Lid

I usually dislike when there's a misunderstanding at the second act and the characters drift apart that could easily be made up by just them having a conversation. Sometimes it can be worked out well enough, but it can get old real fast especially when the conflict seems small.

Well Minnesota lost, expected that against the Spartans. My bracket is hanging on though! I picked Kentucky to win the title this year so they better not let me down!

So, for whatever reason I had some issues logging in and I ended up falling out with the site. But, I am back and wanted to say hi! Hope everyone here is still doing well! 

YASSSSSS! Everything that you wanted to happen in this movie happens! Sweet, sweet closure!

Yeah the Japanese live action Death Note films were pretty solid. Much more accurate to the original product. It did make a few changes, but they were more logical and based on time restraints.

Car battery replaced today

 

Not a fun day though Im gonna hide under the bed now.

Bleh, isn't that the worst? Happened to me one time in winter. 

So... I just watched it... And I took some notes. So, if you want to see my reactions that I had while watching this travesty, you can see them below. Warning, spoilers:

Ok, so, at the end of the day, if this wasn't called Death Note, it would be a below average teen horror flick. The idea of teens messing with a paranormal plot device and getting in over their heads maybe could've worked. Even though it's a pretty generic trope, it's not a terrible thing to take a chance with, as long as the execution is good. That wasn't really the case here, though. Most of the acting is forgettable, Light is bland, Mia is over the top and so many sequences try too hard to be edgy.

But let's get to the real reason we're all talking about this, it has the name DEATH NOTE, this is supposed to be an adaptation of DEATH NOTE. Could they have done an American version and kept a lot the same? Absolutely. Light could still be a golden boy genius who happens upon the note and his ambitious nature and ego put him on a quest for creating a new world and a collision course with detectives for some amazing mental battles.

THAT is not here, THIS is not Death Note.

I think I'm going to watch some real Death Note now to put this movie out of my memory.

OK, I don't know about anyone else, but I am TIRED of summer. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm begging for frigid temperatures or anything.

But geez, this summer heat, I hate it. I have my air conditioner at full blast right now because my apartment is like a heat collector. This is why I like fall, not too hot, not too cold. 

So, I think I can speak for all of us when I say: "What the hell PhotoBucket?!"

Seriously, my signature, many other peoples' signatures and all of the photos I had shared here on my blog for YEARS are now all gone. Apparently PhotoBucket won't even share the photos anymore. What a joke!

Anyways, how's everyone's summer been? Haven't posted on here since May, O__O, so I figured I'd check in, stop by and give an update on my life because it's so exciting...(sort of) XD.

On the real, not a whole heck of a lot has been going on with me. However, I did introduce Food Wars to one of my good friends and they're hooked so I find that to be a win! 

Speaking of which, I can't wait until Season 3! This show deserves the treatment of Naruto and One Piece. It should be a long form show considering the manga.

So what else have I been up to? Well, earlier in June I beat Link to the Past, 100%. I played the game before and shared it with you all on here. I try to play it at least once a year, so I reached my quota I guess. I also enjoyed the 4th of July, had some awesome BBQ:

Also, I watched Manny Pacquiao's most recent fight earlier this year. He should have won, look at the stats:

While we're on the subject of sports, the Minnesota Timberwolves made some huge offseason moves and should have enough firepower to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004. However, we also traded Ricky Rubio, so I don't know what to do with this:

Also on sports, I miss football so muuuuuuuch      .

I'm trying to get by with a mix of summer basketball special tournaments, soccer and Canadian Football, but yikes, the wait is long in summer.

On the movies front, it's been pretty nice, though. Here are some of my recent reviews:

• Dunkirk
• The Big Sick- 4.7 out of 5
• War for the Planet of the Apes - 5 out of 5
• Spider-Man Homecoming - 4.4 out of 5
• The House - 1 out of 5
• Baby Driver - 4.5 out of 5
• Rough Night - 1 out of 5
• Transformers: The Last Knight - 1 out of 5
• Cars 3 - 2.9 out of 5
• The Mummy - 1 out of 5
• Wonder Woman - 5 out of 5

While we're on reviews, I'll also go over some beers.

Castle Danger Cream Ale

This stuff lives up to the name. Creamy, smooth, full of flavor, not very bitter. Can be enjoyed in summer and winter alike.

Shiner Berliner Weisse

Probably my personal preference, but I was not a fan. Extremely tart, tasted like I was drinking grapefruit juice.

Shell's Frost Hop Helles

Great mix of hops and malt. A little bitter, but still sweet. Reminded me of something better for fall than summer, though.

Summit Witbier

Strong flavor, definitely a thick, wheat beer. Little hint of citrus.

Hoegaarden Wit

Very spicy and malty, hint of citrus. Tasty, but not the most refreshing wit I've had. 

Blue Moon Honey Ale

I've always dug Blue Moon and this hits the spot. Has the traditional Blue Moon taste but the honey adds more sweetness, making for a nice summer drink.

Goose Island Summertime

Might be my favorite beer of the summer. This was very good, Bit of bitterness, lemon is in there. Refreshing stuff.

On another note, does anyone else watch the channel AkiDearest? She's an anime Youtube creator and she's hilarious:

That's about it for now. Glad to update this thing again. Till next time.

Here's an extended cut of the clip, showing some Arnold x Helga goodness!

Edit*** Looks like it was taken down. Basically Gerald lets Arnold know that Helga shot the footage for the documentary and she has a Tsundere moment.

Hopefully Nick puts it out soon, so excited!

My go to OTP has been and will remain Yoh and Anna from Shaman King.

I think they certainly got the tone right. That increase in music when it flashed the "Justice of Kira" was great.

However, I feel like the trailer went a little too far out of its way to make Light appear evil. I remember watching the first few episodes and he just seemed (despite his intelligence) like an average high schooler. The lighting and facial expressions make him a little too, for lack of a better term, edgy. It's just a trailer though so not too big of a deal.

I really can't wait to see L.

Worst Villain: Kaguya. I don't even think its close. I had issues with Sasuke, Obito, Kabuto, all of Taka, and Zetsu, but at least that qualify as a character. They had back story, personality, motivations etc. It may not have always worked or made sense, but at least they had those things. Kaguya had nothing. She was a get-out-of-writing corner card and her back story was mostly explanatory. It didn't give her a character. Black Zetzu ended up speaking in her behalf the whole time. She has no character at all. 

 

I agree with this. Kaguya was so damn empty, it honestly made it difficult to care about what was happening in those panels.

As for the best, I'd have to say I really liked Danzo, but the series never did enough with him.

One trend I noticed in this poll, though, was how many times it said (when villain). This was an issue for me throughout the series. It worked in earlier cases, Gaara for example. But Obito getting redeemed, Orochimaru not being in prison. It makes my head spin.

First of all I want to give you my sincere condolences for your family's loss.

I think everyone on this planet likely ask the same questions you do and many find comfort in various ways. As for myself, I happen to be an atheist and have been one since about 2008. In dealing with grief and sadness, I've had to reconcile myself by remembering all the good times that I've spent with that person and be happy that they were part of my life.

In that sense, I agree with alexander. Live life to the absolute fullest and cherish the connections you make with others in life.

For your own situation, though, I think it would be important to just talk to people. Really, it can help to get things off your chest, talk to family, friends and of course us here at H&E. And if this is really troubling you so much, it may even be worth it to speak with a therapist. I've done so myself and it can be extremely beneficial.

You know guys, I really tried to understand what this topic is about yesterday. Like I truly wanted to push my feelings aside so that I could try and understand what people see in NH, so I went and watched the last 3 episodes of Naruto. Now these are supposed to be "pre-wedding day" episodes,and in all reality I wanted to see the happy little couple because I wanted to see what in the world SP was going to do with them, but guess what, they were no where to been seen!! I was honestly dissapointed, because I thought we were going to get to see Naruto and Hinata getting everything ready themselves. In my head I thought SP was going to use these episodes as an opportunity to build the bond between the engaged couple, but nope, I gave them wayyyy to much credit. Instead these episodes, which had their moments, are literally a bunch of gag jokes relating to Naruto's friends finding him and Hinata a wedding gift. Now while some of them were funny, particularly the one with Shikamaru and Temari, most were just bland, and out right horrible, AKA an episode where Neji's spirit is dragged in for the sake of laughs.

 

Now after I was done watching said material I still had nothing to change my opinion. There was no new material to support this ship, instead these episodes did nothing to help boost the NH realationship. All they showed is that Naruto's friends have no idea what this "couple" has in common, because all their gift ideas were orientated on what they personally liked, example, dumbbells from Lee, and a kunai from Tenten, or gifts they all felt married people needed, such as a romantic dinner, and a honeymoon. There were no " Hinata and Naruto love doing this because they both....." lines because they literally have nothing in common. 

 

All we have for development outside of the manga is The Last, and from those events we have, a relationship that went from awkward interactions, to pity, to marriage, and this all happen in a matter of days in "movie" time. That's it, and from a writing point, or any point for that matter, it's ridiculous that people support it. However with this evidence I saw where NH does win, and that's in it's ability to touch so many people in different ways. This ship was written so that literally anyone could plug themselves into each person. In my experience most NH fans that I encountered where men, and they put themselves in Naruto's shoes. They wanted Hinata because she's "perfect" waifu material. What little female NH shippers I encountered thought the pairing was cute, and that it was admirable that a shy girl could win the hero's heart.

 

Either way this ship is based, purely on shippers delusions. It's different for everyone, since canonly there are only a few panels and movie for NH development, so shippers just insert their feelings and impressions to fill in the gaps. They themselves fabricate moments, they see "emotions, bonds, and even love" when there is nothing to begin with. I had a guy tell me the other day that NH had a spiritual bond from the moment Hinata was introduced, and I was like, where do these people get these ideas from, and the answer is that so much imagination and fluff has been poured into this ship that people believe it all to be true when in reality there's nothing to back it up. You add in the creator, who keeps putting his foot in his mouth time, and time again, and the fandom only get's gas added to the train wreak that is Naruto.

Fantastic post KonohaKitten.

Here's something I wrote for a thread about a year back or so and I think it's somewhat relevant here.

 

Upon looking back on the series, I noticed something about all of the NaruHina 'moments' from beginning to end. It's that they were all very grandiose and were set up to be epic.

 

The Chunin exam thing with Neji, Hinata saving Naruto during Pein, her holding Naruto's hand in the war arc. All these moments were during huge events, making the scope of NaruHina at the time much bigger.

 

I'm starting to think this is why Kishimoto (and the fans of that pairing) felt somewhat satisfied with what "development" the pair received.

 

My problem, and I think it's the same for many of us, is that while there were a bunch of grandiose NaruHina moments, there was never any simple dialogue sequences between the two.

 

It really goes back to the old saying of less is more. For example, if Kishimoto wanted some solid development, it should have been Hinata who spoke with Naruto after Jiraiya died. Have the two connect and speak with each other. Simple dialogue sequences like that could have gone such a long way.

 

I think this is why many of us NS people gravitated toward Naruto and Sakura. While NaruSaku had some big moments, (the part where he saved her from Gaara, for example,) there were also a lot of just simple times of them talking or being teammates.

 

Looking back, I think those simple moments of them eating at the ramen shop together produced a deeper looking connection than Hinata confessing to Naruto during a huge battle.

 

The reason I posted that in this thread is because it, in my view, shows the flaw in the writing around NaruHina. This was a pairing built on all of these types of major moments in the series, such as Hinata's confession during the Pein fight, but there's nothing in between them.

In my view, the appeal of NaruHina is that it's easy. It was a simple solution to "the hero needs a love interest." So, instead of having to develop an entire relationship over the course of a manga with multiple moments of dialogue and nuanced approaches, Kishi could simply insert a female into some of the intense sequences to make the relationship seem more real than it really was.

I've argued and have always maintained the point that I wouldn't have a problem with NaruHina if Hinata was actually a more developed character and had more interaction with Naruto. There's nothing wrong with having a more shy character get with the lead protagonist. But by taking the lazy way out, not having the proper development and just shoving Hinata in here and there, the entire thing feels superficial.

I also think many people have nailed the appeal of this type of writing to the readers in describing it as a sort of fairy tale story.