Movie Review & Recom: What We Do In The Shadows

Looking for a quirky, unpredictable, funny movie?  I highly recommend What we do in the shadows.  The characters are very well developed and each has its very distinctive backstory.  The pacing of the movie was also excellent and did not leave one bored.

In fact, I just watched Avengers Age of Ultron and this movie back to back and I enjoyed this more.  Given I've seen a lot of superhero movies so Avengers style movies were getting a little old to me and plotwise a dime a dozen.  For effects and action, Age of Ultron did not disappoint in that arena.  What We Do In The Shadows is a completely different movie though from Age of Ultron in every aspect so it's not fair to compare the two other than that I saw both and enjoyed this one more.

Short of spoiling everything, I can't think of too much to say about this movie other than how great this is.  It's refreshing, different and a take on a genre that has been overused for certain.

Now, if you're up for SPOILERS to get a taste of what this movie is about, read on...

Fair warning that this movie will be a lot more enjoyable for 3 types of people: those who somewhat enjoy vampire movies, enjoyed but are now sick of vampire movies or know the general vampire movie elements.  It's a hilarious take on vampires lifestyle in a mockumentary.  There was a few parts where it leaves the viewer wondering, ok, now what, where could they possibly go with this story and it's going to be the same thing I see in all vampire movies?  It did not disappoint, it introduces familiar elements of vampire stories in very unexpected ways and does this with humor no less.  It's been a really long time since I've seen a movie this original and I absolutely loved it!

Skip Beat 225 Review

This chapter was full of amazing parts.  I really loved the entire stalker exchange between Sebastian and Shou.  The look on Shou's face was certainly priceless.  But I think Sho's manager showing his "admiration" for Shou and empathizing with the "stalker" was probably the cherry on top for me.  Shou's response of disgust was just so funny I was laughing for awhile.

















The parts I didn't like was that Ren still didn't fess up that he's Corn.  I guess this is more because of the fact that the author wants Kyoko to really love Ren for Ren and not have an idealized vision of fairies clouding it.  It could also be so she can use this later as a plot device.  I might be dating myself here but if anyone else saw the TV series, Lois and Clark, The Adventures of Superman, that show had Lois being in love with Superman and then eventually falling in love with Clark only to find out inevitably that they are one and the same.  Of course then there's episodes devoted to her shock and the drama of being lied to this whole time, etc.  I can see this mirroring that a little.  I for one am ready for this whole Corn cover thing to just end so we can get to the juicy plots of the love triangle and the media finding out about the "dangerous siblings."  
But there were certainly some great highlights, I along with probably half the readers all melted when Ren said, "I just no matter what wanted to see you sooner."



I loved that unlike Shoujos out there Skip Beat has still managed to maintain a nice balance of the drama/plot development with the humor.  I loved Ren's comments about how maybe he should have been more concerned with the baldness warnings from Jelly.  That was so random it caught me off guard and was so funny.  I also loved the funny little Kyoko and Ren memories of eating rock hamburgers.  I can't wait for the next chapter and am so glad it'll be sooner than the 20th next month!  4th of July holiday will help make the days go even faster this month I hope.  I don't really care as much about the Kyoko vs. Kyoko's mom faceoff but am looking forward to seeing more of the love triangle plotline playout.

Skip Beat 225 Parts 1-3 Combined (click next for Part 4)

Just a start, the next part has quite a bit of dialogue so it's going to take awhile

So I started using a new program to test scanlations and think it looks quite a bit better but it also is a lot more time-consuming.  I wonder, is the better quality worth a longer wait... I probably could have finished more than half the chapter by now if I used MS paint but then again, I'm sure I'll get faster the more I get used to the new program.

Hope everyone enjoys this as this is a labor of love.

I just realized that I never put my blog link (sort of like a signature I guess) on the actual scanlations. Considering I have made the mistake of posting someone else's work (preview summary collected for chapter 224, this is a different post from my review - it's a post I had already taken down) without giving proper credit, a lesson I learned previously.  I have to say that it's somewhat karma and I'm hardly going to get upset over people reposting my work.  I do wish people remember to post my link with it though for the parts where I forgot to put in my blog link.  Because now I'm going to have to remember to put it on all the scanlations more regularly and truthfully that just wastes time from actually finishing it, which is a shame.  So if anyone reposts this or sees it reposted, please just add my link so others are aware so I don't have to even bother putting it on every page.  I'd like more people to share and the point of all this is for everyone to enjoy it early.

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This chapter is really awesome, I feel the development of Ren and Kyoko's relationship in this chapter is getting to a new level and it's so sweet.  But considering this is my second chapter of scanlation, this has been rough because of the large volume of dialogue, so much for flash scans... I might also be acting as too much of a perfectionist on this...

Skip Beat 225 Part 4 Complete!!

Wow, I can't believe I'm done... I know my sectioning has been rather random.  I actually didn't even mean to finish the rest of the chapter all in one go and realized I had even missed 2 pages of the Chinese scans initially.  But once I got going, I kept thinking just a little more, a few more pages...

So yay, 2nd chapter of Skip Beat I've ever done complete!  Though I might have to do a different approach next time because this is too time-consuming.  I might just do the lower quality way I did last time or even just skip the small side text next time.  But it really does give a different experience to read all the details.  I tried to get this done sooner and this is way later than I intended but so glad I finished!!  This chapter was so full of development for Ren & Kyoko's relationship I think.  It's amazing to see how Kyoko appreciates Ren and see how it's different from the kind of simple relationship she had with "Corn."  I will reorder these parts to be sequential on the blog list later and do a review of the chapter.

GOT Season Finale Mother's Mercy

So I haven't written in ages because I've been swamped lately.  But the GOT season finale has to be talked about.

Spoilers ahead!

I would have to say the highlight was definitely Arya Stark kicking butt and risking it all.  It was also a great twist to fake out the death of her mentor.  This story has had so much buildup that it was getting boring but the payoff was so satisfying, I don't think anyone can complain.  On top of it, it leaves you desperate to know what happens next as Arya is just as desperately confused why she's going blind and screaming what's happening?!



I should say that the desperate to know what happens next was something I felt throughout the episode.  Theon coming to his senses and killing off the annoying Ramsey pet was very satisfying.  I am curious now that they escaped Winterfell, what happens to them.  Boltons are not going to let that go lightly.  Now that was probably all the good parts of the episode.

I have to say that I thought I would enjoy watching Cersei's torture punishment as she returns to the castle and I have not been a fan of her by any means but I honestly find the crazy zealots to be so much more annoying.  It was immensely satisfying to see her locked up when she thought she had the upperhand but it was another thing to have to watch scene after scene of the nuns goading and attempting to brainwash her.  I am actually looking forward to seeing her dish out her vengeance.





Watching the interchange with Jaime and the princess before her poisoning was not only predictable but just so sad.  The moment of the parting kiss, you knew she was poisoned in my opinion.  And so far in the books, every time there's a realization of ultimate happiness or relief for a character, that's usually when there's a major death a few moments later.  That is also what leads me to just skip to the chase and talk about the death of Jon Snow.  Yes, I could go on about the Dany meeting Dothraki or Stannis' "death" (I suspect that he might have survived, if only because we didn't see the actual head roll like Ned Stark, but it's a coin flip)... but what everyone is really speculating is about Jon Snow.

There's multiple theories out there of the aftermath following Jon's stabbing... that Jon will survive the wounds, that Jon doesn't survive the wounds but is resurrected via Melisandre, White Walker or as his Dire wolf.  So I'll throw one more theory into the pot, that it was all just a vision that Melisandre has or is showing Jon Snow so that he can preempt the traitorous Watch Knights.  I haven't read the books but I have been following where the discrepancies may be and now I understand why everyone is so eager for the next book.  Apparently Jon's stabbing is exactly where George Martin left his last book off at.  I definitely don't think they would kill off Jon, unless they're ready to give up on their viewers because fans will definitely stop watching the show if Jon dies.  At most, they might just tune in for the Dany parts or read summaries like this one.