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Well I just landed myself a PS5 thanks to an email invite, thank fucking god. On a fricken adrenaline high right now and so freaking pumped because it means I finally get to play Cyberpunk. Gah!!!!!!! If you'll excuse me I'm going to go calm down now and let this adrenaline high subside.

I got a promotion with my job yesterday. I'll now be making more than I ever have doing this. $60k a year to do something I barely got paid $35k for at my previous company. The best news is that I'll have Saturdays off, and get off by 6-7pm on most days. I don't have to go to bed like some retiree anymore. So hopefully by the end of this year. Battlefield 6 will be out... it will be good... and maybe we can get the band back together @Sledgstone and @Strider Hiryu. Even though Strider is PC master race. I'm sure it'll have cross play. My gaming life has really suffered these past 3 years.

A friend was able to score me a PS5 while I was at work today. I'm pretty pumped!

The Hobbit trilogy in 4k are completely different cuts of the movie. I had no idea. I was skimming through youtube tv the other day, put on Battle of the Five Armies in the background while I got some stuff done. Then when I sat down I figured I'd finish the movie. I put on the 4k version instead and wtf. Not only is the movie visually stunning.. I had no idea my tv could look this good. I could see every strand of hair on everyone's head and everything was so crisp I could almost tell when scenes used a green screen to film. But what really blew me away was all the extra scenes and the gore. Its like this is the R rated cut. WTF. Bodies getting crushed, heads and limbs getting cut off and blood.. blood everywhere. WTF. And theres one extra scene where Thorin jumps on a goat and is like "I'm going to the top of Raven hill to kill that Azog bastard" and Dain says "How do you plan on getting past that army?" 6 more of Thorin's dwarves show up in the war chariot. Thorin: "We'll manage." and then theres like a 7 minutes scene of them tearing ass and mass murdering orcs on their way to Raven Hill. WTF. In the original movie, Thorin says he'll go to Raven Hill to kill Azog, the scene changes and we see Thorin and the others on some mountain goats ascending the hill. The amount of blood and gore in this new scene is brutal. I was shocked. But it was f*cking awesome. Now I need to watch the rest of the movies in their 4k versions to see what else is new. I read the LoTR 4k versions are also getting new scenes.

I went to Ohio to visit my family for Thanksgiving. Yes, there is covid, but we were careful. We did restaurant style rules for eating, masks on when getting plates of food, my brother's familys at their own tables all 6 foot+ away from the other tables while eating. We kept our masks on near my dad because of his immune system being compromised by the cancer treatments. Aside from that we kept the windows open to keep fresh air circulating in. We took our masks off when we'd be 6 feet away from him and each other. Its good that my mom's house is so big, the kitchen/greatroom is literally big enough to have parties of 50 people. Our handful of people was able to keep distances pretty easily. Its been 4 days since Thanksgiving and nobody is coming down with any covid symptoms so I'm guessing we did good. It was a fun time. Alot of good memories. I hardly ever visit Ohio during winter months because of winter snow storms in NY. We lucked out and its been in the 50s and only raining off and on. I caught a ride back and forth with my cousin who now lives in NY also. He had a covid test done the day before we left which was negative and I quarantined in my house for 2 weeks leading up to the trip. I'll be quarantining again for another 2 weeks just in case, but that doesn't bother me much.

Fruits Basket ep 16.... the onions.... so many cut onions.... 😭

Street Fighter V was free last month. I loaded it up for the first time, played 4 matches and now my forearms are on fire... yeah I'm too old for this.

Turns out I had some sitemap issues, SEO issues and some issues with the https changeover that google absolutely did not like. It looks like google wasn't crawling the site or at least not crawling and indexing the site like it should have been for who knows how long. I think thats all fixed now and I think google is indexing correctly again. Will this increase our users online? I have no idea, lol. But at least the site should be a bit more visible with google now.. at least until google gives me another email about errors again. As of now from over the last 5 months our best search term that gives us results is: "one punch man english dub" The lowest search terms that somehow loads one of our pages: "utz cheddar cheese balls"

I'm stepping up my manscaping. lol. I bought a "MANGROOMER Ultimate Pro Back Shaver" off amazon. I've only used it once and I already highly recommend it. My back is like a wookie. And this thing shredded through all that hair and didn't pull a single one. No pain and no red marks or irritation on my back. Link for reference: https://www.amazon.com/MANGROOMER-Ultimate-Shaver-Absorber-Extreme/dp/B00FULYKG4 Its got a rechargeable battery. I was really impressed with it. I'd post before and after pics of my back, but I don't want to traumatize people with my back hair bathroom mirror pics.

They done went and did it like I was predicting, Finally. I've been wanting to play this since I beat Automata and now we'll get to play a remaster. Was kinda hoping they'd remaster both games but I'm quite happy with one of them (as the story beats are only slightly different between Gestalt and Replicant). Now if only they'd give us a release date (better not be in September, that's Cyberpunk time x.x). Not entirely sure what this will be about but we're also getting a smartphone game. Still haven't announced if it's getting a release over here or not but still cool to see we're getting more Nier titles to continue the fantastic lore of this universe.

I checked error logs but I couldn't find anything. So I changed a couple settings for the gallery and did a couple test uploads. One image loaded fine, the other upload was 3 images at once. Everything worked ok. One of the issues might have been a file size limitation. Anything around 4mb might have been timing out. I increased the upload size for all usergroups. If anyone wants to test some image uploads, go for it. 10 mb is now the largest image the forum will take at the moment. All of my test images were no bigger than 1.5 mb. We still might get an image upload timing out for large images but that might be a hard server setting I'd have to look for.

So after counting the cash and gift cards I got for my birthday in Oct and for Christmas I finally just broke down and ordered a Switch today all because I want the new Smash Brothers (damn you Nintendo, why do you do this to me. You know I have an obsession with SSB). So yeah, I now get to start the journey of being a Switch owner (I just wish it didn't cost so much freaking money x.x).

With the summer simuldub season coming to a close, it played out like I predicted more or less. I'll wait a bit longer before I post my review. Pretty lackluster overall. But for me, the Fall Lineup is pretty stacked. Fairy Tail, SAO Season 3, and Black Clover continues which has become a lot more promising after this last arc I just watched... by far its strongest and most compelling. I watched the first episode of Double Decker! Doug & Kirill which was entertaining, and SSSS.GRIDMAN seems to be a Pacific Rim clone. Overall a return to more action adventure series, and lighter on the fan service heavy series.

Finally got our house today. All the legal paperwork is done and keys in hand.

So I finished watching the first season of My Hero Academia tonight and you were right DX I absolutely love the show. I think most of that has to do with my absolute adoration for All Might but I could be wrong (but I'm sure I'm not, you can't hate the man he's just fucking perfect). Gotta say for a shounen series it certainly has a lot going for it. Great humor, awesome character development and characters , a good story (I only say good for now as it's only S1 that I've finished, I hear it gets a lot better), and a pretty kick ass soundtrack. Not going to say I don't have any problems with the show (it suffers from some of the things I hate about shounen series) but those are greatly overshadowed by everything I said before. I'm honestly looking forward to starting S2 tomorrow (thank god I'm on vacation) and hopefully starting S3 before I go back to work (if I don't get lost in the myriad of other things I have to do this week).

After four days of playing I finally beat Detroit: Become Human or should I say finished my first play through and boy was it a pleasure. It's been a very long time since I've played a game with such an amazing story behind it and it's been even longer since I've felt such emotion while playing. This is my game of the year and nothing will come close to over taking it. A little early to be saying this? Probably but the chances another game as rich in story, character development, and emotional attachment coming out this year is slim to none. Games like these are what influenced my decision to get my degree (even if I'm not using it or working in the industry) and it's games like this that I've always wanted to create. True, the story has problems (and an extremely slow start after the first mission (the demo mission if you haven't played it)) and borrows heavily from real life events (civil rights movement is the big parallel with Markus coming off as the android MLK (depending on what choices you make)) and covers some pretty heavy subjects (domestic abuse, drug use, what does it mean to really be alive, etc) but they are few and far between and do little to detract from the narrative being told (in fact I think it gives the story more character). This game also does an extremely good job of making you feel the consequences of the choices you make and drives those points home later on down the line (every choice you make effects how the story ends, even the most mundane). All three main characters are interesting in their own ways and it was a joy seeing them all evolve throughout the course of the story and while I admit some of them were bland (Connor coming to mind, his character arch is the most interesting but his character is rather bland until about half way through the game) that hardly detracts from the story. If I had to choose I'd say Kara's story was my favorite for pure emotional reasons and Connor's being the most enjoyable (mostly due to the Detective he works with). Don't get me wrong Markus's story is good and the beginning of it really makes you feel for him but overall it doesn't outshine the other two. Plus the actor's they got to play these characters did an extremely amazing job bringing these characters to life so much so that I became emotionally attached to each one of them (this goes for secondary characters as well, I had to make some real hard choices at the end of the game and it was heartbreaking to do so). While I'm not one to gush about graphics I must say this game is beyond beautiful and the motion capture and animation are top notch (not to mention the starting screen is probably the most unique one to date). It's obvious this is a game and everything is CG but sometimes you forget given how well they nailed the likeness of the actors/actresses they used (almost all the main characters and certain side characters share their likeness with the actor/actress that portrayed them). I also have to say the soundtrack is rather amazing (now to rip it off my PS4 for my listening pleasure). All in all this game was an emotional ride and probably the best $70 I've spent on a game in years. I can't recommend it enough but I warn you this game is not for everyone. There is very little action (and what little there is completely consists of quick time events) and it's completely character driven, think of it as a CYOA movie that takes some input from the audience. Plus if you've never played a Quantic Dream game (Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls) then you probably won't really enjoy it. However if this sounds like something you'd like I highly recommend it. As I said it's been a really long time since I've enjoyed a game this much and I can't wait to play it again this weekend to try out the paths I didn't take (and to get all the trophies, this will probably be the only game I 100%) and see the other endings (I got what could be considered the best ending).

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm normally not a fan of Super Robot mech shows (more of a Real Robot guy myself (Gundam/Macross)) and never really have been (there are exceptions but they are few) so that will tell you just how much I adored this show. It took me 11 years to finally sit down and watch it (and it's spent many years on my Netflix to watch list (I watched in on CR though) but I finished Gurren Lagann tonight and I have to say I absolutely fucking adored it. I don't understand why it took me so long to finally watch it but god am I glad I finally did. I haven't been this pumped after watching a show since I finished Kill la Kill (funny considering Trigger is also responsible making that gem). I'll admit it was a little rough in the beginning and if it wasn't for Kamina I would of dropped it but man am I glad I stuck through it, it only kept getting better. I'll admit, my taste for shows like this has dwindled over the years and I'm not really into the over the top, ridiculous shit anymore but god this just scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. Sure, I have my issues with the show (some pretty poor character development in some of the secondary characters, story is a little hard to follow after a certain point, some of the mech based science bugs me, and the whole Spiral Energy thing is ridiculous) but god damn do they seem insignificant when put up against an awesome soundtrack, awesome visuals (a little jenky considering how old it is), and a downright stellar main cast. If it wasn't for my absolute love for Zeta Gundam this might have taken the place as my all time favorite mech anime (you all know me well enough to know how high of praise this is). I can't wait to watch the movies this weekend (yea they're recaps but apparently the second movie makes the final fight even more epic then it already was) and I'm sad to think there is no more of this wonderful show to watch (manly tears were shed at this realization).

Finally got around to seeing Thor: Ragnarok (just finished in fact). Gotta say it was a really good movie, really enjoyed where they went with it and thought it was a downright blast. Good amount of comedy (I thought it was a nice direction considering what we'll be getting in a little over a month), nice action sequences, and seeing Thor get the snot kicked out of him by Hulk was pretty damn funny. Was also nice to see Thor actually use his damn powers for once (the bridge fight was pretty fucking epic). If I didn't love the first Guardians as much as I do I'd say this would probably be my favorite Marvel movie (considering how much I hated the first two Thor movies that's pretty high praise from me).

fuckin orange chins need killin

Finally got caught up on my backlog of Marvel movies over the last two weeks (well the backlog of ones I wanted to watch, the only one's I haven't seen are Thor 2, Homecoming (which I will watch eventually), Ant Man (no real interest in seeing it) and I've only seen half of the first Captain America). Will say things make a lot more sense now in the big picture after getting them watched, thoughts below: Winter Soldier: As much as I hat Cap I really enjoyed this movie and when my friend said shit hit the fan he wasn't kidding. I finally understand why Shield wasn't around in Avengers 2 (I really had no idea what was going on since I never watched the TV show and I really had no interest in watching Winter Soldier until recently) so a lot of my questions about certain things were finally answered. Really like how it played out more like a spy/action flick then a superhero flick, definitely one of my favorites in the the Marvel verse behind GoG 1 & 2 and Civil War. Civil War: Good god I really enjoyed this movie though I do feel like the whole movie focused more on Cap and Stark's underlying past issues (and personal issues) then it did on the real issues at hand (it really felt more like a Cap obsessing over Bucky and Stark reliving his daddy issues more then a flick about a superhuman civil war). Have to say I'm completely pumped to see the Black Panther flick, after seeing him in Civil War I'm sold on him (great actor choice and the character alone is really interesting). I have a ton of questions and theories now about how Infinity War is going to play out (can anyone say Nomad). Doctor Strange: I honestly didn't know about this one and based on the reviews I had seen about it I wasn't even sure if I'd like it. Glad to say I'm wrong. Though I really don't like Strange (his attitude rubs me the wrong way) I really enjoyed the movie (fucking trippy as hell). Considering I knew nothing of this character I thought it was a really good origin story for the character (yes I know the actual origin story but for the MCU this is actually a great introduction). I have some issues with the movie (like a lot of people) but I'm interested to see what his role is in the MCU going forward (especially considering the Infinity War movies are going to reset the MCU (or at least kill off quite a few heroes)). Guardians 2: Watched this last night and I absolutely loved it, tied for favorite Marvel movie with Guardians 1. Brought back all of the charm and humor from the first one and backed it up with a pretty serious story. Was great to see how the interactions between all the characters have evolved from the first one and yes Baby Groot was fucking adorable (the beginning of the movie was freaking cute with him dancing, yes I said cute (get over it)). Overall the movie was a fun ride and the ending, while sad, was a great way to send off such a great character (even if he was an ass). So yea, gotta say the Marvel movies are really impressing me considering my general distaste for superheroes (I'm sorry my heroes as a kid were the Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. Superheroes never realy interested me, men in tight spandex beating up other men in similar costumes just seemed wrong). As I said above I'm really looking forward to the Black Panther movie and after finally watching Civil War I'm really looking forward to seeing how things play out in the Infinity War movies.

Whether you were a big fan or not today is a tragic loss for the music world. Chester Bennington, lead singer and front man for Linkin Park, was found dead today at 41. I was a huge LP fan when I was younger (though I sort of lost touch with them over the years, their music past Meteora was so so) so this hits pretty hard for me. Their music, his music, helped me through a lot. RIP Chester, though you're gone your music and message will always remain.

I'm adopting a cat from the shelter. We went there last saturday and picked her out. A little kitten 4 months old. We're waiting to hear back from the place about when to pick her up. They give her full vaccinations, spay and a month of flea treatment. They have to spay her before they can release her to us, so we just gotta wait a few more days to find out when we can get her. They got hit with multiple large hoarding cases recently of saved animals and theres alot of volunteers there now. I hope this shelter doesn't screw this up. We have little cat toys and a new litter pan all ready for her.

So the new computer finally arrived and boy is it beautiful (and bigger then I thought, thing is huge). I'm now not looking forward to installing everything I need on it to get it up to snuff like my laptop is (so much to do). Sadly I won't be playing FFXIV tonight because it's going to take 3+ hours to download and install all the updates (not to mention Heavensward which I opted to dl instead of digging my disk out of the closet). I'll take pictures of it tomorrow and post them, to tired to do it right now as I spent the last two hours digging it out of the box and setting it up.

Finished Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2 last night. Gotta say it wasn't as good as the first season and it was kind of a let down story wise but the battles were freaking amazing (I am in love with Barbatos, that fucking machine is amazing). I think the title of "Kill them all" has finally been taken from Tomino, good god Nagai was kill happy (I honestly didn't think anyone was going to survive to see the end (yea, kind of a spoiler but not really as I didn't say who dies)). All in all a solid 7/10, definitely worth a watch if you looking for an action oriented show (not the best Gundam to come out but it definitely ranks up there as a damn good addition to the franchise as a whole). Also started watching Grimgar tonight since DX had mentioned what he thought of it it awhile ago (and it's up on Crunchy so I don't have to watch those fansubs I got a hold of). Only 4 episodes in and I have to say that was one hell of a gut punch, not because of his death but because of the way the others took it. Fucking hit me right in the feels. I do have to say that I was right, it feels like a cross between Log Horizon (being sucked into another world) and SAO (death being permanent) without the whole being a game aspect (since it seems it's never actually confirmed/denied). Overall I'm enjoying it so far, looking forward to what the next 8 episodes have to offer.

Two years after I bought it I finally started watching Tekkaman Blade. 16 episodes in and by god am I loving every minute of it (even if it is a bit campy). Great soundtrack, ok characters (hey not all anime has great characters), and a plot that's actually pretty good (if not recycled from other similar shows from the time). Also makes me miss the old days when anime was hand animated and we didn't have all this CG shit mixed in. Sure the art wasn't always great but damn the shows were still good. Also makes me miss when anime actually had good plot and stories, not this same recycled bullshit we get every year.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is on Netflix dubbed. There was so much hype around this series when it was on simulcast. I really enjoyed it. The animation is well done, especially for the fights. A lot of action and gore with a little light hearted comedy. Its worth a watch.

I got a new phone. Galaxy S20 FE. I bought it from best buy with an early black Friday sale. $350 with my Verizon plan. I'll pay $15 a month for it for 2 years. I just got it in the mail but I'm not going to activate it until monday when ladys phone gets here, she got the same phone except different color. I read it had a touch screen issue that was fixed with a patch. Hopefully I don't have any issues with the phone. It looks like a significant upgrade over my old galaxy s7.

Now that the state of Mississippi has opted into the lottery, I can take a 15 min drive across the state line to a little gas station and buy tickets. Its astonishing how my state just refuses to even let us vote on it. People take their money to FL and GA for lotto tickets, and now the state we share out biggest border has it... on top of that most of the population is on the west side of the state anyways making it even easier. So dumb. I'm just glad I don't have to drive an hour plus to get tickets anymore. I can now make a weekly trip and try my luck.

Since the founding of Kickstarter I've only backed one project and that was Kung Fury. I recently backed two more projects. A new wallet and a retro style watch. I honestly don't get the whole "minimalist" wallet thing. I think it's pretty dumb actually. Before this fad even started it was hard enough for me to find a wallet with enough card slots to begin with. I have a debit card, drivers licenses, concealed carry permit, Social security card, health insurance card, dental insurance card, Kohl's card, and 3 credit cards (Visa, Master, Discover). Now that everywhere takes Visa I kinda wish I didn't have all 3, but there was a time Sam's club only took discover, and my master card was my first line of credit that just got upgraded to a mastercard when it was originally just a sears card. Anyways all in all I have 12-14 cards, and I feel like I always need them in case of an emergency. I don't carry cash, so the whole billfold that only holds 1 card... I don't know how people do it. I backed this Grip6 wallet because I've been using their belts and they're amazing. I also break belts a lot since I only use 1 for everything and I'm very active at my job. If it wasn't for the leather sleeve that increases card capacity to 14, i wouldn't have bothered. It's a cool concept. I use my debit card multiple times a day. All my cards that pay for stuff will go into the pop up slot. My lesser used cards like insurance and ID will go in the leather sleeve. I've also reinvigorated my love for watches. I own 3 in my rotation. I've lost my love for metal bracelet watches as I always break them, and leather I ruin from sweating at my job so much. I just ordered a canvas strap to replace a leather band actually. But I also love analogue watches. I don't like pulling my phone out to look at the time, its just easier to look at my wrist. I've always had a watch since I was 14. I'll never be one of those serious watch collectors that owns $5000 watches... thats too extreme. I stay under $400. I've been looking for something retro and classy to add to my collection.. buying real vintage watches is out of the question so I found this... but its only half funded with 27 days left so It may not become a thing. I'll never back a kickstarter game after all the shenanigans over the past couple of years, but recently I've found it to be a good source of finding things that no one else is making to my needs. I still did my research on the company/owner before backing, but hopefully I get two decent products. With all the crazy OT I've been getting lately I have the luxury to splurge a little.

So it might be a tad bit early but I'm thinking that The Promised Neverland is going down as my anime of the year (beating out Boogiepop, Demon Slayer, and Fruits Basket). Man was that a fun trip through some pretty gruesome themes and interesting concepts. Highly suggest watching this when it gets dubbed (unless you want to watch it subbed (I mean come on it's that good)). I knew going into it that it was a horror/psychological anime but boy do they trick you when you first start watching it as it's all fun and games right until the end of the first episode. Quite honestly I really don't know how to summarize my thoughts on the show because it's hard to really say anything without ruining the shows premise and horror element (which they really drive home in the latter episodes). I will say the story is pretty damn good from start to finish even if they leave you with more questions then they do answers (I know they'll get into that later (it got greenlit for another season) but they really do a bad job setting up why things are the way they are in the first season but I guess its the same in the manga), the characters for the most part are intriguing and interesting (most of the secondary cast it rather bleh but the main characters really sell the show and does the main antagonist)), animation is top notch and damn well done (some of the best this year only taking second to Demon Slayer for me), and the soundtrack is damn good (that opening though, not Demon Slayer topping but still damn good). Honestly I'm disappointed I didn't watch it when it was airing but I'm glad I could just marathon through it in three days because waiting each week for one new ep would of been painful. Happy its getting a second season but I'm sad that won't be until next year at the earliest. Solid 9/10 for me (would of gone 10/10 but there were a few things I had issues with toward the end). Now I just need to watch Kaguya-sama and Quintessential Quintuplets and I'll be caught up on last seasons shows that I wanted to watch.

The Warclaw mount is the best thing to ever happen to WvW, at least for casuals like myself. You can't be trolled by roamers making YT montages, you can escape fights you don't want to be in, and you can get back to the action pretty fast if you die in a zerg v zerg fight. It eliminated the downtime of a boring long trek back to the front lines that could have ended up in death before you even got there. That was the biggest turn off of WvW for me. Also, with how many people are running support firebrand, scourge, and chrono, the heals are so good I rarely die with my glass cannon PvE builds. I can see myself starting to farm some more gifts of battle now, and actually enjoy it rather than seeing it as a chore.

Totally hyped for the new expansion for FFXIV, Shadowbringers, after this mornings announcements at the Fan Fest in Paris. We're getting a 24-man raid devoted to Nier called YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse and Yoko Taro is overseeing its creation, fucking sweet. It's supposed to further the Nier story as well (and if the concept art is to be believed it's sometime after the Automata storyline). Say what you will about FFXIV but god damn do we get some awesome shit due to Square-Enix properties and their connections. I just fucking hope I can finally get my 2B glamour I've been wanting for my character. This just mean I need to quit being lazy and beat Automata before October (when this should probably launch since the expansion comes out in July).

Black friday sales started early so I bought a 4k HDR 50 inch samsung tv. I'm pleased with it. The blacks this tv gets still blows my mind. I doubt I'll buy a PS4pro, but in the mean time my regular PS4 has HDR.. but I only have one game that actually takes advantage of it and thats Uncharted 4. I don't think I'll be replaying it any time soon just to see the graphical difference, but regardless this tv upscales like a champ. Everything looks significantly better. Thats a hell of a lot better upscaling than blu ray players do for dvds. Its a night and day difference. I put on Rise of the Tomb Raider last night and Battlefield 1 and the quality is top notch. Game mode works with HDR for this tv, so I can put on game mode for reduced input lag which is nice without affecting quality. It also has bitstream audio pass through which works great with my old receiver for surround sound. The tv has Motion rate 120 instead of true 120 hz refresh rate which I didn't know was a different thing when I was buying the tv. But thats ok, I doubt the PS5 when it eventually comes out will even come close to 60 fps at 4k and my current pc graphics card will no way in hell do any better than 60 fps at 4k so I'm pretty much set for future proofing at the moment.. at least for the next 4-5 years probably. And motion rate 120 is a bit nuts. I had to turn the judder down on that. It makes everything so fluid its like everything was filmed like a soap opera. I never realized more fps on a movie would look so different. But the biggest downside is for animated titles. It cause a bit too much of a blur effect as the tv basically fills in the games to increase the fps.. its not good for animated shows.

The last two chapters of One Punch Man have been the best action/fight scenes I've seen in a manga in years. Flashy Flash's fight was epic and focused on speed and technique. Huge props to the artist for how he drew a speed battle in manga form. Very impressive.

Smoked some ribs last night and they turned out amazing.

Funimation started the dubcast of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These. Apparently it's a reboot of the 1988 series Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Never saw the original, but the first two episodes has me pretty impressed. If this series is full of huge 5000-10k ship battles using old school formations and tactics I'll def be hooked. Since the original was over 100 eps, I hope I don't get The Legend of Legendary Hero'ed here after season 1.

Got caught up on a few of the Simuldub's Funimation is running. Basilisk: the Ouka Ninja Scrolls caught my eye since I did enjoy the original. So far the action is pretty good. It takes place 10 years after the first one ended... or so it says until there is a time jump after the 4th episode. Its very different from the first as its more of your standard ninja anime rather than some tragic love story. I'm glad it did the time jump though because I was feeling like it was gonna be another "kids beat adult fodder" type thing. I also started Darling in the Franxx since it's getting so much hype. Its basically Gurren Lagann style animation with a ton of sexual innuendo. Its catering to my craving for a mecha series so far.

Holy cow there seems to be a subscription crate for everything now. AC Filters, Clothes, Bras, Candy, etc. I actually just signed up for Umai Crate. It seems to be the most unique and best value. Its just a box full of different Japanese instant ramens. I'll report if its any better than the cheap shitty ramen you can get at the grocery store. For $25 a month, the box seems to be full of 7-9 bags/boxes/cups of various types. If I'm not impressed with the first box, I'll cancel it and feel like it was worth trying something interesting. I watched a few youtube unboxings and taste tests and it seems to be pretty well received, even in the comments on their facebook posts. I recently had authentic ramen at a local hole in the wall and it was amazing. I always thought ramen was just that shitty Nissin stuff. Some of the videos I watched, its def a little more complex than just pouring hot water into noodles and a tiny spice packet. Some of them have multiple packets to enter in before and after water is added. And apparently there are suggested fresh add ons you can buy separately at the grocery store. Things you obviously can't dehydrate like hard boiled eggs.

BoTW took Game of the Year award and its well deserved, but I'm also glad NieR: Automata got best musical score, because its very well deserved.

Settled on a 1060 card... paid $100 more than what it was selling for a few months ago, but I'm left with no choice with how my current card is acting at times. I basically only every play GW2 anyways an its good enough for it.

Fairy Tail is over.. and the final chapter was decent. No hentai fluff crap like I was expecting. Instead it had a nice retrospect back to the first handful of chapters of the entire series. As much as I hated and complained about the ending, I will miss this manga. Its hard to believe I've been reading it for 11 years. I'll have to pick up some other manga to read now.

I rewatched Paranoia Agent for the first time since it originally aired on Adult Swim over a decade ago. It wasn't as weird as I remember it being... probably because I've seen way more weird stuff since then and have been desensitized. It was still bizarre though. It will always have one of the most strange and memorable openings.

So I was bored yesterday and played some of the Overwatch free weekend (sadly I won't have anymore time to play it). Quite honestly I'm actually considering buying it now because Quickplay was not as bad as it was last time. It seems either people have learned to play the game. Really like a lot of the changes the game has gone through since the last time I played (really happy to see you can only have one of each hero on a team now, such a fucking lovely change). I actually think I could stomach the grind to 25 to play comp now (if I could find the time to play it, I'm working on my Bard's Anima Weapon in FFXIV and I've got less than a month till early access for the expac launches (and I still have to beat ME:A and Horizon)). I've also pretty much proved that I'm going to be stuck playing healers as I have lost all skill at playing anything but them. Went on a tear with Lucio last night, getting play of the game for knocking two people off the map on Ilios and getting three more kills on top of it. I have to say if I didn't love Mercy as much as I do I'd have to say Lucio is my favorite hero (also got a Legendary skin for him, not to hip on it as its the blue hockey one but still it was a nice gain from a lootbox). I also wall skated my way out of dying in the center well on the first part of Ilios, was pretty fucking epic (considering I didn't think it could be done). I also have to point out that I really like Orisa. I never actually played as her but she was a major reason as to why my group won on Defense for Volskaya in the first part of the map (that place down shield is powerful with the right set up). She's a very nice addition to the hero lineup. Also have to say I fucking hate Sombra, in the right hands she's a fucking nightmare.

GANTZ:O is on Netflix. I wasn't aware of its existence. Its pretty good, but you'd appreciate it more if you watched the original series. I thought it was a sequel or prequel movie at first and then I realized some of the same characters are in it, but its discombobulated in their relationship with each other. They flip the main character roll to someone else, and make the original main character look like a decent guy when he was just a whiny prick in the original.

I went and visited my younger brother in the hospital over the weekend. Just got back home a few hours ago. Hes doing better. Still in rough shape but he should pull through this now. As long as the procedure for his stitches goes well tomorrow (so many stitches he'll need anesthesia), he could be out of the hospital by the end of this week.

Since the BF1 servers were down yet again tonight (fucking christ DICE/EA, get your shit together) I finally beat the Tanker storyline of the campaign. I have to say if the other 5 are anything like it I'm in for a treat. This is by far one of the best campaign stories I've played for a BF game since the original Bad Company. Good lord that was fun as hell and the spark plug mission was great (I fucked with the Germans so hard it wasn't even funny).

Ordered an ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe. Samsung seems to be continually plagued with ass for battery life. I didn't like my S6 as much as I did my HTC One.

Day 2 of being back to work and I'm dead/exhausted. Good god these 10 hour days are rough, so not used to it (not to mention my feet are killing me, my shoulder hurts like hell, and my hands are stiff and ache all over (this assembly shit is not easy on your body)). If you don't hear from me for awhile I'm probably dead from exhaustion (and I have mandatory overtime this week too so no three day weekend , just got to think of all that lovely money).

Finished Yona of the Dawn. I really hope they make a season 2. The story was really good, and leaves so many questions to be answered. the animation was stunningly beautiful too.

Finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, a 4 episode ONA adapted from the manga. Really enjoyed it and it's a lot darker and more gruesome than any of the other UC series (especially Zeta, that show is freaking dark but this one takes the cake) to date. The soundtrack alone is worth watching this for (if you like Jazz, they use it very well throughout the 4 episodes) if you're not into the dark gruesome stuff. Not to happy with how it ended (quite a cliffhanger, hoping for another run of episodes or for the upcoming movie to wrap it up) but that's to be expected of a show adapted from an unfinished manga. 8/10, highly recommend it for anyone with a passing fancy for UC Gundam.