Wednesdaymania 231: G1 29 in Ota City Tokyo

G1 Climax 29; Night 2, Ota City General Gymnasium, Tokyo

I don't know that I'll do every day of the G1 tournament, but I felt like running down just the Ota City Gymnasium matches, which should be fun :)

The first thing I'd like to note is that this G1 seems to be commentated in English by the most excellent threesome of Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero, and Chris Charleton. Kevin Kelly is, of course a veteran of the announcing/commentary scene, and Rocky Romero has been calling spots for years both as a wrestler and as a really funny manager. Chris Charleton was a nerd on Twitter translating as much of New Japan's content as he could just for funsies.

This is the kind of commentary team I love most, I must admit: The Straight Man, The Comedian, and The Nerd. It's why I liked the team of  Schiavone, Heenan, and Tenay on WCW matches. Sciavone was the whitebread middle man who may not have been the most knowledgeable about wrestling, but he maintained as much decorum as he could. Heenan would mercilessly taunt the Faces (good guys) and tout the Heels (bad guys) and make as many jokes as he could (though in his case, that was just to keep his interest up...). And then you had Mike Tenay. Mike Tenay was an absolute pocket protector nerd when it came to wrestling - he knew all of the Luchadores and their backgrounds, he knew a spinning heel kick from a moonsault, and he could explain what you were seeing in the ring.

In the case of the G1-29 commentary ring, the roles are a little muddied, but that's kind of how things are these days, where we understand that the world is not a dichotomy of good vs evil, but instead has many qualities native to all people. I mean, good and evil still exist, don't get me wrong - some things (like rescuing people who need rescuing or caring for the sick for instance) are inherently good, and some things (like being abusive or the overaccumulation of wealth for the purpose of keeping it away from those who have nothing, for instance) are inherently evil, but that's not germane to this particular instance.

The G1-29 commentary trio has Kevin Kelly's experience backing up his announcing, and he knows the moves and the wrestlers, so he's not as reliant on the expertise of others. Rocky Romero knows more than just how to throw or take a punch, since he's been as much a behind-the-scenes man as he has been a wrestler or manager, so he's not as reliant on Kevin or Chris to tell what's what. Chris, however, lacks the experience of either man, but he's a far more reliable translator than either for word and intent. Instead of being three absolute archetypes, we have a group of men who feel like they're friends with one another, talking about the sporting event they see in front of them, each bringing their own unique perspective and nerding out about the things that make them happy.

But you're not here to listen to me espouse the glory that is the New Japan English Commentary Team. You're here for the G1. I'm going to have to apologize for the lack of photos here - it was pretty hard to pin down all but the singles matches.


MATCH 1: A six-man tag between Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, Sanada, BUSHI) and the team of Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay and young lion Yuya Uemura

I think I may have mentioned before that "young lions" are the young men who are training to become wrestlers. Yuya Uemura is one of these young lions, and he's been placed on a team with Ibushi and Ospreay, which I think says a lot about how well New Japan feels he's doing! Yes, when young lions are part of these matches, they're usually there to lose so that the team they're a part of doesn't lose any respect, but it is a clear indicator that the company believes the young man is worthy of a match with not just three other great wrestlers, but five! It does, however, mean that they still have questions about his stamina, since six-man tag matches rarely have two of the same people in the ring for more than a few minutes at a time.

This match is great - EVIL starts off by trying to destroy Ibushi's pre-injured ankle, and Ibushi sells the injury like Flo sells Progressive - aggressively and loudly. The match then proceeds to behave like a six man tag usually does - with multiple tags in and out on both parties. Ospreay gets some good offense in, and everyone teases their best moves on each other. I like Yuya Uemura's Boston Crab - it's got some oomph and he really lays it in. My only complaint about the Crab is that he lets it loose too easily. That's likely because it would signal disrespect to the more experienced BUSHI (who he laid it onto) if he really fought him on it? I don't know.

Regardless, within a few more moves, BUSHI pins Uemura at 7:59, and it was a pretty fun nearly eight minutes of my life! I think that this match really showed that EVIL is a legitimate contender in this G1, which is really cool for Z, who is possibly EVIL's biggest fan.


MATCH 2: A tag match between the Bullet Club (Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale) and Suzuki-Gun (Lance Archer and Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

This match begins with the best flub of the G1. Bless Kevin Kelly, it's hard to say as much as he says as clearly as he says it as quickly as he speaks, so while I knew he was trying to say "The Rogue General" when talking about how long it's been since Fale had been submitted in the G1, he did not sound like he said "general".

I promise you, he said "The Rogue Genital". And I had to pause the match while I howled. Thankfully, it was only during the entrance!

As always with the Bullet Club, I groan whenever I see Chase Owens, whose chief importance to the Bullet Club seems to be a willingness to lie down when necessary. To be certain, this is a vital function, but please, do not push someone as a jobber in the ring and then tell the announcers to tell us that said Jobber is just as dynamic and incredible as everyone else on the team...

There's some good storytelling in this match. Archer wants Fale, Fale wants Archer, Kanemaru wants alcohol, and Owens just wants to keep Fale safe. I do respect that about his character. He'll tag in to take any beating for anyone from anyone. At one point, he's trying to batter Archer, who has none of it and just... punishes him. Eventually, Kanemaru tags in and he and Owens do a little mat wrestling, which, I'll admit, was pretty impressive, especially considering how little I usually enjoy watching Owens work. He's improved!

Of course, no way is Owens going to take down Kanemaru, even though Kanemaru is kind of the Owens of Suzuki-Gun (with Tai Chi being a garbage off-brand cosplay Yano), so both Archer and Fale get back in the ring. They both perform enormous chokeslams on their smaller opponents (Fale throttling Kanemaru while Archer manhandles Owens) and the resulting impact is so severe that the poor ref tumbles to the mat, protesting the whole time. It's great.

Archer and Fale wound up brawling into the arena, which muddied the in-ring match for a while, and then my heart stopped.

What. The. Heck.

Chase

Owens

pinned

Kanemaru.

Chase Owens has a win. What is happening?!

Now, to be completely fair, Owens beat Kanemaru with possibly the prettiest Package Pile Driver I've ever seen from him. It was just a really well-executed pile driver, and I'm in shock.

If you want to spend 5:59 in utter confusion but still enjoy yourself, this is a good match!


MATCH 3: Another six-man tag match. Team 1 is lead by KENTA and has young lions Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks. Team 2 is lead by Hiroshi Tanahashi and has young lions Shota Umino and Ren Narita

I... was not expecting this match either. I like the idea of KENTA vs Tanahashi. I've never seen Connors or Fredericks before. I love both Umino and Narita, who I feel are going to be the next Roppongi 3K, but much more technical. Very cool!

It starts as a bit of a cluster, with everyone trying to kill each other at first before settling down and having Connors start with Narita. They're so, so good. The LA Dojo guys seem pretty polished, especially considering the LA Dojo has only been open since March of last year. The mat wrestling between Connors and Narita is crisp and realistic (there's a struggle for control against each other that I don't see in a lot of US wrestlers here in the states). They act like this is a real fight where they don't know the ending and might not eat tonight if they don't win. I like that.

Shota Umino really wants Fredericks, much to Connors' disdain. Still, he obliges and lets his partner in when Narita tags Umino in. Why are young lions so darn good when they're so darn young and new to the business? Seriously, it's almost like the Dojos in Japan and LA are these weird mad science labs where regular people walk in and fully formed wrestlers walk out within a few short years of training. A lot of the guys I've been seeing, (Fredericks, Connors, Umino, and Narita included) show up in New Japan matches wrestling better than people who've been on NXT for twice as long. It's... incredible.

Umino and Fredericks are power guys. They muscle each other around, they trash talk each other, they even test each other's strength, and the overall result is that I desperately want their post-excursion personas to show up tomorrow, even though I know that's not how it works. They're going to be amazing. They're going to make their trainers so proud. They're going to impress the heck outta you.

I'm a little confused, though. KENTA is being set up as something of a Heel - which I understand since he wandered around with other, competing companies before coming to New Japan (remember, he was Hideo Itami in the WWE, but he also used to work for Pro-Wrestling Noah), and he also trained Taichi, which... uh, total heel move, bro - but the young lions working with Babyface Extraordinaire (super mega good guy) Tanahashi double-team Fredericks after knocking the shockingly well-behaved Connors and Kenta off of the apron? What is going on here? That's not a good-guy move, especially as unprovoked as it is...

Now, KENTA does not take this lying down, of course, so when he eventually gets tagged into the ring with Umino, he just wallops him until he lays down like a sack of damp towels. Eventually, after a lot of beating up on Shota Umino, tagging the LA boys (Connors and Fredericks) in and out, KENTA gets what he's wanted this whole match - the man he faces the next day in a singles match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi.

The two absolutely pummel each other with some really stiff forearms, acting like they get paid by the elbow strike. After beating up on one another, Tanahashi gets KENTA into a truly uncomfortable-looking Cloverleaf. The only thing that saves KENTA is the timely interference of Connors. Eventually, Fredericks is tagged back in and goes to town with Narita, chopping away like proper lumberjacks. I don't really like Narita's Boston Crab, I'll admit, but he's a suplex machine. Two really brutal suplexes fail to put Federicks away, however, and he launches a truly amazing standing dropkick that looked like a shotgun blast to Narita's face.

Fredericks, apparently being the bizarre love child of Eddie Guerrero and Scott Hall, deploys his exaggerated limbs with incredible accuracy. He lays in a vicious half-crab on Narita, bending the man in half backwards. There is no escape for Narita, who collapses to the floor, balanced only on his pectorals and screaming in pain. He submits at the 11:13 mark.

Somehow, that was only the third match on the card. I was nearly exhausted at this point.


MATCH 4: A tag match between Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki) and CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi)

This match starts with a gift to the fans - the opening pair is Zach Sabre Jr vs Kazuhcika Okada, two men who hate each other's guts, and who seem to be allergic to having bad matches. They tangle immediately and I'm not entirely sure whether Okada was just yelling ZSJ's name or if he was cursing in very rude English as he made his attack...

After the tags, Suzuki drags Yoshi-Hashi into the arena and batters him with a barricade, but Yoshi-Hashi gets back into the ring before the countout. Suzuki, it seems, is pretty unhappy with being left out of the G1 proper, but Yoshi-Hashi is pretty used to it at this point, so Suzuki is much more angry than Yoshi-Hashi. Suzuki sends ZSJ in for the kill after trying to submit Yoshi-Hashi, quickly followed by multiple tags in and out between Suzuki and ZSJ, who take turns twisting Yoshi-Hashi's arm around as cruelly as they can. It's great.

Having his face rearranged by the ring apron last year really sparked something in Yoshi-Hashi, I think, since he's suddenly much better able to go toe-to-toe with Minoru Suzuki now. He delivers some truly vicious chops to Suzuki, who responds with equally vicious forearms, but Yoshi will not fall, delivering a horrifying chop and a really painful-looking clothesline. Then we return to Okada vs ZSJ.

ZSJ just immediately starts wrapping Okada into knots, with Okada fighting every step of the way. Once that Octopus Stretch is locked, though, there's only so much you can do. At least, that's true if you're alone, but Yoshi-Hashi escapes from Suzuki's clutches off camera and runs in to break up the submission, followed by a furious Suzuki. When ZSJ eventually tries to Octopus Okada again, he responds by turning the initial hold into an Armdrag to throw ZSJ off!

Eventually, Yoshi-Hashi is tagged back in, however, to do his job, which is, of course, the job - he is submitted by one of  ZSJ's cruelest armbars at the 11:16 mark. If you're into submissions and watching people hate each other, this is a great match for that. If you're into great wrestling, this is a great match for that, too.


MATCH 5: Juice Robinson vs Shingo Takagi

Shingo Takagi is amazing, and he's a truly worthy opponent for Juice Robinson. I remember when Juice was just CJ Parker, some dweeb with dreds and a sign in WWE. It was a garbage gimmick that he did his best to get over (popular), and the best things it did were a) give a basis for the new Daniel Bryan gimmick they're doing, and b) get New Japan's attention so they hired Juice.

This match is brutal. I love that these two are really feeling each other out and learning how to fight one another. It's a very American-feeling match at first, two, with several tests of strength where they run into one another, and then ending up going outside with a DDT from Shingo to Juice on the floor. Ouch. The crowd cannot decide who they love more, the charismatic and fun-to-watch Juice Robinson, or the hard-hitting and dangerous Dragon, Shingo Takagi. Watching both men realize that the crowd is in love with them is wonderful. Juice seems a little disappointed to lose some fans, but he also seems pleased to have helped get Takagi more love.

Juice takes a horrifying lariat and intentionally lands on his head, crawling to a turnbuckle to help him get up. He replies by trying to Cannonball Takagi, but Shingo moves. Shingo deadlifts Juice legs-first over his head with a dreadful slam, and it's gorgeous.

Robinson eventually no-sells (shows no pain from) a brutal suplex, sweat blistering off of both men's bodies, and the two have been so dynamite that the referee is freaking out with every move. Shingo nearly pins Juice with a truly explosive lariat, but Juice kicks out. The crowd are going nuts by the end of this match. Juice is pouring sweat when he finally lands Pulp Friction on Takagi for the win at 14:41.


MATCH 6: Jon Moxley vs Taichi

I wish Taichi would retire.

Moxley enters through the crows, only to be assaulted by Taichi in the crowd. The match has not begun yet, and the men are already brutalizing each other. When they finally do get to the ring, Moxley grabs a table from underneath. Why the referee doesn't disqualify both men for various reasons is anyone's guess. Poor Miho is screaming on the outside the whole time, which, to be honest, is some of the coolest work she's ever done. She's really come into her own as a valet in this match. Moxley blasts Taichi through the table, flipping Miho off and saying "Sucks, don't it?" to her and blowing her a kiss as he runs back into the ring where he tries to pin Taichi. This match is already too long. At one point, they involve the chair, and I laughed when the ref was just as upset by Jon removing the chair as he was when the chair was introduced. Moxley then proceeds to give Taichi a murderous Death Rider for a victory in an eternal 7:36.


MATCH 6: Toru Yano vs Tetsuya Naito

What did Naito do? Seriously. Who has he ticked off backstage to be put up against Toru Yano? Honestly, though, the best part of this match is when Rocky Romero tells Kevin Kelly that the turnbuckles have names - Tom and Steve, specifically. Is Naito injured? Why else would this match be so short and end with an upset victory of Yano pulling Naito's shirt over his head, spearing him, and rolling him up in a pitiful 3:42. Ugh.


MATCH 8: Tomohiro Ishii vs Jeff Cobb

You remember that scene in the Godzilla movie with Bryan Cranston when Ken Watanabe said "Let Them Fight"?

Yeah, that's basically this match. These are two monsters you really want to see fight each other and they do not disappoint. It's two huge guys who don't feel pain just... beating each other to a pulp. It's not just some slobberknocker, though. It's a match built on momentum and selling (or not selling) the strength of each other's moves. It's clear that they feel pain, but each man wants to pretend that they are immune to knife-edge chops and brutal forearms. Jeff Cobb lands a stalling superplex on Ishii at one point from the second rope, but Ishii refuses to lay down. It's insane. There's more deadlifting in this match than in the last six Olympic games and more headbutts than most whole pay-per-views contain. This is insane. How both men aren't dead, I don't think I'll ever understand. It takes a Vertical Drop Brainbuster from Ishii for him to pin Cobb after a horrifyingly, amazingly brutal 18:33.

This is a nearly twenty minute match that I will happily watch again, especially if I have to convince someone that very big men can still really get their move on in the ring.


FINAL MATCH (9): Hirooki Goto vs Jay White

I'm not a huge fan of Goto. Or at least, I haven't been. According to Rocky and Kevin Kelly, Goto has been training with my guy Katsuyori Shibata, and after this totally bananas match, I absolutely believe it. Is Goto my new favorite? Absolutely not. He's still pretty blandsauce, but he has improved by leaps and bounds since the last match of his I saw. I'm almost certain, however, that about 33 1/3% of the improvement he's showing here is the result of having a fantastic opponent like Jay White. I don't know that he could have this match with anyone else.

I will not give you a blow-by-blow on this, because it's too crazy to tell you much. I'll tell you that I loved Rocky giving out about how much he hates "that traitor" Gedo, and I can say that I've never seen Goto move this smoothly, but he absolutely earns the finish.

If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading and go watch the match on the New Japan site.

...

You ready?

Goto actually does it. He defeats Jay White legitimately, he does it well, and he does it in a way where I want to see his next match. It takes him a very fulfilling 21:06 to do it, and there is plenty of down-time where one man or another or both are taking a breather on the mat or on the floor or whatever, but it's a match that flows and makes sense and... I don't mind watching it again?

2019 is the year of the Upset, and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it...

Goto being more than just competent, but being enjoyable to watch...

Wow.

I think that about does it for me. This was a nearly three hour long pay-per-view and over 57% of it was just wrestling. The rest was waiting for the show to start, waiting for the matches to start, and a few breaks here and there. It's a really easy watch if you're looking for something to fill a few hours - and it's incredible!

10/10 would watch again. Even if there is a Taichi match...

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Talk About Tuesday 231

It's another edition of "The Filthy Casual Talks About the Weather"!

Well, fancy folks, it's hot out and muggy and I couldn't sleep very well last night, so please forgive me if I'm faintly incoherent :)

Today is sunny and hazy, and while we do seem to have a breeze slowly swaying the treetops like some sort of washed-out-chartreuse ocean's waves, it's not doing much to hide the fact that it's 84℉ (~29℃) and about 56% humidity. That makes it feel like 87℉ (~30℃)... and it's getting hotter. I predict we'll hit about 88℉/31℃ or so by 2PM, which will suck.

This week is going to be hard for me, not just because of the heat uptick but also because tomorrow begins the weekend from Hell in this little burb. See, my hometown is on the coast, and there's this obsession with eating everything the ocean vomits into a metal box thrown over the side of a boat. Crustacean celebrations are about to commence, and it's a terrible time to be a local. If you own a business, you get to watch the tourists climb into their cars and go to more glamorous towns to buy things that are overpriced even compared to our inflated values. If you're a local, you can no longer go to work on time because every available cab is catering to out-of-towners who can't find the bar they want to day drink at without someone literally driving them up to the door. You cannot escape the stench of boiled sea bugs. It permeates the soggy air with an undertone of unwashed carnie as the fairgrounds are set up and the Zipper and Ferris Wheel dominate the downtown skyline.

I'll admit, it can be a beautiful sight as the fog rolls in and begins to bloom the lights - neon and incandescence flooding the night - but it's murder to walk near. Public drunkenness laws go out the window, no one can follow the plentiful and clearly made One Way Only signs, and as a pedestrian, it's the worst. If you're going to go eat seafood at a fair in a small town, please take the locals into consideration and be on your best behavior. I'd do the same for you at a sushi festival or a taco extravaganza. Then again, I wouldn't be driving...

Complaints aside, though, I'm kind of looking forward to the coming week. I've got three great movies I can talk about, I've got more crochet to do, I've got art to create, I've got stories to write, I've got wrestling to watch, and I've got games to play... I also need to cook at some point...

Here's this week's tentative schedule:

• Tomorrow I'll be talking about some of the G1 matches I've been watching (which should be awesome)
• Thursday will involve art - possibly bread related, possibly sandwich related?
• Friday will be about a silly movie about evil cats, though I'll have to talk about the Wesley Snipes movie I watched at some point, and I also watched a weird nightmarish murder mystery last night...
• Saturday could involve pizza, but I'm not sure yet.
• Sunday is a bit up in the air - I haven't cooked cooked in a while, so there's no recipe currently photographed on my phone. I miiiiiiiight have to fudge things a bit, so I hope you'll forgive me.
• Monday will result in more skull progress, which I can promise is coming to an end soon because the ball of thread is now about the size of a Clementine.
• Next Tuesday, I'll yap at you some more about life and the upcoming week.

So how is everyone else doing today? I'm really doing alright, all complaining aside. The AC is on. I have coffee and water. I'm chilling out with my laptop and watching the temperature go up. I do plan on going out today, so that could be... interesting. Hopefully, I'll be able to snag a ride from someone instead of having to hoof it :P

I think that'll about do it for me today, guys. I need more coffee and I'm probably going to go watch some videos for a bit.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday 231: More, More, More

I've been hard at work today, and it should show:

Here's our shawl in all of its unfinished glory!

It's about 39 inches long (that's about 99cm for the rest of the world)

And for length, it's about 20 inches from top to tip (~51cm)

See? I like this measuring tape, btw. It's much more flexible than my white tape.

I'm still working on those shorts from last week, so here's my progress on those:

I still don't entirely understand the instructions, but I'm doing my best...

I'm also reworking a fancy purple silk/merino shrug based off of this pattern, and that's going pretty well right now! I took the repeated motif and stretched it out so that it's a little over 30 inches wide and a little over 16 inches long, which will make a rectangle. I'll sew the ends in by about 5 inches on either side to make a partial tube, and then I'll make some lace to go around the arm holes and the shrug opening :)

That'll about do it for me today, guys.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Survival Sunday 230: Baking a Pound Cake

Good afternoon, lovely people! I've just finished uploading the video portion of today's blog to my YouTube channel as I type this! I'm pretty excited about this week's video, and the blog portion. Sadly, I didn't take many photos, since I had to use my phone to film and I hate stitching together video clips in my editing software. I may not have many photos, but I do have this:

Full Disclosure: This recipe was for the Lemon Pound Cake via Domino Sugar.

If you'd like to find the full recipe, it's here. I substituted orange juice for the lemon and it worked just fine! Also, I didn't make the sauce because I don't want diabetes.

Without further ado, here is today's video portion of the blog (forgive the random shot of my foot, please!)

And there you have it! A video with photos of me making a pound cake. It should tell you something that every time I went through the kitchen there was less and less of it. It's a dense, sweet, lovely cake, too, with a light orange fragrance and flavor that really brings summer into your mouth.

The next time I make this, I should also add some shredded candied orange peel and serve it with orange-flavored whipped cream and maybe even some tiny Mandarin orange slices! That would be delightful, I think :)

That's all from me today!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Saturday Casual Gaming 230: Merge City

Sphere Games Studios made this merging game!

So, you might have noticed that I'm really getting into these merging games - you take two of the same item, you drag one on top of the other, bam, new item. Do this until you win. Or get bored. Or both. I like the monotony, believe it or not. Monotony is my jam.

So are neon colors and building things, so this Sphere Game Studios offering on Android is absolutely tailor-made for me.

You start off with a limited amount of space.

In the early game, you have just the nine spaces in the center, but as you level up (by merging more and more buildings together) you don't just gain new styles of building, you also earn more spaces in your city! There looks like there's a lot going on here, but don't worry, it's not as complex as you might think.

The double arrow button is just a cash shop where you can spend real money to gain some in-game bonuses. I'm not a cash-shop person, but if you feel a burning desire to support Sphere Games Studio, that's certainly a fast way to do so!

The medal button leads to your Achievements - these will earn you more coins as you go along, so keep an eye out and tap it when it throws up a little red bubble with a white exclamation point - that means you have a new Achievement to check!

The last button on the left is the x2 button. This is... pretty self-explanatory - it's a way of doubling income from your houses by watching an ad.

On the upper left are your gear button - a way to check out in-game options like volume (though I haven't heard any music?) notifications, language, etc - and your bar-graph button - which is the leaderboard. I'm in more than 4000th place...

On the upper right, there's a game pad button. This enables a mini-game where you try to stack blocks all the way to the top of the screen without them collapsing. I suck at this game, and it was impossible for me to play it and take a screenshot, so... sorry about that.

On the bottom right, there are three buttons (eventually). On the top, you'll have a globe button, which will take you to a new city or "world" when you reach a high enough level. Below that is a standard shop button, which you can access to buy buildings from with your coins!

Below that is a little house with a number - this is a quick-buy for a house. I haven't had much use for it, but it's cool to see the box color be yellow instead of the red, blue, or purple boxes I'm used to.

Speaking of boxes...

As usually happens in games like this, you have boxes which your buildings come in. The red boxes are your normal buildings - the lowest level ones you can get, usually. The blue boxes are higher-level buildings that appear randomly as a bonus as you play. Purple boxes are bonus coins! All of these boxes are free and can either be tapped into existence on the center bottom box button, or they'll time into being on their own, slowly filling your board!

Eventually, you'll get enough levels to gain another city/world.

One of the chief complaints I've seen on this game is that it's just what it says - a merging game. I don't really see how that's a bad thing. Yes, these games can get tedious. Yes, they can be hard to manage over time. No, I don't mind - that's half the fun!

So if the only real complaint I've seen is that the game is honest about its nature, that's not so bad, eh?

One last note: on occasion, you'll see a paper airplane gliding over the city. This is another ad opportunity where you can get bonuses by clicking on it. Otherwise, I haven't been bombarded by ads at all!

Overall, I'd say that Merge City is a really pleasant, simple game with some stunning visuals. I love the eternal sunset background on these floating cities, and the gameplay is fun while not being too taxing. It's a perfect bus-ride game!

That'll do it for me today, guys!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Filmic Friday 230: The Last Black Man in San Francisco

If you are able to see this movie, do it.

Sometimes you watch a movie and it's just a movie. You sit back with your popcorn and your soft drink, you stare at the scene, and the pictures move, and you're watching a movie. It doesn't affect you. It doesn't make you uncomfortable or make you think or tell you anything new.

But sometimes, you go to a movie and you cannot deny to yourself that filmmaking is an art.

That actors are powerful beings.

That writers are something approaching gods of the heart and mind.

That directors are just as magical as painters when it comes to transporting you to another world.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is ART.

When I saw the trailer for it, I knew I'd like it - the sun-soaked scenery, the strange, quirky characters, the beautiful setting of California...

I was not in any way prepared for this to be as beautiful as it was.

This movie is the story of Jimmie Fails (playing himself), a black man living in, as you might expect, San Francisco. He lives with his friend Montgomery Allen, an aspiring playwright and director and artist (played by Jonathan Majors). We open on the two waiting for a bus into the city while a street preacher cries out against the dangers of the polluted waters and the hypocrisy of the cleanup efforts.

Majors' performance is exquisite, I feel. He's both ethereal and completely human.
Fails is amazing, with complete control over himself and his craft, and I'm completely in awe.

The two eventually give up on the bus, riding into town on Jimmie's skateboard in one of the most beautifully choreographed rides I've ever seen on film. With San Francisco's golden sun beaming down and the city coming alive around them, it's one of the most incredible ways I've been consumed by a film opening ever. I'm not kidding - with every turn and perfectly timed push, it was like some sort of beautiful hypnosis, bringing me into the world of the film and welcoming me into their lives.

Eventually, they arrive at there destination - a gorgeous mansion in the Fillmore District, which they carefully break into.

But they're not here to cause any kind of trouble...

Jimmie excitedly points out the proper paint color of the wrought iron gate before having Montgomery keep a lookout for him. It's now that we see why they've come.

They're here because Jimmie wants to paint the trim.

Yeah - it's a strange, wonderful movie. Buckle up

See, Montgomery gets distracted with his drawings (which are, by the way, incredible), so the homeowners suddenly appear. The wife begins hurling produce at Jimmie and asking him why he won't just leave them alone, all while her husband tells her that Jimmie's only being helpful and they are not calling the police and look, he's taking better care of the place than they are, and calm down!

My favorite part is where she tells him to GET THE F*** OUT OF HER BIRDIE BAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!

But why is Jimmie obsessed with this one mansion? Because when he was a kid, before his father lost everything to his drug addiction and conman ways, this was his home - a home he maintains was built by his grandfather.

This movie is about Jimmie's quest to reclaim this piece of his past - home of his only happy childhood memories, as it turns out - and to take back some of what San Francisco's gentrification has stolen from him and others like him.

Things really pick up when the rich white couple are forced to move out due to the woman's mother dying (which means the angry birdie-bath lady didn't even own the house!), and Jimmie sees his opening.

And, of course, promptly seizes it.

This movie isn't about the house itself, though. It definitely wants you to start out thinking that, sure, but that's not the purpose. It's not the San Francisco version of Flip or Flop. It's a movie about gentrification, the black experience in America, and the perfect impermanence of all things in life.

Because Jimmie doesn't own this house. No one does.

It's not about Jimmie finally getting his childhood home back. It's not about Montgomery putting on a play in the attic (though it's a truly potent scene). It's not about Jimmie's mother fluttering into and out of his life like whirlwind without ever touching down. It's not about Jimmie's father selling bootleg dvds out of a Single Room Occupancy unit. It's not about Montgomery's relationship with his aging, blind father and their love of D.O.A. It's not even about the Chorus - a group of tough guys who hang out in front of Montgomery's house.

It's about life and knowing when to let go of the past.

Although I'd love a movie about the Chorus guys here.
They rock.

Seriously, though, everyone in this movie is incredible. Danny Glover is fantastic as Mont's dad. Daewon Song (yes, the skateboarder) made me howl as Jimmie's uncle. But I feel like one of the actors to watch out for is Jamal Truelove, who played Kofi. He's the one in the yellowish jacket at the far right. The first time you see these guys, you don't think they're anyone important - just a bunch of guys hanging out and talking trash in front of the only house they haven't been chased away from.

But Kofi becomes such an important character, and it wouldn't have had anywhere near the impact it did from an actor who wasn't so good.



If you only see one movie this year, definitely make it this one. The Last Black Man is strongly anti-gentrification without being preachy, it refuses to crank up the white guilt (after all, nothing really belongs to anyone in this movie), but it lets you see the way things are from a perspective I cannot access on my own.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a masterpiece, and you should see it.

Also, it references I Got Five On It, which is awesome because who knew that would be the song every movie uses this year?!

Go Enjoy Something (preferably this movie!)

FC

Thursday Art Walk 230: Sketching is Hard

Welcome to Today's Art Blog

Today has been a long one - I started by trying to sketch out a pair of characters, but I hate how they're coming along, so I'll probably scrap it and start over. These characters are from a set of stories I refer to as the Scarlet Rose stories, though they're technically from the offshoot, Spook Patrol. These two are supposed to be scaredy-cat Spencer Jaziri-Wyrick and Executive Producer Sara Goldstellar. Unfortunately, I cannot draw people worth a damn, so I'm just going to have to work on that... a lot.  Like... a lot a lot.

I refuse to embiggen this.
Yikes. This is very very bad.
It looks like a child drew it :(

On the other hand, I also had some inspiration to draw the worst cat I've ever drawn, so when I finished it, I just had to add some snark.

He's so DERP DERP!

I feel I should also mention that I'm actually kind of looking forward to the new CATS movie. It's not because I think it'll be any good. I hope they don't change anything. I want to see this trainwreck in action with friends. I think it's going to be the 21st century equivalent of The Apple or the second coming of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark!

I cannot wait!

So that's been my day - struggling to make people look like people and drawing the derpiest cat on Earth. Sometimes that's just how it goes, lol!

That'll do it for me

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 230: Sumo, AEW, and More!

Well, this has been a fairly quiet week on the me-watching-pro-wrestling end of things, but it hasn't been too quiet!

Spoilers: Kakuryuu won!

First up, let me offer my congratulations to Kakuryuu for kicking butt in this season's Sumo tournament. The Nagoya Basho of 2019 was a whirlwind of emotion. Hakuho very nearly got the Yusho (which means that he nearly won the tournament overall), but he could not put down older Yokozuna Kakuryuu, who he struggled against in the final bout. The two make excellent rivals, and I hope they can keep up the pace next Basho (tournament)!

Sadly, my favorite, Takayasu, had to bow out late in the game due to what seemed like a very bad bicep/elbow injury, but there were some stunning bouts early on, and he wasn't alone in the "very good work" department. Several newcomers and youngsters were able to wow Z and I as we watched, and if you're looking to access sumo for the first time, this is probably the basho to do it on.

If you'd like to watch the two-week extravaganza, I suggest checking out Kintamayama, as he does some great coverage!

These three go together like three plaits on a braid. It's like they were always meant to be!

In AEW news, they're going full steam ahead towards the next PPV, and I'm loving the interplay we're seeing with Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus, and Jungle Boy. Stunt has been hanging around backstage at AEW shows (in storyline) and getting picked on and derided by wrestlers and nonwrestlers alike (Billy Gunn even tells him to "grow up a little" in one sketch) until Luchasaurus voices that he and Jungle Boy have his back. Jungle Boy just about killed me with his great Tarzan spot with Stunt - I was laughing too hard to breathe!

As I was typing all of this up, however, we wound up with some amazing news:

AEW will premier on TNT on October 2nd! We now only have 70 days until AEW is on television! I know I'll be doing my best to watch - will you?

You will never hear the word "tiddlywinks" the same way again...

In other Wrestling talk, Z and I watched a Christmas episode of RAW that... well, it was awful and I loved it. If you were an Attitude Era fan, you probably know what episode I'm eluding to when I say that the reindeer costume Sable was wearing perfectly conveyed the utter depression that storyline caused, and also: wtf Gold Dust? Or rather, the Artist Formerly Known As Gold Dust... lol.

I'm more excited about this episode, though, in a New Japan way, because this RAW took place in Lowell, Massachusetts. It, in fact, takes place in one of the venues New Japan is coming to! If you have the WWE Network and you want to see what the Lowell location looks like before deciding whether or not to go to the New Japan show, give it a gander. It's 12/22/1997, if you need to go by date.

I think that'll about do it for me - Z and I are planning on catching up with New Japan's G1 Tournament today, so you may hear more about it from me next week.

Until then...

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Talk About Tuesday 230

It's finally not a million degrees out there. The air is cool and damp - it feels like fall, almost, and I'm absolutely down with that. I'm wrapped up with my extra-big coffee mug next to me, typing away. My desktop is littered with text documents of varying lengths, and I'm pretty excited for the projects inside them. I've been typing away at the Gimmicksmith, I've been working on a potential graphic novel script, I've been working on my weird cannibal vs possibly insane writer story, and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going with an intentionally trashy story about a shark. So... busy busy.

As for crochet, I'm still working on the shorts, though I have to admit that the Micaela pattern is a bit... obtuse on occasion. I want to make a few other projects after the top and shorts, too, like a plushie version of a pocket shark. If I were really crazy, I'd get some glow-in-the-dark thread to add to black yarn and add hidden pockets that contain glow-in-the-dark glittery fabric... that would be so cool. I also want to work on some other stuffed animals and some character bags.

Art-wise, I kind of want to draw some of the characters from my Scarlet Rose Manor series. This world was created for a graphic novel class in college and was one of the only assignments I got higher than a B- on. I was really proud of it and really enjoyed making it, so suddenly I had a million more ideas for it!

I'm looking forward to watching some more wrestling, too! It's great to see the internet really opening up to wrestling and learning how creative these guys are. I'm still a huge fan of Luchasaurus, too, in case anyone was wondering.

As far as movies go, we watched a really weird one last night, but I still have a plan for this Friday.

Actually, here's a schedule for you:

• Tomorrow I'm going to talk a bit about Sumo and how much I love watching Al Snow talk about wrestling.
• Thursday will have me doing the art thing!
• Friday will absolutely be about The Last Black Man in San Francisco
• Saturday is kind of up in the air - I haven't found a game to talk about yet.
• Sunday will be a baking day on the blog!
• Monday will inevitably contain skulls, but also shorts progress!
• Next Tuesday, I'll be back here blathering away.

So far, today has consisted of trying (and failing) to take pictures of the butterscotch-colored pigeon we've had under our feeder, looking for the cat, drinking coffee, and writing. I'm at 1100 words on the pre-script for my Scarlet Rose based graphic idea, but there's no scriptwriting yet. I'm just nailing down characters and setting at this juncture. After this point, I'll start writing actual scenes. I think I'll enter with my character getting his assignment to go to a spooky haunted island. The project is tentatively called Spook Patrol: Isolation.

Spook Patrol is actually a spinoff of the Scarlet Rose stories which follows one of the side characters, Spencer, through his employment with a fairly bizarre internet-based ghost hunting show called Spook Patrol. Yes, I looked up a list of ghost hunter/paranormal shows and tried to make the dumbest name possible. I like the idea that this group with a stupid name ends up getting entangled with actual eldritch horrors and the only one who has any idea how to survive is the little nerdy guy who secretly has already been there, done that, and has the mental scars to prove it. Poor Spencer...

When I write, I usually like some noise, and depending on what I'm writing, that can either contain vocals or it has to be just plain music. Writing my blog, I like to have YouTube videos playing - either some Let's Plays or someone giving a tutorial on how to sew or something. When I'm writing stories, however, it's usually best to just have music.

If my story is pretty chill at the moment (like most of a story I've been pecking away at called Sorcery Con Leche is), I like to put on some jazz or bossa nova playlists. If I'm writing something a little more hardcore, I'll go with something like video game boss music, metal, or cyberpunk. If I'm just feeling like some sound behind the writing in general, I like to go with lo-fi hip hop or Japanese City Pop. On occasion, I'll want something classical - Satie, Gershwin, Copeland, Stravinsky, etc.

Sometimes I'm feeling... weird. If I'm feeling weird, there's only one band to turn to:

Daikaiju.

Seriously, I love me some psycho-surf, and these guys are some of the best. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Daikaiju make writing feel like a privilege when I use them to back me up. I want to buy every album they've ever put out and play them at full blast until I get the cops knocking down the door with a noise complaint.

Daikaiju are the October Dark of music for me - obscure to most, fantastic, and highly inspirational.

At the end of the day, however, mostly, I just love good music, and any of it helps.

How do you guys get the writing down when you write? Do you use music? What are your guys favorite bands or classical pieces? Let me know in the comments if you could!

Now Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday 230: Never Give Up

I'm not giving up on this shawl...

The skull shawl is taking way too much time, I think. While, yes, 90℉ (~32℃) heat with 60-80% humidity or higher has been far beyond my capacity to withstand with fabric covering one leg and most of one hand, it's not the weather that's slowing me down.

I'm getting bored.

So how do you combat project boredom?

You certainly don't give up. That defeats the purpose of the Project!

No, you just find something else to do for a tiny bit.

That's a 24oz water bottle, btw

My secondary project here is a pair of shorts based on the Micaela pattern from DROPS by Garnstudio. Their pattern calls for a far lighter weight yarn than I'm using, which is why I'm saying they're "based" on Micaela. I plan to also make a version of the Seashore top.

The yarn I'm using is a worsted weight cotton Sugar N Cream I picked up years ago at the local WalMart. This is a huge spool which is perfect for making one big project or several smaller ones (like face cloths or coasters). You can, obviously, use whatever yarn you want, provided you're careful about your gauge and conscious of the weight and drape it'll have on you.

These shorts will probably be used for either swimming or lounging, depending on how they fit (if they fit). If the shorts don't fit, I'll hold off on the Seashore.

The first real round on these calls for some weird skipping and grouping, but the only
stitches I've needed so far are chains, single crochet, and double crochet.

The second row is straight double crochet

And the third alternates double crochet and chain stitches.
Then you make another double crochet round.

I'll be honest, this isn't the best-written pattern I've ever read. I enjoy the ones that are written for slackers or tired grandmas who don't want to have to interpret things overmuch while working. I hope these work out - I haven't made a garment that wasn't an accessory beyond a sweater for one of my nieces ages ago...

I think that'll about do it for me today, though. It's the first good day in a while, temperature-wise, and I'm able to sit in my room comfortably without sweating through my mattress. Ew.

Regardless, it's pretty nice today, and I'd like to enjoy it. I hope things are relatively decent out there for the rest of you, too.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Survival Sunday 229: Oden Again

Remember how I've made oden before? I made it again! This time, I used more water, less powdered oden base, and slightly different ingredients!

To make this oden, I used:

• A small "Graffiti" eggplant
• Much more daikon
• hot dogs
• green onion/scallion
• frozen corn
• generic store-brand frozen shaved steak product
• firm tofu

I brought the hotdogs and scallions from my house in a cooler, which is why they're
in sandwich bags and full of condensation!

From left to right: frozen corn, firm tofu, generic shaved "steak" product

A big daikon chunk!

A very blurry photo of the awesome "Graffiti" eggplant

And, of course, the Oden Base

Prepping the corn in a separate bowl for ease of adding to the pot later.

The first thing I did was add a few cups of water (I didn't really measure this time, though I probably should have) to a pot and then toss the weird meat rectangles in. I figured they'd dissolve into the water over time, but they surprised me by holding up fairly well!

Even if they are a bit terrifying to look at...

My first major surprise of the day happened as the water grew closer and closer to a simmer - there was enough red food dye in that meat that the water turned a horrible shade of blood red

The color did not translate well.
Have you ever had a nosebleed in the shower? Yeah.
That's the color.

 Meanwhile, Z got to chopping and slicing and otherwise prepping the veggies that would go in this weird, wonderful oden:

Z did a fantastic job on the eggplant - it's exactly how I envisioned it!

I was worried that these chunks of daikon would be too big, but since they sat in the pot so long, they were great!

The next step was adding the daikon to the pot:

The meat had pretty well shredded itself into oblivion at this point,
but that was exactly what I wanted, so it worked out well.

Then I added the eggplant and frozen corn. If you live in one of the areas where they don't have "eggplant" at the supermarket, that's just what Americans call aubergines, so you'll be fine. It's not some weird local food like fiddleheads or whatever.

Everyone getting to know each other in the hot tub, lol!

The next step was, of course, the tofu!

Z cut it into these great square slabs - perfect for grabbing with chopsticks!

I took this opportunity to also cut the hotdogs into thirds. These were leftover from a cookout my folks had thrown for the family, so they were pretty good quality. I cut them, then I stabbed them gently in a few spots so they wouldn't just explode.

It was pretty pointless to poke them. They exploded anyway...

Not that exploding hotdogs are necessarily bad in an oden!
They were actually really good!

Here, you can see the oden after it has cooked for a looooooooooooong time!

This oden probably boiled together for more than a half hour before I added the seasoning packet. We added some soy sauce, some ramen pepper, and a tiny, tiny hint of delicious sesame oil.

I have a rare treat for you guys today, though:

That's right! Your old pal the Filthy Casual made a real live movie!!! I'm sorry again for the vertical aspect ratio at the beginning, but this was only my second video ever, so I hope you'll forgive me!

I've also got photos of the aftermath:

Look at all of this food!
Look at it! We had leftovers!
Actual legit leftovers!

Now, you may look at that heaping bowl of food (and bare in mind that Z had a bowl of equal size as well!) and think "there's no way that FC and Z finished off their servings!"

We did. And it was awesome.

I will say this - I used too much water. I should have had probably a cup and a half less to get more flavor out of the oden base, but it was still pretty decent. With how heavy all of the ingredients were, it would've been... inadvisable to have too strong a broth. As it was, we were in a food coma for the rest of the darn night!

If you'd like to replicate this at home but you don't have oden broth, you can make your own broth using soy sauce, soup broth (your choice of flavors!), maybe some bonito flakes if you have access, and plenty of pepper of any kind! Then you just gather whatever it is you want to eat in this hearty soup and boil them together for as long as you like. The longer the ingredients mingle, the more flavor you'll get out of them!

If I was really, really crazy, I think I'd add a raw egg straight into the bowl just after adding the oden. If the oden were still hot enough, it would cook the egg enough to be safe, but it wouldn't ruin the thickening properties of the yolk.

That might kill you, though. What with all the calories...

Still, it was a fantastic day spent making fantastic food!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC