House of the Dragon: How They’re Adapting It (And What I think)

If you haven’t been living like Patrick Star, you’ve probably heard about the latest HBO flagship series, House of the Dragon.

Despite all the claims made about the franchise’s death, the cultural juggernaut that is Game of Thrones has resurfaced.

This time, everyone’s favorite dark fantasy politicking show is set during a famous Targaryen civil war.

As someone who’s read the books, I’m going to do what book readers do best: nitpick about the changes.

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Sonny Boy: The Deconstruction of a Trope

Isekai is a trope that has been gaining tremendous popularity in both manga and anime. This sub-genre entails MCs being transported to another world. This new world usually lies in another dimension where they have no option of going back home. What the other world contains – well the options are too many. It is generally a medieval world and is much simpler and less busy than our world. But that’s where the similarities of this genre end. The anime and manga can then go into the reverse harem, knights tale, a slice of life – anything goes.

The main appeal of this genre is pure escapism. At present, life just feels like a huge struggle to make ends meet for most people. So, who among us has not fantasized about leaving it all behind? This feels especially relevant in the workaholic culture of Japan, so no wonder it is so popular.

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Killing Joke: People Missing What ‘One Bad Day’ Means

Batman: The Killing Joke is one of those comic books that needs no introduction.

As one of the most iconic stories involving the Joker, Killing Joke has a massive influence on the character’s portrayal in modern times.

But I’m not here to wax poetics about how good Killing Joke is. It doesn’t need to be shilled any further.

I’m just going to complain about how some people out there dare to have different opinions than me.

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JBL Endurance Peak II Review: Or How I Learned to Hate It Even More

We all made fun of AirPods back when they came out but look where we are…

While I still think the stems look super weird, I can’t deny that the convenience of wireless has a certain appeal.

But like a lot of Apple products, AirPods (Pro or Amateur) will give you a rude awakening once you see the price.

But there’s cheaper alternatives, right?

Definitely, but the answer isn’t whatever the fuck I ended up buying.

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Belle Review: Stylish but Unconvincing

I’ll admit it right away, I’m not the biggest fan of Mamoru Hosoda’s work. They’re really well-made movies with beautiful art and animation but I just don’t connect with them for one reason or another.

I almost feel bad because I usually don’t have any good reasons for that either.

Sure, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Your Name, but I can pinpoint a few things that I felt didn’t work well. With Hosoda’s movies, they’re generally pretty alright, but I just dislike them for reasons I can’t justify properly.

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Best Books Featuring Anti-Heroes/Anti-Heroines

People love a good anti-hero. A large part of this might be the fact that no one we know in real life is as good and bad a character. Another reason might be that we go around hiding our darker impulses every day. And a good anti-hero character shows us that we can all be liked and even loved despite them.

Unlike a villain, an anti-hero still evokes sympathy and affection from the readers. Being a hero and having a conventional heroic character is hard. We can’t and don’t always come out in our life are idealistic, brave, and moral.

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What I Want the Average Movie Experience To Be – A Review of The Power of The Dog

So I was watching The Power of the Dog the other day and to be honest I did not love it. But despite this, I had a wonderful time watching it! The viewing experience was really pleasant. And it sort of made me wonder how nice it would be if the whole average movie experience would feel like this.

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Colorful Desires and Colorless Culture – Seto Dharti 10 Years Later

[Originally posted in Nepali Sansar]

Seto Dharti, one of the most important books in modern literature, turns 10 this year. The book follows the story of a child widow as she goes through many hardships in her life. Tara was born on the date of the 1934 earthquake. This was one of the worst earthquakes in the country’s history. Gandhi claimed it was providential retribution for India’s failure to eradicate untouchability. Continue reading “Colorful Desires and Colorless Culture – Seto Dharti 10 Years Later” →

The Heroes That We Needed – Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Review

Unless you’re living under a rock (which I hope you’re not, wouldn’t be comfortable), you’ve heard of the Demon Slayer series. Adapted from the manga of the same name, the series has been the new glorious thing to come out of Japan. It had been popular enough on its own, but the Mugen Train movie seems to have helped it reach a new high.

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Mental Illness is the Twist! A Review of The Last House on the Needless Street

Spoilers Ahead

The Last House on the Needless Street is a horror book written by Catriona Ward that follows Ted, a suspect in a missing child case from 11 years ago and is told through multiple points of view including one from Ted’s cat Olivia.

The book has been highly praised by numerous high profile authors including Joane Harris, Joe Hill, and the King of horror himself, Stephen King. King had even gone on to state that he hadn’t read anything this exciting since Gone Girl.

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