I just watched the first episode of True Detective: Night Country and it's a good start. I wasn't surprised to read that trolls review bombed the show on Rotten Tomatoes. So far, it's centered around woman, and addresses violence made to women, especially native women (but it's just the beginning so it's hard to outline the real topics). So obviously, bros must be angry to feel called out.

I really like that they chose to go for the supernatural vibe again. The first season was very light on it while making it actually omnipresent (the first season was extraordinary on so many aspects). This time, it's clearly there.

I hope they dive more into the local lore and legends.

ALSO. PLEASE. THIS MAIN CAST.

Vigil - 2x06

Everything I remember from Wonka trailers:

And ofc:

it's lowkey hilarious how committed to Zelda these games are while still insisting on keeping Link as the one who is actually playable. the TOTK devs really said "oh you thought BOTW was about Zelda first and Link second? watch this"

Are you all aware that they are marketing Tatort Stuttgart as Crimescapes - Scales of Justice internationally and have made the most dramatic trailer possible

here is the listing which also includes the following description:

Did Kazumi want Kazuya killed?

I like Kazumi a lot as a character. Her design and music themes are bangers. One thing just always bothered me though, how she seemingly loved Kazuya but then requested that Akuma kill him back when he was only five years old. So I did a little investigating to try and make sense of it, rewatching both the story mode and intros and old trailers, and what I turned up was quite interesting.

Evidence for:

Akuma's pov flashback where Kazumi says "Kill him for me... And also... Kazuya..."

Akuma seems to believe it's what she wanted, and is how he interpreted the promise to Kazumi.

Evidence against:

The wording and phrasing is questionable. "Kill him" ... "and also" - why not just say "kill them" if she meant both? Additionally, ellipses are most often used to indicate omissions of words. What is being cut out?

This is perhaps answered where we get a more fleshed out version of the scene, like the 2014 SDCC trailer. The same footage is also in Japanese here, if you'd rather spare yourself the English dub. Transcription of dialogue: "If I die, if I can't stop Heihachi, then you must do it for me." "Kazuya? That boy is still too young. And Heihachi will soon realize that he was born with my powers. Heihachi is more powerful than you realize. Who knows what Heihachi will do to Kazuya or to countless others? It is up to me. I must stop Heihachi." "Even if this power consumes me and kills me in the process." No mention of killing Kazuya, in fact she seems concerned for his welfare. Why worry about him like this if she's asking for him to be killed? Evo 2014 reveal trailer transcription: "You're here. That must mean the time has come. Kazuya? I must stop him. I must stop Heihachi. By now I'm sure that Heihachi has realized he was born with my powers." Similar to the SDCC one, just shorter, as this one came out first. And again the same implication that she's worried about Kazuya's fate. From the PS4 opening cinematic: "My beloved Heihachi will inevitably engulf the world in war and destruction resulting in the loss of many innocent lives." No Kazuya mention at all.

Kazuya himself does not seem to believe it. He calls it absurd and laughs, and in the final confrontation with Heihachi, Kazumi's theme plays towards the end of this whole sequence. Also while not in the story mode; in the opening cinematic (and also in the trailers linked above) Kazuya says "You killed my mother!" before their fight, indicating that he is avenging her.

Kazumi has a reason for wanting Heihachi dead. The Hachijos sent her there as a 'sleeper agent' of sorts to take Heihachi out if he became a threat to the world, which he does after killing Jinpachi and taking control of the Zaibatsu. Kazuya, being a five year old, is no such threat obviously. It does not make any logical sense. If the Hachijos were in the habit of killing their own offspring, their lineage wouldn't go far. And if him being Heihachi's son was the concern, why even have him? Additionally, she genuinely loved Kazuya, something even Heihachi admits. Either way, a young child does not fit the profile of the 'scum' that the Hachijo apparently try to wipe out.

Miscellaneous:

Heihachi seems not to believe it initially; although his reason for questioning it is purely the passage of time as Akuma waited over 40 years to fulfill this promise.

A potential thought as to why Kazuya was perhaps not mentioned as one of Akuma's targets in the other cinematics occurred to me as perhaps it being a plot point that they wanted to keep under wraps, but this was easily debunked by the story trailer a few months before the console release, showing the fight between Kazuya and Akuma. There is also a showdown between them in a 2016 trailer that matches neither of the story mode battles.

If Kazumi thought that Kazuya needed to be killed, she could theoretically have done it herself, easily. After her illness that activated her devil gene, Heihachi believed she was not in control of herself and she supposedly never remembered her attacks on him after she went back to 'normal'. And yet, during those times, her target was only ever Heihachi. If Kazuya was supposedly a threat to be ended too - why did that never happen when she lost control?

Late addition/edit: In Akuma's reveal trailer, the wording is altered again to "And also unfortunately, my dear son Kazuya" but this line is said AFTER Akuma has made the promise to Kazumi to repay his debt. And again, it is vague. Unfortunately Kazuya what? Unlike all the lines re Heihachi, she never actually says he must die. A potential reading of this could be that Kazumi felt Kazuya would be better off dead than suffering whatever Heihachi would do to him -- but then, if the goal was a mercy killing, waiting 40 years after the damage has already been done makes NO sense.

Conclusion:

It is my personal evaluation that Akuma most likely misinterpreted Kazumi's words (or perhaps misremembers them as it's been decades - hence why the dialogue in the flashback is an abrupt and chopped-up handful of words vs the more extensive scene seen elsewhere) and that her wish was for Heihachi to be taken down for the sake of the world, and her son. Akuma, being who he is, would lean towards interpreting any kind of ambiguity as referring to violence and death.

In an out of character sense, the vibe I get is that originally Akuma's hit list was only supposed to be Heihachi but at some point late in development they decided they wanted to have a Kazuya vs Akuma fight added in too hence that no-context bit in the 2016 trailer that doesn't match any scenes in the actual final story; and then the mangled flashback of Akuma's happens in the story mode to facilitate the fights that happen in the final version of the game.

But in an ic sense, Akuma misinterpreting Kazumi seems the most likely to me. I don't think he was deliberately lying, his vibe is sincere enough and he calls her Kazumi-dono which shows great respect. IMO, it's good to remember that characters can be wrong about things sometimes and that just because they believe something that doesn't necessarily mean that it is true.

Have you noticed the rise of young adult aimed media lately? The other day I was discussing the topic with a very dear friend of mine who surprised me by saying that she doesn't mind that at all and will gladly watch shows aimed at a younger audience.

I've been thinking about that a lot - I remember shows and movies like The Devil wears Prada, SaTC, Shoppaholic etc that featured main characters in their 20s-30s but were enjoyed by teenagers as well. These days I feel like we get the opposite, with Euphoria, Stranger Things etc - shows with a main focus on (supposed) teenagers that are aimed at older audiences as well. Very interesting!

...and annoying to me personally since I don't really find (americanised) teen life very interesting or relatable. I might rewatch a show I enjoyed while I was a teenager and I have watched shows aimed at a younger audience because I knew they would mention a topic I care about a lot that isn't discussed in adult media most of the time - but it took a while before I convinced myself I wanted to watch that show badly enough to put up with first kisses and pop quizzes and spring dances. My friend, again, has a completely different view on that and mentioned that she will gladly watch The Summer I Turned Pretty for fun and relaxation - which genuinely shocked me (because I can’t relate, not because I’m judging her — or you, if you like those shows).

So now I have to ask

2000's Trio 2020's Trio

Imagine how great it would be if the PJO show is successful and gets the Harry Potter treatment where we get to see these kids grow up throughout the show!

If the Golden Trio was our big 2000's trio, I hope the Original Trio will be our big 2020's trio💙💙💙

If I had a nickel for every time Kojima made a trailer where it looks like Higgs killed Lou, I’d have two nickels

…which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice

(Yeah y’all, he legit did some editing trickery in the DS1 launch trailer to give that impression when that’s not even close to what happened in the game)

oh btw i went home to my hometown yesterday and i finally showed my mom the heart killers pilot. her verdict?

"we're watching this"

y'know, I'm about 1098475093740 years late to making the post where I grouse about it but I really have to say. you know those barbie & ken in prison memes?

why oh why do people always draw the ken looking straight at the camera and smiling smugly like "you think iron bars can stop me? ha!"??

the thing that makes the meme so good at its source is that the original Ken has no fucking idea what's going on. far as he's concerned he might as well just be doing a fun photobooth with his girlfriend even though people are being weirdly pushy about it. Barbie is the one who looks anxious and indignated not because she's the one who's not Above It All, but because she's the one who can tell that whatever's happenning to her right now isn't so whimsical -- at least, not without Ken's attitude, anyway.

"one of them is Dangerous, the other is Conventional" is just kind of yawn, seen it a million times -- whereas "one of them can tell what's wrong with this situation and the other is just unbreakably over the moon at all times" is what makes the meme worth memeing as far as I'm concerned

OH MY STARS HAZEL!!! Did you see the trailer for The Wingfeather Saga season two?? I’m SO excited!!

(I got a little bit too happy during the Artham scene, even if it lasted for like two seconds lol)

I JUST WATCHED IT AND I AM LITERALLY LOSING MY MIND WITH EXCITEMENT NOW!!!!!!!!!! This season is gonna be incredible, even though I KNOW it's gonna end on a cliffhanger since they're splitting book two into two parts (or at least so I'm told). But we still get my boy the Florid Sword! And Maraly!!! And the Fork Factory!!!!!!

(dude that is VALID I freaked out a little too. I'm so freaking excited to see how they show the journey he went through in book two in the tv show!!)

Everyone's talking about Wish right now.... The only thing I can say about WISH.......let's hope it's like a Frozen 1 type thing. Where the trailers were ABSOLUTE ASS but then the film turned out really good. TT0TT

I mean.....there is a difference between the two. While the west got weird trailers that didn't matter for Frozen (Olaf vs Sven carrot thing), JPN and other countries got trailers that actually showcased the plot and drama in an interesting way.... And Wish.....well...... Wish at least gives us a villain and a part of an argument.....and I can't see that argument leading anywhere.....great tbh. So maybe not the best comparisons but let's hope for the Frozen 1 vibe!

Anyway I'm not liking what I'm seeing so far, but I'm hoping its better than the ass disaster Frozen 2 and Ralph 2 were. ;w;

shoutout to 11 year old me that found the song requiem for a dream on a harry potter fmv and then listened to basically nothing else for the whole summer