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Hey, for some reason I can't see your archive on One Week Friends :(

I'm transitioning the site's hosting tonight, so archives might be a little wonky for the next couple hours. Hopefully it'll all be sorted by tomorrow - if all goes well, I'll hopefully be getting some advertising money that will allow me to dedicate a lot more time to the site going forward. Gonna make this shit happen!
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Liked by: zackadavis

How do you determine what grade an episode gets for your ANN daily streaming reviews? What elements do you feel elevate a given episode to an A rather than a B or C?

I shake my crystal grading ball and heed its wisdom.
Or I just go with "A = really good, B = good/okay, C = bad, D = terrible." And it depends on the show - an A episode of SAO is, well, an A episode of SAO. It's not suddenly as well-written as Shirobako or as beautiful as KimiUso, it's an A version of what SAO is.
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Liked by: Derp Jeep Rose Bridges

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Have you played The Stanley Parable? If so, what did you think of it?

I thought it was a pretty cute idea, but my instinct to not miss "game content" kind of clashed with what the game was trying to do, to the point where I got tired of it after one extended playthrough. I spent like ten minutes sitting in the broom closet, not because I actually was having fun, but because it seemed likely that running out the game's dialogue in that scenario might trigger an alternate route or something.

Regarding KimiUso,don't you think the constant heightened atmosphere is starting to become detrimental?At this point there have hardly been any shift in the execution pattern and I start to feel like the emotional scenes don't hold the same weight anymore.If everything is emphasized,then nothing is.

I was actually kind of worried about that around episode five, but I don't really have that problem anymore. I think the last two episodes have been easily the best, and have either managed or justified their tone throughout.
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Liked by: Rose Bridges

Are you going to participate in ANN's Ghibli Month?

Nope. But don't worry, I've got reviews coming up of some much, MUCH worse movies.

What do you think of noitaminA's new line-up? Is there anything you're really excited for?

I'm gonna at least check out all of it. Well, that doesn't actually mean anything anymore, but even if I WEREN'T contractually obligated to check out every single thing, I'd certainly still check out every noitaminA thing. The MAPPA thing looks ridiculous on paper, but it's MAPPA plus Gainax staff. And the PV, though it's fanservicey as hell, clearly demonstrates a Gainax-influenced style. So I'm looking forward to that, and will pretty much just take everything else as it comes.

How much GG can you deal with every day? It just feels like the same arguments are being rehashed again and again by both sides, as if they're not even arguing about the same thing :(

I think GG is only still a thing because GG refuses to actually acknowledge, even on an individual psychological level, what it actually cares about and is angry about. It's a reactionary conservative movement, full stop, and its priorities are based in anger at progressive voices being heard - but the thing is too damn muddled and self-blind to actually /acknowledge/ that in a general way, and thus it continues to start conversations about "ethics" that will go nowhere because it doesn't actually care about ethics in the first place. The fact that people seem to be talking past each other is actually /core to why GG still exists/, because GG can only maintain momentum if it keeps assuming it's being "misunderstood" instead of just understood by outsiders more fully than it understands itself.

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Liked by: Rose Bridges

Could you elaborate a bit on that? "some of the character work is actually solid"

Rin and Shirou are both solid characters - they're both smart reflections of their upbringing and compelling people in their own right. The dynamic between Rin and Archer is also solid, and I like how this recent episode revealed how much Archer is "performing" a specific personality to keep Rin happy. There's definitely some good character work going on in the show.
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Liked by: Derp Jeep Rose Bridges

Would you agree that Fate Stay Night has a vapid, at times cringe worthy script?

Sometimes, but some of the character work is actually solid. When the servants start talking to each other, things get real silly real fast.

I love your article on Hunter x Hunter, but I was wondering what was the point of the conflict between the ants and the humans? What were the ants trying to achieve? I mean the ants and the humans both have similar qualities.

The different ants were trying to achieve different things at different times. Initially, most of them stick close to their programming, and thus the goal is "create a new world in service of our king." Over time, they all begin to shift in various ways. Some of them embrace the pride of their old selves, and try to become kings themselves. Some of them are simply trying to profit from the circumstances of the conflict (Welfin). Some of them are still loyal to the king, but no longer consider themselves subservient to him - it's "I'll do what is best for the king," not "I will obey the king" (Pouf). Some of them gain complexity in /addition/ to their loyalty to the king, like Youpi and his respect for the Hunters. And then there's Meruem, whose dramatic shifts in values I talk about in my post.
They're just people, basically. They share a common ancestry and directive, but they all have their own personalities and priorities.

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Do you know any novels/essays that would help me better understand themes and philosophies in Hunter x Hunter?

I did write an essay on Chimera Ant a while back:
http://wrongeverytime.com/2014/08/04/imperfect-beings-hunter-x-hunter-and-the-chimera-ant/
And if you just search Hunter x Hunter on the blog, you'll see a bunch of other times I wrote about it, both in episodics and week in reviews. Here's one where I dug into the character philosophies in Election, for example:
http://wrongeverytime.com/2014/08/27/summer-2014-week-8-in-review/

Is Interstellar worth watching even if not in theaters? Because I'm not sure if I'll have time to see it on the big screen, unfortunately.

I'd reeeaally recommend trying to see it in theaters, but it's still a good movie either way.

Honorifics in subs, yes or no?

I don't really mind either way. They often convey important information though, so if there's no graceful way to convey that while avoiding them, I'd say include them.
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Liked by: Derp Jeep Rose Bridges

What do you think the shows this season (and in general) need to be 10's?

Parasyte and Bahamut would need to work really, really hard. Both of them are just really steady 9s, and their fundamental ingredients don't show any sign of gaining the level of poignancy necessary for an upgrade, so they'd have to suddenly become ridiculously perfect in their execution. Shirobako and KimiUso would both require a couple truly devastating episodes - Shirobako's last episode was a good start, and KimiUso's last couple episodes were a serious upgrade, but they'd both need to nail serious emotional notes more consistently than they have in the past.
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Liked by: Rose Bridges

What about Memento?

It's a very solid movie, but I don't find it as compelling as either of the others. Nolan really, really likes puzzleboxes, and Memento is one of his most straightforwardly puzzlebox-focused films.
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Liked by: Rose Bridges

Favourite Nolan film?

It might be Interstellar, actually. It's kind of messy, and I think The Dark Knight might be his "best" movie, but I really, really loved Interstellar. It's passionate and empowering and beautiful and full of wonderful individual sequences.

Bob, If I want to ask you something about writing. How do you improve in descriptive parts? Dialoge I find easy, but then my beats and my description seem horribly generic, like some variation of "looked x in the eye." or like that. It feels that those parts are boring. What can I do to improve?

Look to authors you think are effective at these things, and try to break down /exactly/ what they do. /Why/ are their choices effective? What do you respond to in their text? What are the clear differences between their work and yours, and what are the clear differences between their work and /other/ authors you like? Try writing in their style, then try writing in someone else's style, then read a bunch more and write a bunch more and etc etc. It's not easy - this is a long, difficult process that requires constant effort and self-criticism. But the best things you can do are read a ton of great work, try to learn from it, and then practice, practice, practice.
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Liked by: Rose Bridges

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