American Horror Story

More like "American Whorès' (yeah, we're gonna keep all the syllables) Story..." Sexist, pornographic, or what? Oh, how much is to be told...

2011 FX

Supernatural, Drama

12 Episodes 

The Harmons move into a 1922 Victorian house that has an intricate long history with all who've resided there. A horny psychiatrist, an unstable mum, and a misunderstood teenage daughter cope with the months to come. 

One of the most hyped shows of 2010s, AHS roots are not gruesome or horror-movie ready, but presents its horror through meddling with everybody's psyche. 

  No jumpscares, but many could be squeamish at dismemberment. After all, each episode starts out years before present day 2010, and I love looking back to the 60s and noting the societal and cultural differences. Abortions were illegal in America and boys will be boys. The show's need to flashback to say,1978, is a sign that the past is history. Through these episodes, it's easier to understand and infer everything about the house's history. Comprehension becomes fun as the viewer draws conclusions and discovers the reason of character behaviors toward Character B. Most of this was done in my head, but I love drawing web conclusions. So fun. 

 

   The present-day setting isn't spooky as teenagers smoke and gang up, doctors are sensitive about releasing confidentiality, and men fail to see what is reality (hence, wet dreams and fantasies at an earlier age than women perhaps). As for the past, witnessing an illegal operation for financial stability is something that an American civilian just doesn't see on a daily basis. The American family then vs now is quite a comparison as well. But the finale places everyone on the same side, so all's well. 

   

  The use of props for violence in AHS was one of the  most purposeful displays for props instead of just guns and knives. Even though the camera spun around constantly and was shaky for the first half, the whole soundtrack of the season is just out-of-context. The theme song is of a smaller genre of music composition, white noise/strange sounds. I found that the volume for the background pieces , orchestral or vocal, were a bit distracting during dialogue and silences. One of the couple elements that bothered me, but that's not enough to stop binging!

   

   I'm laughing at Dr. Harmon's manliness. He has great motivation for being a psychiatrist, he's eagerly sex-driven, and he refuses so may things. I love that the family members have contrasting mindsets and that there is an affair/ romantic tangle spawning from each member. 

  Each character is suffering from a sadness. That's one of the simple ideas that sprouts forth AHS. Unfortunately, this makes all of the characters so eerily similar under different masks of personality. 

  The pilot sets the setting (exposition) and the show has many "bullshit" and "shit" in its script. How dare you give a bullshitty explanation for Roanoke Island colony, Billie Dean? Don't you know that history speaks for itself??

Grade: 7.2 
Felt extremely like an indie production; well-casted, but they all seem indie-esque

Be committed. 

Happy Halloween and Egg Somebody's Place 

Tales From the Crypt : Halloween Loses Hope for Humanity

I've listened to countless horror movie scores, but haven't seen any films lately.
Making lists of mild horror movies by qualifications, but haven't started a single viewing.
Decided to feature numerous horror series for this special week -- I've been Poe'd all week, okay?

  Mantra: You need to suffer the first time because that pain must be felt by all.
    ( don't be a pushover about grammar here! )        |  
    (there's got to be at least one year where one is extremely laidback and satisfying their health/heart over the mind)


As for feeling "Poe'd" all week, consider Edgar Allen Poe. Known for his works of macabre and Gothic writings, the man himself was mad! An alcoholic, struggling to acquire an appropriate salary as a writer, and marriages. I've read only a penny's worth of his works, but I love his dark symbolism, a mix of unusual characters, and a couple titles ( I liked "The Fall of the House of Usher"). In short, I've been dazing and doodling more than studying and being adequately productive with music and schoolwork (music practice -- it makes way more sense to me; it's more practical).

1989 HBO
6 Episodes (22 mins each)
Horror and a bit of Humor

Who wants to hear a gruesome tale?

Gather round, boys and ghouls, as the Crypt Keeper will let you look into the horrific tales of submitted stories for a horror comic (apparently, they exist)

If you hate fairy tales, go to the Crypt.

If you like psychological journies, go to the Crypt.

If you have heard the name, John Kassir, go to the Crypt. 

Just note that the Crypt isn't for everyone.

**Rated __ for nudity, obscene language, terrifying deaths, and adult themes

Each episode seems to center around one Pandora sin: greed. Lust for beauty, money, or just sex, these episodes are the spokes of a wheel. One intersection, yet many roads diverge. Now, whether you take the road less traveled or not, not all of these episodes are on the same aesthetic level. 

The props, outfits (Pretty Woman , did you get your idea of Roberts-Gere from Sin Deep?), and the interactive script gives everything life. No jump scares, so it's great for newbies. On the other hand, 

I experienced (or simulated) a new emotion:

the death of a friend.

The Pilot is brilliant. Quite the premise which may have been a bit racist of minority groups and the debateable 'killing a criminal.' That's settled in other shows, but the unspeakable deed of 'killing a criminal' ends on an ironic, tearful moment for my newly-inducted pal, Mr. Niles Talbot. You better cry a river, otherwise, I'll be shocking your sorry ass ( it don't matter how you interpret that, sweets)

The opening season has shown no signs of bluntness of characters or the script, but a couple episodes 

(All Through the House, Sin Deep, Lover Come Hack to Me, Collection Completed) had minutes of extended silence, a scan of people walking down the street, or just the cameraman panning in a spiral. Little actions, but the kiddies just wanna hear the moral of the episode.

Speaking of morals, I would love to watch this with my family, but there's cursing and pilot featured a nude strippers' club (did not know that until I saw legit breasts; thank you, HBO).  Simplicity is marvelous, but a nicely tied present is... more meaningful and appreciated. That's why fairy tales are captivating, but there is the element of surprise/suspense that the Grimms, Anderson, and Perrault just didn't put on paper. Eliminate the "too good to be true" option and show the importance of being "careful what you wish for because you just may get it!" These tales involve the cost of death for one's own desires. Somewhat dark, but these mindless murderers (the wives, Santa, etc)- 

[most] of them planned these deaths and how to cover it. Such people provoke a second thought to preparedness and fearlessness (both known to set up oneself for success)

The show is mesmerizing almost every minute and the iconic ghoul shall exist forever in your mind!

A show that everybody should know, it is an anthology that is psychologically tense or maybe bloody terrifying. 

Grade: 7.8 

" Remember, kiddies, safety first!! [this Halloween] "

1 Litre of Tears

Based off an inspiring published diary, 1 Litre of Tears TV remake didn't seem to be as movingg...

10 Episodes + 2:40:00 Special ; Movie
2005 FujiTV

Ikeuchi Aya is a normal 15-year-old student. Optimistic and passionate about her life, she learns that she has spinocellubellar degeneration, a disease that will make her unable to walk, chew, talk, live like a normal being. And the disease has no known cure.

I read the diary of Aya Shioka before watching the adaptations. The diary is a great refresher about the top priority of life: to live it. I myself have written in a few diaries for several years, but I never wrote about my inner feelings; it was all about my dreams, desires, drawings, and my day. Aya writes about an array of topics: people in her life, her own observations about her environment, her desires, and most strikingly, her struggles.
  I hate fictitious diaries (I guess an exception to Dear America or of the sort). I enjoyed The Princess Diaries films, but not the Cabot books. I was captivated by Aya's uplifting spirit- her will to enjoy life more than she ever has. To hear a story from someone who has who-knows-how-many-years left, there sparks a bit of hope for humanity. I've been thinking about what is truly important in one's life- to leave a legacy, be a role model, fame, recognition, youth, beauty?

       The show may not shine a light on Aya, but the show appreciates loving families. Aya Ikeuchi's family came to terms and supported Aya until ******************. I have to say that I applaud and resonate with her younger sister, Ako. "I wish I was sick so that [the family] would pay more attention to me like Aya"- sometimes there are days where I want to have the flu again or something. Staying in bed and my parents, especially my mom, remedying me, telling me where to vomit. 

     Alongside the theme of family and devotion, the parents are realistic displays of parenting a handicapped child. They're not cynical at all, but their acceptance pushes the importance of appropriate rebuffs. Ever see those mums who turn down their daughter's fiance without even inviting him to dinner.

Tears shed vary from viewer to viewer. 1 Litre of Tears was a bit of an exaggeration for me. The characters are extremely likeable, but the pacing and like a movie, only a couple details from the original diary, 1 Litre of Tears is like crying itself - it takes too much time. 

Preferred Watching Sequence: Episode Special or Movie

Grade: 5.8 ; 7.2 (Movie)

La la LA la la : Daria

She's smart, yet cynical ... all in ambience

Aired: 1997 MtV
High School Satire

Daria Morgandorffer is a high school outcast who is monotonous about life, high school, and makes many sarcastic remarks each episode.

She's a name that I've heard since fifth grade and I never got to know her. Well, this week, I did. Daria's fiery remarks are the bomb. While these moments are mild compared to mindblowing amazement, Daria keeps her smarts tucked in a green parka jacket.

Princess TuTu

Shoujo that's not entirely girly!

Aired: 2002 
Shoujo, Fantasy

A  storyteller has a curse:his words on paper always come to life!  His final tale of a prince and a raven are told from the afterlife, but what really happens if the ending is altered?  Meanwhile, a duck admires a graceful prince of ballet. 

The artstyle may bother most, but the fairytale elements reels anybody in! With a medley of an opera-style opening (piano and vocalist) and Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers, ballet has never been so bedazzling. Here's the thing before you consider ranting about TuTu :
Anybody can hate musicals, but no one.. NO ONE must dare to detest ballet!! 

The story and the series itself is a woven fairy tale. There are the inhuman qualities of despair and hope, foil characters, magic,even a creature, Ahiru the duck. Fairy tales from oldem times tend to travel a dark route with Cinderella's sisters and their feet and Ariel's suicide? Yeah, you get the picture. TuTu, on the other hand, does not ever become so sinister, but the show discusses how dark one can ever be and even how scheming love is.

The duck is clumsy and adorable, but the viewer will get the morals from focusing on Rue (alter ego: Princess Kraehe). Teaching that the past molds the present person and that we all have our darkest demons, Rue heavily struggles to express her inner feelings ,etc etc. Her alter ego, however, exaggerates all her feelings, as well as possessing Gothic qualities of greed, manipulation, seduction, and self-pride.
A great display of "two sides to everybody," the show expects its viewers to anticipate an appropriate array of friends to shelter out the pains.
  Mytho is the Heartless Prince and yes, Drosselmeyer's tale says that he took out his own heart in his past identity, but he has an epiphany: he wants his heart back! And TuTu carries out her destiny , which is so. His overprotective friend also realizes that you can't run away from your past AND YOUR DESTINY (unless you're in a mob, then...)

Each episode begins with a narrative tale that the episode will be about. But don't skip whatever's afterward, watch it all! All the minor and major characters have their own momentos, problems, and garden time to present, so there is absolutely nothing to drag on (except for Princess TuTu's journey around town to restore the prince's heart).

Cute, magical, and Shakespearean backdrops makes Golden Crown Academy even more magical a place. Perfect for toddlers and your little princesses (and princes, too)
Grade: 7.8-8.3 /10 

She's freckled!
Barely anybody else like that in the anime world, no?

As for the manga (before the animated series), I didn't receive it as positively as the anime. In black and white, I say that one must know how to produce obvious contrasts and handsome/cute/1990-stylized characters. Couldn't classify for this one :
The themes and messages are not as sticky and the two volumes are short reads.
5.7/10

Columbo on Columbus Day

Happy Columbus Day, America!

On the outside, he's just nosy. But don't let your ego get a hold of you.

Aired: 1970s NBC
7 Eps

75 mins each 

A different director every episode
of the first season

The formatting of the crime scene in the beginning of each tale is unique. However, each killer is too relaxed during Lt. Columbo's interviews. This is where Japanese mystery dramas are more enthralling as the culprit makes at least one flaw, whether obvious or unnoticeable.
   Columbo is rather plain and logically fit, but Columbo is a different kind of detective personality. He doesn't spit out every note he takes, but rather asks insightful questions to only witnesses and potential culprits (the list is always less than 2 suspects).

The show stands out for its opening murder scenes (which feature gunshots, but no visible blood), but it is such a bore. Over an hour's time, it's mostly
Murder -> Walk and Ask -> Facing the Guilt 

Kudos to well-casted actors.
6.5

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On Columbus Day, Americans honor Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492. From this historic moment, The United States of America fought for its independence and expanded into a contiguous landmass and two outside territorial states. 

Family Guy: The Sixth Season

Stewie Kills Lois, Family Guy becomes Star Wars, and Why Are We Not Funding This? This season is packed with many of Family Guy's well-known moments and showing much more ass...

 12 Episodes
Aired: 2007 FOX

South Park S4

Little men, it's been a long time... 

Bates Motel : It's Not a Living Hell

The week has gone by so fast and I've organized myself. Practicing music right after stepping off the bus ...

Aired: 2013 A&E
9 Episodes
approx. 45 mins each
Psychological Drama

Meet Norma and Norman Bates, a family that sticks together tighter than a chokehold. Enter Dylan Massett, the product of Norma's past marriage and high school life.

I have not read Bloch's novel, Psycho, but I have seen Hitchcock's 1960 film. It didn't meet my expectations as a first-timer in horror movies, but there are original elements that made the movie iconic, like Janet Leigh's shower scene. Does A&E's series truly feel like a prequel?

The premise definitely sets off the viewer's impression of the show. Whether you hate it or love it, there will be a character whom you will partake to. With the simple tale of a new life as a green wall, the Bates' tight-knit bond gradually breaks apart, and Norman's rate of character development emphasizes that the boy was not raised on a normal childhood.  Who else isn't exactly "normal?" Norma Bates' hot-tempered attachment to her son(s) is a display of the struggles of parenting, as well as the accumulation of stress from a pile of lies. Each character has a relevant struggle from a popular pretty to marijuana trimmers.

The only fandom I'm signed up for
Gunner x Emma

Enrolled as a 17-year-old high school student, Norman shows his motherly spirit in the middle of the season (unless I blanked out during the night scenes). An infamous characteristic from Psycho, the viewer pays more attention to clueless, starry-eyed Norman Bates as he navigates a small-town life.

  But who appears first on the Opening Credits? Vera Farmiga as Norma Bates. A scream queen and 

a woman who's sexy when she's sassing, Norma is the biggest influence of Norman Bates. Almost like Carrie White's religious mum, Norma has disclosed sex, girls, and death from her son all those years. Should she have been the center of the series? It seems tempting, but her youthful son is the one who's being psychologically impaled here!

It ain't pretty when Mrs. Bates sobs, though.. 

Tad shaky camerawork. Many predictable moments along the way, but

there are some sunshiney moments to make you purse your lips or smile like the Cheshire Cat.

Oh, and a handsome cast.

I recall him from a movie..

The earlier question: Does A&E's series truly serve as Psycho's prequel?

It seems that the show may outpace itself. After three days, a man who knows all enters the scene?

And three days have passed from Eps 1-7ish?

The series hasn't reached its peak of insanity at this time, but that's what everyone's waiting for, right?

grade? 6.8

Highmore struggles with his voice a couple times. Hiding an accent... oh, BOY!

MISFITS

Young and Wild.

You better live life to the fullest

Aired: 2009 E4

6 Episodes

45 mins each 

Comedy Drama

Five lawbreakers under probation survive a storm and gain powers. Murder, love, and all-good fun follow. 

There is a considerable audience of this show. Definitely understated and unnoticed, genuinity is the leading trait of a handsomely well-casted drama. It is not gruesome or HBO-naked , but there is evident cursing, gestures, and innuendos. Adult themes are also involved: 

Misfits is frequently mentioned as recommended or extremely relevant to young generations. After all, who else is known to prank and vandalize everyone and everything? I loved this show because it seriously speaks to me. 

A high-profile athlete banned for possession of drugs, a hooker gal, a delinquent, a shy bohemian boy, an all-american girl. The different bad boys and girls opens doors to anyone who's just like them. The show focuses on the importance of teamwork, terms of participation, and even society itself.

Before birth, there are already standards. Yet due to human complexities, most succumb to masters, the bad boy stereotype, even stooping to a baseness unimagined by ourselves. Misfits -- these adults chose that high life of living life to the fullest. 

No fucks (okay, for some, this just never happens xx)

Curtis x Alisha

From living to the fullest, obstacles exist. If there's a philosophical or psychological theory about this, then is living the life ever possible? Energy, money, and time separates the age groups after all.

There is an obvious correlation between the powers and the possessor's life. Even the conflicts as people who possess powers, the people they interact with (negatively and positively) impacts them as well. 

It's so cool - these correlations :)

It's not a wacky scenario each episode. There are insights of how extreme these powers may be (time kills), the characters' pasts, among other things. 

Sassy, smooth, and inappropriately funny, the premise sets off the adventure. 

Finally, a show with a thrilling pilot! !

Grade: 8.1

So, that Food Day for a teacher... S/he jokes very often and I've never taken his/her words literally, so I have pondered those words so much. To 

bring or not to bring a small meal? I prepared not fries and whatsoever, but instead fried rice with something Asian-esque. Food was never asked, but I had something to dine on during a free period that day. 

Working toward all As for semester average #1 in four school months. 

Be diligent and sane

Give time for yourself ~

Hentai Cliches : 21-41

Remember that Hentai Cliches list? 

A popular read, let's drag out more of hentai's silly flaws and overdos!

21. Magical lube. Or maybe its power is just slightly exaggerated. 

Kowaku no Toki

22. The ruling majority of the female population has boobs about this size:

Mother Daughter Danburi

23. Reason for sex? Well, I've caught a disease..

Dakakute ecchi na ore no ane

24. Sperm "cures" everything.

25. Women and their bloody deflowering. Darling, the blood seeps out 30 seconds later.
26. Thick. Sturdy. Dicks.
Why, it happens all the time!
27. Large [realistically, RARE] amounts of cum/semen
28.  On-the-toilet sex. Hmm, kinky.
29. All teachers at small schools will be raped..
30. Speaking of which, there is only one rapist: the kid who does everyone.
31. The Faster, The Better!
32. Spies.
Who happen to be your random unmentioned friend.

Dakakute  ecchi na ore no ane

33.Cum in, never out.
34. Never have we ever used a condom. That's why, in the end, there's always a high chance for pregnancy!
35. The pussy's usually wide, yet tight. What's wrong with tight and small????
36. Of course, the same positions and orgies. Come to think of it, that's one overall downside to sex in general ~ predictability and scenario. No wonder why the idea of fucking with strangers is oddly  enthralling .
37. All in -- always. Only in porn can you just squat and circle round his tip :p

38. Spanking feels good to females. At some point .
39. Bondage ~ no woman is ever resilient to this practice.
40. Monologue about her twat's feelings.
41. The madnesses of [sexual] ecstasy: lust and obsession with dominance. . . while this is also realistic at times, sometimes animation execs just love fucking wit u

Today was the end of the first of three grading periods for the first semester. America is composed of 50 individualized states with its own education systems, political laws, etc. Except under federalism (the distribution of powers and responsibilities between the national and state level of governments), the states have rights to reject and set laws and standards. There are different high school and perhaps university graduation plans that have various amounts of required courses, credits, etc. Even globally, Canada may take shorter a time to graduate university, but there are only a few 'American Equivalents.' Whether you need 18, 20, or 32 credits to graduate, the end result is a graduation.

I was able to pull off all As minus one B in English. I may not have accomplished my objective grades (like a 100 in Biology...), but I've accumulated handfuls of survival tips for you panicked freshmen-to-be in half a year.