Just the Ticket

Hi, everybody! Welcome to an idea I came up with after the last issue of Stay Tuned . But instead of waiting several days for WandaVision  Wednesday, I decided to update Stay Tuned  and make it a weekly posting situation by rebranding it to Streaming Saturday . Before I get started, remember to leave a like and a comment below. Also, a SPOILER Warning is in effect starting now. On to the recap! The first episode, which was "Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience" and shot in black and white to pay homage to Bewitched , followed Wanda and an inexplicably (so far) alive Vision as they attempt to remember why today's date is marked on their calendar. While Wanda seeks advice from her neighbor, Agnes (probably based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, who served as Scarlet Witch's mentor in the mystic arts--which are different from her mutant, a.k.a. "miracle" in the MCU, powers), Vision finds out that today was the date he was supposed to have his bo...

Ticketmaster, in, Ticketholders! Get ready for WandaVision Wednesday! Over two and a half years ago, my last entry in the Stay Tuned  series did some algorithm-chasing speculation as to what would happen in the fourteenth season of Supernatural . Some things, I was right about, others, I was a season early, but still right about, and others, I was wrong about because they had to wrap things up and (as usually happened with some of the more interesting hints in the series) dropped many plot threads like they were the ratty ends of a bunch of green onions. This past year, following a period of streaming fatigue, I revisited the last two seasons of Supernatural  on Netflix. And, also like cutting into a bunch of green onions, the finale made me cry. Well, as close as any sensationalism-numbed member of the male population can get to crying, anyway. My heart thumped, my throat tightened, and a new place in my soul opened out of respect for one of the most enduring young adult ser...

Happy #AniMonday...again! And I actually got it in on time this week! Speaking of time, it's That Time again! Time for me to stop using exclamation points? Maybe, but that wouldn't be very exciting. Time for Alison Hannigan to do something sexually adventurous at band camp ? Again, maybe, but I hear she's moved on to watching bad magicians fail to impress good magicians on the same network that is trying to hold the Verse Formerly Known As Arrow together by its frayed bowstrings and sell Sam Winchester as the new Chuck Norris . And Chuck Norris destroyed all of his clones because no one replaces Chuck Norris. For similar reasons, he also roundhouse kicked every copy of Blade Runner out of existence and killed the Marvel Universe in his sleep, along with Superman , Goku , and all ninjas. Because you don't end a Chuck Norris joke , Chuck Norris ends the joke that is you, let's get back to time jokes. Is it time for a wounded hand because it likes to heal? I don...

Hark! What Spotlight  through yonder screen doth break? 'Tis this post, and  #AniMonday  has gone. Alas, poor Weebotaks, I am late and shall finish this anon for release on the morrow. That means Tuesday. At midnight. Apologies for the delay in posting, and the weird title. But the latter does figure in to this week's edition of Anime Spotlight , which shines on a mouthful of a title: Our Last Crusade OR The Rise Of A New World . Draw the connections between titles of this post and the featured anime series, and groan at your leisure. That is, assuming you have any leisure to do anything at while capitalism and democracy burn before your eyes for the first time in a generation ( 9/11/2001 ), racial tensions explode for the first time in almost thirty years ( 4/29/1992 ), our nation's capitol is under siege for the first time in over two centuries ( 8/24/1814 ), and the world is still in the grips of the most voluminous pandemic in all of human history because the proverbi...

 Hello, my fellow weebotaks! Just as the year 2020 became 2021, Sunday has once more become #AniMonday, and that means it's time for another edition of the Anime Spotlight . I hinted at the end of my last Just the Ticket  that everything would "come together" following my review of Appare Ranman!  because, at the time, I was experiencing a manic fit of identity crisis, and was going to abandon my individual series' for a more unified posting...thing with only one title and a "back to the beginning" numbering scheme that would show just how long I had been doing the Blogger thing (and the MySpace thing, and the Yahoo! Groups thing...); yeah, this thing I enjoy doing has had a lot of "things" to it over the years. Well, when I was done being an impulsive crybaby about my life and using this medium as a proxy for realigning myself, I realized how stupid that sounded, and here we are with another Anime Spotlight  issue instead of whatever I was going ...

Welcome BAWk, Weebotaks! Last year in the  Anime Spotlight , I bridged the gap between magic and science by covering A Certain  anime franchise. This #AniMonday I'm all about the science. Or, rather, what passes for science in the fictionalized, anime version of 19th century America, as presented by P.A. Works , the same animation studio behind Fairy Gone . Don't worry, the CGI isn't bad this time! As the title suggests, I'm talking about Appare-Ranman!  (which translates to "Appare, in Bloom!"), a shonen  racing anime--a rare combination that, while formulaic, works surprisingly well. In Meiji-era Japan, a samurai named Kosame has been charged with reining in the title character, mechanical genius, and all-around village nuisance, Appare. While testing out a small steamboat that he built himself, Appare finds himself and the unwitting Kosame stranded at sea. Before they know it, the odd pair (with the inoperable steamer in tow) are rescued by a freighter bou...