Thursday Art Walk 207: Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

"Love Lava"; permanent marker on printer paper, 2019

I'm sorry it's not a better picture, but I was pressed for time!

Hopefully today was kind to you all!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 207: NJPW The New Beginning 2019

It's been a rough couple of months for poor New Japan. They've lost Cody, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, they're losing KUSHIDA, they lost Kitamura, they're losing Jericho... sort of. See... the only ones I can see them not getting to work with (if the negotiations go well) would be Kushida (who is going to WWE) and Kitamura (who is still kind of recovering from his accident). Everyone else is in AEW, which I think will probably be pretty chill about cooperation.

So it's time for the New Beginning Pay Per View in Osaka, which has an incredible crowd packing the venue!

Unfortunately, there aren't many photos out of these matches, so bear with me!

Okay, so here's the thing about this card - it's the least familiar card I've ever seen! Since most of the big names I've been following have changed companies (and I'm a little concerned about KUSHIDA, since the US Government shutdown has already presented major challenges to Japanese wrestlers trying to come work in the US...)

The show has English commentary provided by Don Callis (who I believe mostly works with Impact these days, so there could be hope for more cooperation between NJPW & Impact?) and Kevin Kelly, who have a fantastic rapport and both give excellent commentary, so that was great!

As for the actual card itself, it was a fun one!

We opened with a six-man tag match between the old guard & Suzuki Gun. Jushin Thunder Liger, Satoshi Kojima (aka leader of the Bread Club), and Hiroyoshi Tenzan fought off Takashi Iizuka (crazy man with a metal karate chop hand), TAKA Michinoku (the same one you may remember from WWE, and just as good today as then), and the leader of Suzuki Gun himself, Minoru Suzuki. This match was great! You wouldn't expect a match where the average age of the participants is 49 (oldest being 54 [Liger]) to be great, but it was. I haven't been keeping up, so I don't quite understand what's going on between Tenzan & Iizuka, but that's one of the big benefits of having a lot of major stars leave a company.

Suddenly, interesting storylines start popping up everywhere!

After the six man tag (which Liger, Kojima, & Tenzan won), there was a tag match between two of the coolest members of Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & EVIL) broke in some of the new generation (in New Japan, they call them Young Lions, and it's adorable. Ayato Yoshida and Shota Umino impressed the heck out of me. I think they'll be going on excursion soon - that's when New Japan sends their younger wrestlers out into the world to learn from other places. Last time they sent Young Lions on excursion, a sweet New Zealand Young Lion left and came back as the Switchblade Jay White, so I am super stoked to see who Ayato & Shota come back as!

There was another six-man-tag next, which was great. It was more Los Ingobernables de Japon vs more Suzuki Gun. Shingo Takagi is a beast in the ring, and paired with BUSHI (who came out in a metal as heck Venom mask with a tiny skull on its tongue) and Tetsuya Naito, everyone watching the PPV with me knew it was going to be a brutal and amazing match.

Even though the Suzuki Gun team was their low-grade guys. I'm just not going to like Taichi, guys. Even putting him with the incredible El Desperado and the often-intoxicated Kanemaru isn't going to improve my opinion of me. Miho Abe, his valet, can't improve my mood towards him, which means nothing ever will. Ugh.

To no one's surprise, Los Ingobernables smoked Suzuki Gun, despite Kanemaru & El Desperado's best efforts. Poor Despy & Kanemaru.

Speaking of low-tier teams! CHAOS & Bullet Club sent their worst to fight next. I don't hate Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi like my friends seem to, but Owens was not even on his C-game during this match, executing the laziest moves I've ever seen in the ring! Yujiro was... well, he was Yujiro. The best thing about him is his valet, though, and Pieter (whose name they misspelled in the graphics) was, at least, on her A-Game. She always is, though, so that's fun!

If Pieter and Abe ever decided to give wrestling a go, it would be a match that sold out stadiums. The cutesy goth girl vs the grown woman who has total control over herself & her body. If Abe won we'd riot.

Seriously, Pieter runs her own gym. I would never dare mess with her!

Anywho, yeah, CHAOS sent out their own not-so-fantastic guys, but they used to be better, so I forgive them. Tomoaki Honma still probably shouldn't be wrestling after his trademark Kokeshi Drop (a deadfall headbutt from the top rope) gave him a blood clot a couple years ago, but here he is, still fighting despite looking way older than his 42 years. His partner, YOSHI-HASHI, also had a health scare last year, ending up with his nose broken so badly that it looks like he had to have reconstructive surgery. The end result is that he now gives me the Uncanny Valley feeling whenever I look at him. Whatever. I'm just glad he's okay. And that they've changed his trunks so they no longer say "Loose Explosion" over his backside. And that his nickname is better (he's the Head-Hunter, now).

It was not a great match, sadly, but we got Pieter, so that's what counts :P

GOD (Guerillas of Destiny) came on next, with Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa taking on Togi Makabe & Toru Yano. It was a good match. For a comedy wrestler, Yano still works well with the Tongans, letting them sell both their power and fury while he takes a lot of the punishment off of Makabe, who probably needs the break, since he's a tough dude and takes a lot of beatings in the ring. GOD beat Makabe & Yano, but that's okay, since I'm sure Yano then took Makabe out for curry.

I don't know about you guys but at this point, I was itching for singles competition. Thankfully, that's exactly what the last three matches were!

The New Bone Soldier, Tiaji Ishimori, is a total beast of a man. He's the kind of guy who, at first glance, looks too baby-faced to be a threat. Then you see his eyes. And you look away. Because he is a crazy, scary dude. Of course, when you look away from the crazy eyes, you probably end up staring at his ultra-ripped body, so that's terrifyingly intimidating too. Oh, and don't forget that he's usually wearing a messed-up-looking demon skull mask. That's not exactly a recipe for comfort, yeah?

Who do you send such a monster against?

You send him against the comedy wrestler whose moveset is butt-based.

Yes. Ryusuke Taguchi, who has one of the funniest personas in NJPW, was put up against a human wrecking machine, and he held his own for the most part. I mean, It's easy to forget that Taguchi, for all that he dresses in silly costumes and is a funny guy is also a dangerously accomplished wrestler in his own right. Hip attacks notwithstanding, Taguchi is a fantastic submission wrestler, and he's taken Ishimori down with a truly brutal ankle lock before, so this was a truly competitive match!

With the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship on the line, Ishimori escaped from one of the gnarliest ankle/knee-based submissions I've ever seen and powered his way to an excruciating-looking victory against Taguchi. It was an awesome match and probably my favorite of the night!

That match had barely concluded when the next began, and boy, what a match it was!

Now, Okada isn't top dog anymore, so he's not in the main event. Instead, he's taking on the Rogue General of the Bullet Club OGs: Bad Luck Fale. Uh. For comparison, Okada is 6'3" (191cm) and 236lb (107kg) whereas Bad Luck Fale is 6'4" (193cm) and 344lb (156kg). In short, These are two giants, one of whom is nearly 1.5 times as heavy as the other, trying to throw each other around the ring. There were a few heart-stopping moments where it didn't look like Okada was going to make the full rotation and land on his back after being thrown around a bit, but fortunately, there were no major injuries in this match. It just looked like people were going to die. Seriously, though, this was a good, terrifying match, and if WWE really wants to hire giants, they should do so with the knowledge that two tall guys fighting can be really scary if one of them is huge around the shoulders and the other one has legs for days.

This was honestly probably my second favorite match.

My third favorite match was the absolute massacre that was Tanahashi vs Jay White - the last match of the night.

Hiroshi Tanahashi has been loyal to New Japan, and in return, they have showered him with championships. In a lot of ways, he's the John Cena of NJPW, except, you know, he can really wrestle really well, despite the fact that his knees are held together with duct tape and wishes right now. Regardless, he's been holding onto Kenny's title since Wrestle Kingdom last month, and now Jay White wants it.

This match was brutal. Jay White has the best face in wrestling, I have to say, because it conveys absolute disdain for everyone, ally or foe (because Jay White has no friends, they're a burden). He's the wrathful Sith Lord challenging Jedi Knight Tanahashi and trying to take everything for himself. He is greed. He is power. He is pure, sinister hatred. He seethes in the ring, every move designed to cause pain, and he delights in taking apart Tanahashi in front of his devoted fans. Jay absolutely destroys Tanahashi in this match, sweeping the championship away from him.

Now, that isn't to say that Tanahashi doesn't fight back. He does. He fights with all of his heart. He fights for the fans. He fights for the honor of the company that has been so good to him. He fights for goodness and all that is light.

And he is ruined by one angry Kiwi.

It's a fantastic match and tells a fantastic story, and White's self-centered, hateful promo at the end is magic in its own right, especially since you can tell that the crowd isn't really sure what he's saying. They recognize his passion, though. Oh, how they'll learn to hate him.

I look forward to seeing Jay take on all comers and either eventually get taught humility by someone (probably Ibushi, who surprised everyone early in the PPV by coming out and saying that he'd be staying with NJPW) or just destroy everything and everyone in sight. Either way, we're in for a fun ride here!

I think that'll about do it for me today. This blog is late due to a fantastic migraine that I've had since I woke up, but I'm doing better now.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Talk About Tuesday 207

It's Tuesday again!

That means I'm going to pester you with how my week has gone and how next week might go!

In the last seven days I've:

• Developed a painful spot on my neck behind my ear, probably from sleeping poorly
• Found a bread recipe I desperately want to bake but lack the proper yeast for
• Ate some really good Thai & Japanese foods!
• Snuggled with my cat a couple times
• Forgot how to sleep like a human being
• Worked on a pineapple stitch crochet doily
• Worked on a big fluffy star-shaped crochet blanket
• Yelled at squirrels
• Avoided a raccoon wandering through town during daylight (yikes)
• Got kept up by a pack of coyotes/coywolves in my back yard where they don't belong
• Watched some good movies and 90s TV shows with Z

When I put it all like that, I've had kind of a busy past 7 days.

Living it makes it seem less so.

Regardless, here are my plans for the next week:

• Tomorrow I'm probably going to talk about NJPW New Beginnings, which I'm watching today, if all goes well
• Thursday will be another art day, but I don't know what I'm drawing
• Friday I'll probably talk about one of the movies I've seen. It might be The Favourite, F/X, or Stan & Ollie, all of which are great movies
• Saturday could be one of any number of downright bizarre games I've played this week
• Sunday is up in the air. I haven't really cooked much this week. Maybe it'll be another "I tried this" week. We'll see.
• Monday will be the body of our Cat Amigurumi
• Tuesday will be more of me talking about my week!

I hope these blogs aren't too boring for anyone who reads them, but I find them necessary to keep me on track :)

I'm writing more in the main story, but I'm several weeks behind where I'd like to be. It's hard to start a story when you're focused on the middle and you don't yet know the end. I think I understand the nature of this beast a lot more than I did when I started, though. I know that, while there are a few characters in the beginning, the middle & end will winnow the actual characters I focus on down to two. This story is a war of attrition. It is the bitter winter. It is a nightmare.

It's not easy to write a story when you don't quite know how to end it. And I have no idea what the last sentence will be. It won't be pretty, though. Byrd isn't a pretty story.

I think that'll about do it for me today!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday 207: Amigurumi Cat

Today has been a rough day, crochet-wise.

I started a pattern which has been translated from Japanese (although it's actually better English than some patterns I've tried that originated from, like, New Jersey or whatever...), and it's an adorable cat doll, but...

Guys...

It's got diagrams!

I'll be honest, though, I only made the head today. I'll be working piece-by-piece, so that should be fun, and hopefully it will keep me occupied until I figure out the next project!!!

So, yeah, I added eyes even though I hadn't checked to see what would be going on with the rest of the pattern yet.
Turns out there's a muzzle.
Hmm. Hope the eyes aren't too low!

Another note on the eyes:
These have something like a screw-back, but you don't screw them in.
They snap onto a little plastic donut behind the fabric.
I just slipped them through a space in the stitches and hoped they weren't too lopsided.

One last thing to note on the head:
It will look lumpy when it isn't stuffed.
Hopefully some of the lumps come out when I stuff it!

I'll be honest with you, guys. This is going to be a de-stash project. What is that? It's how you ditch a bunch of yarn ends and random bits. So kitty's head is this cute oceanic blend of colors, but who knows how much of his body I'll be able to do that with? It looks like a long barrel of a body, too, so... fun!

I don't know what I'll use for a color when this one runs out. I'm going to go hunting later :) Maybe some pink & white for one paw or another? Maybe some blue & white? maybe even some of the other random colors I've got around my room! We'll see what kind of adorable monstrosity we come up with. And then people can yell at me for how badly I join my yarn from one color to the next :P

Alright, that'll do it for me today!

Go Enjoy Something!!!
FC

Survival Sunday 206: Tea & Yakisoba

I've been lazy, I'll admit it.

I haven't been cooking anything interesting in a while. Right now I'm hunting down some ingredients for a simple recipe that hopefully goes well. I don't know, man. It's hard to make food right now. Regardless, we had some noodles this week! It was great!

We were making Yakisoba, which means grilled/fried noodles.
That's why our scallions & water are in a frying pan, rather than the usual pot!

I like how vinegary the flavor of Kenko yakisoba is.
Also, in case you hadn't guessed, this is another pull from our Umai Crates!

We boiled the water & scallions together before adding the noodles.
I only cooked the noodles until they were just done, and by then all of the water had gone!
We added the flavor packets, but by then I was concerned that I might burn it into the pan.
That's why there aren't pictures :(

This stuff is always good.
The noodles are tasty, the sauce is addictive, and whatever the green powder is?
It's fantastic.
It's all fantastic!

Now, you might have noticed from the title that I have also tried a new tea.

You may also remember from the last couple of weeks that I've been sick. My throat was so sore at one point that even trying to eat a cookie was excruciating. I ate it anyway because I'm fat, but still. Ouch.

The teas I have access to are usually reserved for guests, since no one in my immediate family really drinks it. There's the standard Red Rose for my grandmother, a chai that my mother only very occasionally drinks because the moment she takes a sip she is reminded that she prefers the smell over the taste, the chamomile for insomnia (it only kind of works, sorry, and it tastes like potpourri), and now something called "Throat Coat".

So. This is Throat Coat.
It's an interesting blend. The red color is interesting.

The wrapper for this bag is so stiff and plastic-lined that I almost couldn't get it open.

I don't know if you can read that picture, but...
this tea is made with:
Wild Slippery Elm Bark, Licorice root, Marsh Mallow
and it's strange.

First of all, you're supposed to boil the water (?!), then steep the tea for 10-15 minutes, covered.
I've never been requested to do this for a tea.

Now, I botched this already, since instead of boiling anything, I went for our Keurig for the hot water.
I covered the tea with a paper plate and hoped for the best.

That's... not red. Even after stirring, it kinda just looked like pee.

And here is the bag sitting in a mixing bowl because I get weird at 11pm, which is when I brewed this.

Now, I'm not a tea drinker, and I don't know how one is supposed to take tea or prepare it or whatever, but this tea was weird. It advises adding a tablespoon of honey to it for maximum effect & sweetness. After my first sip, I was very glad I hadn't added anything. This tea is actually pretty sweet. If I had to compare it to something, it would be red bean soup, which is something else we tried from our Umai Crates. It's a light sweetness, not settling on the center of the tongue, but lingering off to the edges. It's elusive. It's... delayed. Like... you'll take a sip, and then a moment later you'll taste the sweetness. It's odd.

It's not bad, though.

I will say that I didn't get much coating on my poor aching throat, though.

I still coughed less!

So in conclusion:

I recommend Yakisoba for meals and Throat Coat for sick folks.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Saturday Casual Gaming 206: Magikarp Jump

I love Pokemon!

You might've noticed this.

One of the free games that the Pokemon Company came out with for mobile is Magikarp Jump, and it's simple, fun, and cute.

Looooook how cute!

You are a generic trainer who has moved to a town where all they do is train Magikarp. For those not initiated into Pokemon, Magikarp is a big fish that does literally nothing but flail around. Eventually it turns into a giant sea monster, but not in this game. Here, you catch, raise, and drag your derpy fish to competitions where it jumps as high as it can!

Different karp grow up to have different patterns, and you slowly progress through the different competitions, winning money, diamonds, friends for your pond, and decorations!

It's a fun, simple mobile game that doesn't require a whole lot of forethought or planning, so it's perfect for me with my categorical inability to sleep for 8 hours. It's also a candy-colored wonderland of puns, funs, and generally adorable sweetness.

When you train, it's one of several potential activities.
Sometimes you're inflating things, sometimes you're just jumping, sometimes you're pushing another Pokemon like a Dwebble or a Crustle, and sometimes you're breaking stuff like trees or rocks.

When you show up to a competition, your karp flops around beside you!

And then you face off against a computer opponent and their Magikarp to see who's fish flops higher!

And then they come down from their vertical flight path and leave adorable craters behind!

My favorite part is hugging my Magikarp when he wins! The confetti is a nice touch.

Now, of course, I haven't even scratched the surface on all of the things you can do in this game, but I strongly suggest going onto your mobile device and downloading it. It's free, it's fun, it's simple, and it's something you can play around young people without traumatizing them. Uh... usually.

I have lost a couple of karp to rogue Voltorbs and Pidgeotto... and one got lost.

Random events are fun.

Anyway, that's all from me today! Find this game on your mobile shop!

Go Enjoy Something!!!
FC

Filmic Friday 206: Ben is Back

A few weeks ago, Z & I went on a movie date. Our choice of films is strange at the best of times, but this time was strange even for us.

And yeah, that's a pretty good description of the movie in a single moment.

So what is Ben is Back about?

Julia Roberts is a mother getting ready for Christmas with her second husband. Everything is great. They have money, they have space, they have everything they need.

And then Ben (Lucas Hedges) comes home from rehab early.

The younger siblings & Holly (Roberts) are thrilled to have their brother home, but Ben's sister & stepfather are much more cautious about it. Ben tries extremely hard to show that he's doing better and recovering and it's all very awkward.

I really feel for Ben in the scene where they're at the Christmas pageant because he starts
crying during the same part of O Holy Night that I do.

The movie isn't shy. Ben & Holly go shopping and Ben sees one of his old dealers at the mall. He's shaken and winds up dragging Holly to an NA meeting. There are drugs involved, though he swears that he took them from someone else so they wouldn't use. Uh... sure. Regardless, it's a hard set of scenes leading up to the Christmas pageant.

Including an excruciating scene where Holly confronts the pediatrician who got Ben hooked on opiates to begin with.
It's even more messed up because it's clear that this guy has dementia or something and no idea what's happening.

After the pageant, though, is when things get really messed up. The family comes home to a ruined house. Someone has robbed them, though it seems like the only thing stolen was the family dog. Ben's dog.

Someone's after Ben, then.

The second act of the movie is basically a cat and mouse game between Ben & Holly and whoever stole the dog, but Ben, being an addict and deeply untrustworthy (according to himself), eventually runs away to handle the matter himself, not wanting his mother to get dragged down with him.

The third act is all about Holly chasing Ben and Ben trying to get his dog back and his debts forgotten. The chase and hunt are hard to watch in both the second and third acts. You learn so much about how desperate Ben has been in his life, how miserable Holly has been trying to protect a son who cannot be protected from his own addiction, and how hideous and nonsensical life is for someone with a severe addiction problem in small-town New York.

It all leads up to one of the most excruciating endings I've ever experienced. There is despair, hope, misery, joy, and over it all reigns the anxiety of not knowing anything for certain. Will he continue to survive? Will he ever really be able to come home? Can he overcome this tragedy?

Everyone in this movie is a fantastic actor. Everyone. I don't like Julia Roberts' acting most of the time, but there are moments where Julia Roberts ceases to exist and only Holly Burns remains. A desperate mother seeking her son. Lucas Hedges is amazingly manipulative yet still somehow innocent through it all. The child actors are brilliant. Courtney B. Vance is perfect as a beset stepfather and second husband trying to keep his family safe, even from themselves. Even the supporting actors outside of the family - the messed up best friend, the horrible teacher, the pediatrician - they're all brilliant.

The fact that there were movies deemed more worthy of Oscars than this makes me actually want to see these movies. Kind of. I don't know if I could take something more tense and anxious than the third act of Ben is Back...

If you like drama or movies about real problems or you're just looking for something new, I can 100% suggest this movie. My god. I don't even like dramas. I loved this movie.

Look at it this way: we bought large sodas and popcorns for this movie. I didn't even finish half of my popcorn because I was so engrossed.

Go watch this movie!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC