Featured Post

NaNoWriMo: What is it?

Put the ice queens, princesses, witches, monsters, pirates, Doctors, and whatever other costume the kids wore away.  Halloween is almost ove...

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Sports Anime??

This week I started watching Kuroko no Basuke(Korosuke's Basketball or KnB.)  For a sports anime, it's actually fairly realistic.  Yes, there are some thing's that may seem as though they can't occur in reality, and for their ages, they are highly unlikely; however, the truth is that for the amount of the series I've seen so far, it's very likely.  No, there aren't going to be auras that are visible around the players or to discern the path of the basketball and which player caused the change, but yes there are people out there who, if they practice enough, can shoot from anywhere on the court.  They could pull off agility-based moves if they play the sport in their every spare moment and as for the passing that Kuroko manages...I wish I'd seen this show when I was much younger, but I don't think it was even in manga form yet when I was a kid.  If I had seen it, however, I can tell you I'd have tried to be more like Kuroko rather than trying make myself seen. 

Of course there are a few things that are unrealistic at least for games in America, but we who watch animes are already aware that there are many differences between our school sports competitions and theirs.  Hell, there are innumerable differences between Japan's culture and America's, but that doesn't stop us from trying to emulate things we see that are rather awesome.  Perhaps, in the very far future, some of the things we see portrayed will be put to successful use by children?

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Pokemon GO Disappointment

I've been playing Pokemon GO since about one week after its release.  There have been things that seemed disappointing or were, in fact, disappointing (the lack of being able to get gold in a particular badge - Ace Trainor - being removed but the badge is still in the list...), but overall, most of my complaints are taken with a grain of salt.  The game is available but incomplete.  It was still incomplete when it was released.  Because of all this, I've been a fairly relaxed player and avoided airing my complaints for the most part.  I think a few may have snuck through in some previous posts.

Why am I disappointed with this game now and blogging about it?  I'm one of those who remembers when the show and original games came to the States.  I kept trying to play an uninterrupted game and remember playing the TCG (Trading Card Game) with my younger brother.  Now being in a family that was borderline poverty, we didn't get the newest systems when they came out or the most up-to-date popular games/movies/toys/etc.  We did, however, have friends who sometimes did and loaned them to us.  Here's the thing.  Pokemon has now seven "generations" (gen) or sets of pokemon and corresponding games.  I won't list them in their individual sets, but Red, Yellow, and Blue were the first gen and are the original 151 (Mew and Mewtwo are included in this.) As more games came out, more pokemon were discovered.  I was hoping Pokemon GO would be similar, but with seventh gen, the games introduced not just new pokemon, but also alternate, such as an elongated exeggutor and an ice vulpix, they have apparently decided to release a few of these in Pokemon GO

This wouldn't be so bad, I mean we're constantly wanting access to being able to catch more and more pokemon, but only three gens are available in the game.  Players were waiting impatiently for legendaries to be added, but they understood that legendaries have to be handled differently from regular or even regional pokemon.  They were introduced but with a few still not available or with further rarity than the other legendaries.  Mew can only be caught by performing the special request quest line (I don't feel like looking the name of it up right now) while Mewtwo is by invite to an EX raid only.  Another reason why I'm upset by this decision?  In game trading and player against player battling are unavailable.  What this means is that unless you travel all over the world or were lucky enough to get a 10k (10 kilometer) egg in the early days that hatched a regional pokemon, the collection part of the game (which just so happens to be the bulk of it) is almost pointless to keep on with.

Like I said, for the most part I take my criticisms with a grain of salt, but this just really annoyed both myself and my husband.  They added from the most recent gen while there are three other gens that we have yet to see in the game.  It's upsetting because we happen to want to play through the gens as we did the original games, not skip from one gen to a different one.  We got over the staggered release of third gen mostly because they did release the full gen before moving on.  They also sort of themed the start of gen 3's release.  The first Hoenn pokemon were released in October during Halloween season.  They focused on ghost and dark pokemon with only the ghost pokemon of third gen being released.  A few weeks to months later and after adding the weather feature, gen 3 was fully in the game.  This Alolan addition from gen 7 is disappointing.  It should have waited to be added until they reached seventh gen despite them not being new pokemon, but rather alternates. 



Have some thoughts?  Leave a comment!  Weigh in on whether you think it was too early for the alternates to be released in Pokemon GO.

Monday, May 14, 2018

Competition Vs Inclusion

So the last couple of weeks have been crazy busy - we moved and I managed to get an abscessed tooth.  Not fun.  Then on Tuesday, I hear about a school in New Jersey changing their sports policy to allow basically any student who wants on a team to be on said team.  I need to admit here and now, before putting down the rest of my thoughts, that I don't know anything more than a few very vague details.  Apparently, a student got so upset at not making the team, their parents complained to get them on causing the school to change its policy.  Again, I do not know the specifics.  I could have any number of things wrong with the story I heard.

As for what I wanted to say about this "more inclusive" policy, I am in two minds about it.  On one hand, I am glad that kids who are serious about a sport but perhaps aren't as talented as others get to join their sports team, however, I am also upset at the even less realistic competitive environment this school seems to be promoting.  To explain what I mean:  When these same students attempt to get a job, will this make them think they should be hired despite possibly not being qualified because they were allowed to join a competitive team in high school but did not necessarily have the talent to back up the position received.  On the other hand, those who have focused and truly want to go on to become professionals in said sport may not get the chance because of the lack of ability to show how good they truly are to scouts for both college teams/scholarships and the professional teams.

What it comes down to is it could be good depending on how this new policy is implemented.  If, for example, they have a tiered system where all those who try-out automatically make a team but the team made is dependant on skill and talent.  Those who are dedicated and constantly practice make the higher competitive teams and those who thought they were able to get by without putting in the effort would be on the least competitive team.  Thinking about it, it would be similar to that of how most bands and academic teams function.   Those who are willing to put in the time and effort, get to be in the most wanted positions, but those who aren't willing to work hard to keep that position could end up basically being an equipment manager or last chance alternate.

If, however, they just let them join with no extra plan to ensure that those who are dedicated to what happens to be their passion can both pursue and be recognized for it, then it could truly be a detriment for everyone in that school.  Of course, I don't know what is involved in the actual plans for this particular school's new policy, but there will be those who are not willing to even give it a chance.  Because of this, there could be a lot of good from the policy that gets diminished.  At the same time, there are going to be those who can see no problems with the new policy.  The issue with that would be no making the policy better by looking at the problems and finding a way to fix them.

Again, I don't know specifics with this, but these were my thoughts based on the small amount of information I had regarding them.


I'm posting this a day late mostly because of the move and then Mother's Day (which I hope all mothers had a wonderfully relaxing day!)  Also, my computer still hasn't been put back together after the move, so I had to borrow my husband's.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Next Top Model: America v. Australia


I’ll admit it – I’m not a huge fan of fashion or modeling.  I never truly poured over magazines envying what I saw and trying to find ways to make myself look like the women I saw in them.  I looked through catalogs and found items I wanted - toe socks, crackling nail polish, that cute swimsuit, etc.  I didn’t care about what brands were high class (probably because a lot of what I wore was secondhand, either hand-me-downs or bought at thrift stores and yard sales.)  I didn’t care about who took the photographs or what the models’ names were.  I only paid enough attention to the picture to see if the items were something I wanted or if the guys were hot…but what girl interested in guys doesn’t?  I probably made mental comments about the women too, but I was always trying not to really look at the people unless they looked similar to me.  It wasn’t often.  It didn’t help that I felt like I was underweight (I know, it shocked people when I said I thought I needed to gain weight and didn’t care what I ate.)  I never saw what the big deal of modeling was. 

Now that I’m older, I understand better the draw that modeling has.  It seems to be a validation of a person’s gorgeousness.  But beyond that, I’ve always known being a subject for photographers is not easy.  I’ve always gotten lucky with my pictures.  Hell, I got most photogenic in a local pageant with my mother as the photographer against girls who used professional photographers for theirs.  It’s not easy.  I never saw the point of make-up and spending so much time and money on something that, to me, didn’t matter.  Of course, I was a huge tomboy and spent a lot of time outside being a very active and messy girl.  The said draw of modeling and an increased interest in reality competition shows (i.e. Survivor, The Fear Factor, Dancing with the Stars, etc.) gave rise to a new show – America’s Next Top Model.

A quick search on IMDB for “next top model” showed that a large number of countries had picked up on the success of America’s Next Top Model and did their own version.  Australia’s Next Top Model and America’s Next Top Model were both available on Hulu.  I’ve recently decided to watch Australia’s Next Top Model.  Almost immediately there were differences I could notice between what I was watching/listening to and what I could remember from America’s Next Top Model.  One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed in the first two seasons compared to the majority of America’s Next Top Model’s early seasons, Australia’s Next Top Model has shown a marked interest in being healthy, not skinny.  What I can remember of the early seasons of America’s Next Top Model was a preference for skinny as opposed to plus size models so long as the skinny wasn’t sickly looking.  That’s not to say that there weren’t plus sized models competing.  It’s just that it was more obvious in America’s Next Top Model that bigger girls at the beginning of the show were going to have a harder time making it in the modeling world even with the aid of Tyra Banks and her ever-changing judging panel.

That brings me to the next point – the judging panel.  In America’s Next Top Model, the girls are judged by Tyra, a few regular judges for that season and a guest judge until it makes it to the final two.  For Australia’s Next Top Model, the judging panel is made of a few regular judges each season and a guest judge.  I actually was glad that Tyra was available throughout the season to mentor the girls, help them through their challenges (both professional and personal!) and was the one to dispense advice and let them know who made it through each week as well as who was eliminated.  After all, she was the host of America’s Next Top Model.  She stood in front of the applicants with only their photos and looked at the girls in their eyes as she let them know where they needed to improve.  In Australia’s Next Top Model, the host didn’t necessarily mentor the girls she would later be giving the final critiques to.  Also, the host held a binder with small poster-sized photos versus the more portfolio-sized photos used in America’s Next Top Model.  For all the viewers knew, with how often the host would look at the binder, she had a script sitting opposite as to what she was to say for each girl.  Mind you, I haven’t yet watched all the available episodes of Australia’s Next Top Model, but there’ve been two hosts so far and both have had some kind of binder or clipboard to hold the photos in. 

Something else I’ve noticed is that age is a huge factor in the modeling industry.  Once the young women (and later men America’s Next Top Model) reach a certain age, they tend to be less marketable in a wide range of markets because a younger crowd do not wish to be buying things that are marketed by someone that reminds them of their parents - or worse their grandparents!  However, the few seasons I’ve watched of Australia’s Next Top Model, I don’t remember a single girl over the age of 21 competing, however, 26 has been considered among the oldest on America’s Next Top Model.  While Australia’s Next Top Model has girls as young as 16, if I remember the seasons of America’s Next Top Model, the youngest was 18.  I could be wrong though.  Perhaps I’ll go through and re-watch all the seasons I can of each version of Next Top Model and do episode reviews.  I’m already planning on doing so eventually for Charmed and a few other series…

One of the best things about America’s Next Top Model is the challenges done each week before the event the contestants get judged on.  Typically they have something to do with each other.  The challenge winner may still end up getting eliminated – unless the prize happens to be immunity.  Australia’s Next Top Model is the same.  The best thing about these competitions is that even if the girls don’t win the big competition, there is a huge possibility that they’ve won or been chosen as a friend by a winner of one of the challenges.  The prizes for these smaller competitions within the huge one could be anything from a shopping spree to free clothes to a photo shoot to guest appearances in movies, television shows, and even music videos.  These prizes can and will help the contestants with their modeling careers, or acting if that’s what they change their minds to. 

One of the most annoying things I’ve found in most reality shows is in the parts regarding their lives within the house.  While America’s Next Top Model rarely even referenced it except for during the times that they addressed someone breaking the rules or lying to the judges, possibly even telling the judges some of the thoughts of another contestant due to a want to win by any means possible,  Australia’s Next Top Model did tend to address the behavior that occurred in the house.  They addressed fitness, rule-breaking, healthy and smart habits (admonishing girls for stupid stunts before shoots –blueberries anyone?), bullying and even a few more subtle admonishments about sabotaging the other girls.


Overall, I think I preferred Australia’s Next Top Model over America’s Next Top Model, but I tend to try to skip through the drama based scenes, no matter what else may be occurring during the scene.   I love seeing the behind the scenes on the photoshoots and even hearing the critiques and tips for not only the models in the competition but also the aspiring models likely watching the show.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

New Year, Late Beginnings

I know, it's been a really long time since I posted.  I'm not explaining myself this time.  There is really no excuse for the extreme wait, and I'm even worse with my posted fanfictions and various other pieces of work.  In fact, with this to be a new year, it's giving me a new chance.  After all, isn't there something to learn from every previous experience one has ever had?

So, with these thoughts and knowing I'm typing this in the second month of the year, I am once again determined to attempt to keep up with a weekly blog.  Some weeks may have more than one post, most will be lucky to have just the one, but the point is not to determine if I failed to post.  No, the point is to keep my determination and attempt a post each week, even if they are typed up early and get a scheduled post time.  I have other goals as well, which brings me in all seriousness, to what has been irritating me lately.

New Year's Resolutions.  These are the goals a person sets for themselves at the end of the year to do by the end of the next year.  Typically they involve losing weight, saving money, or working out more.  The problem is that people tend to think they need to be met immediately.  They don't.  No, when you set a resolution, it's a goal to be met by the end of the year.  It's going to be hard to get started, but that shouldn't stop a person from continuing their attempts.  It's like this, you can't lose weight overnight without it being a surgery, but at the same time, you aren't going to give up trying to lose that weight just because you failed at one diet, no if you are truly determined, anyway.

With resolutions, I've heard so many reports of people claiming "Oh, I've failed my resolution.  Guess I should just give up now."  This, however, should not be our thought processes.  We need to figure out ways to inspire the changes we thought we wanted in ourselves.  I rarely commit to my resolutions more because I'm not as determined to meet most of these more society-based resolutions than because I've failed.  Yeah, I blamed society.  I won't take it back either.  Society tends to claim that what being healthy is means to lose weight or meet some sort of scientifically set standard.  While these are probably true, most of the time, it's become an increasing issue that has lead to various people believing, mistakenly, that they are not skinny enough or that something is wrong with them.

A few coworkers claimed to wish to stop using certain curse words, but as soon as they used one, they didn't think of  way to avoid it or try to make a new habit, they just claimed they had immediately failed.  It's the instant gratification we've become accustomed  to with online shopping that has allowed us to expect instant results.

With that said, I just want to remind everyone: Just because you don't manage to keep to your resolutions immediately, it doesn't mean you've failed.  Attempt to meet it again with a new strategy put into place.  A new diet or penalty for cheating could do wonders for making a person follow through with their goals, but remember, too, the goal needs to be something the person feels strongly for, not something others think would be a good goal for them.