the bees that need help and how we're fighting for them, but... you can't really support us financially right now, can you?" And I'm like, slightly perplexed by a random Greenpeace stranger showing up at my doorstep: "Yeah, it's been tough, you know, with the lockdowns, man." "Short hours?" At this point I transitioned from shock to a state of being annoyed by door to door soliciting. "Yeah, at first, during the initial lockdown, then I got fired. I worked at a shipping company but the continued lack of air travel almost killed our business, but if you want, you can leave a card, and I'll call you guys up once I find my footing again, yes?" "That's rough man, I'm sorry. Take care." Guy left without giving me his card. There's a lesson in never judging a book by its covers in here, I'm sure. Not that I would agree to donate* to people who solicit donations like that (and certainly never to Greenpeace Austria, that bunch of twerps). It's bad enough when they approach me at a mall or at a railway station or any other sites where they prepare their annoying ambushes, but going from door to door, that's a new low. The only other people who come by regularily are Jehova's witnesses. As much as I hate talking to random strangers, I've had Greenpeace people approach me so often that I'm kind of used to it by now. *Don't have anything against donating to charities or voluntary aid groups. I'm a Red Cross supporting member and donate to our local volunteer firefighters, and I regularily buy an overpiced newspaper that homeless people are allowed to sell on the streets to get by and provide something for them to do that's not drinking (the seller gets to keep half of what he earns). Or I used to, before being stuck at home for a year.

I thought China was to blame for the Wuhan virus, now it's people who don't get vaccinated?

So you mean your perception shifted?

Let me know what you thought of episode 41 of CCS when you're done cleaning Utena from your mind. It's a two parter of a sort with 42, which is an absolute riot.

How about you watch a nice episode of CCS to clear your palate. Also that sounds ominous. I really hope that isn't what I think it is.

Utena just said "I don't get it" at the end of an episode. Neither do I. Watching this anime is like being permanently stuck in the ending of a David Lynch film.

Yeah, I hard pass on the cannibal stuff too.

License here costs roughly the same (a bit cheaper, overall), but with only 20 hours of lessons shown for it. I mean, driving lessons. There's a lengthy course on theory. The cheapter alternative is going for private practice, for which you only need to buy 6 hours of driving lessons, but need an experienced driver to guide you and need to spool off some 3500 kilometers of driving to be allowed to take the exam. edit: I also got mine super late, but that's because I hate driving and procrastinated until I point where I could not do without a driver's license any longer.

Something* in this thread made me think back a long while, during a summer where I had a pretty messed up surgery. I'll put that one into spoilers. Don't blame me if you click on it. Not the funnest summer holidays I've ever had. *That something was talking about dietary habits, I mean, this was a point in my life where I gained a good 25 pounds in a month due to surgery induced inactivity, eating out of utter boredom and to take my mind off things, and I'm sure the medication didn't help either. The pain went away, the eating habits and activity level not so much. Then I got into high school with its incredibly busy schedule (I regularly days exceeding a 16 hour total commute, study and homework time), and that didn't help. Cue blood sugar problems several years later.

That one is on my "films I might like and come recommended by Jay" list. I'll probably watch it in two years or so, given how long that list is and how much else I have to finish first...

If I were a Bond villain and had a button to make the world go away I'd probably press it right now.