Iz様 🌟

All in on Slay The Spire 2 to do what seems like impossible and improve upon perfection.

Could be proved wrong in less than 24 hours as that's all he's got apparently but I honestly don't think Burnham is standing, this smells like too much of a media frenzy about the possibility of a leadership challenge and he has to know getting blocked by the NEC after standing down as mayor or god forbid losing would torch his career instantly. Polanski might as there's a possibility the Greens can capitalise here and he won't be done in by losing.

need all of my top 4 through

Likewise, I like to get things in for original deadlines even when they are extended (and may still do that) but it's good to know I can take ever so slightly longer deciding if I choose to do so probably voting before I go to sleep regardless of whether it's after midnight or not

What an amazing end to a fantastic series. I got hooked last series but I could see the criticisms there, in the game, in the mindset of some contestants, in the eventual outcome. This series has stepped up in every area. Literally the only weak point was the attempts at the secret relationships and those really don't matter. I fell off a bit the double Traitor train over the last few episodes as it seemed less certain and I started to look among the Faithful for a deduction, but as we went through this final episode, I switched back again, it really was incredible teamwork and skill and yes, a bit of a luck, from both Traitors to make it this far in the game, to not doubt each other and use that to win together. Obvious, but what sold it for me is that in the end Rachel stuck to her pact to not write Stephen's name down and Stephen stuck to his promise to play a fair game. Best winners of the UK series by far, great ending and could well be in the future a high point for this show (though of course I hope they keep improving) Only minor quibble is being sad for how Jade exited without being able to reveal but it led to a great final fire and the Traitors played that so perfectly. gonna miss this lot, the whole cast were likeable to an extent

I did think that Jade was looking more likely to be swayed based on how she acted at this Round Table and her switching her vote to Rachel would have been a very thematically fitting banishment, finally figuring out the 'those closest to me' line, if Jack hadn't switched as well, which felt somewhat more random - though there was also the thing that James had been voting the same as him which I suppose makes sense. I honestly don't mind who goes, I expect Rachel staying would make the final a bit more fiery so I guess I'm hoping for that, but this episode also felt like a fitting point for her to run out of road, I thought her final speech next to James' general honesty (and him saying that Rachel being here still didn't make sense) didn't ring true at all.

Interesting in that it allows for the possibility of Burnham but I also think it's quite a high-risk strategy of embarassment in this environment. Greens and Reform will both want to make their claim to the seat and surely Starmer won't allow for a rival that easily.

For my part, James is absolutely hilarious. Best Faithful to watch remaining, seems like a genuine bloke. Wouldn't mind him and Jade winning if it's not a Traitors victory. Only real let-down at this point would be Roxy being part of a Faithful victory somehow, no hate to the lady, she doesn't rub me the wrong way as much as last year's winners but you can't be getting that much wrong and win the game unless she really turns around on Rachel quite dramatically. Also Jack's quite boring I suppose and as much as I sympathise with Jade for what she's been through I also want to see more from her in the endgame to be completely happy with her winning. Will say, at this point, Stephen and Rachel both winning I think seems unlikely with the edit we've had up to this point. One of them, certainly.

I'd love to root for Faithfuls who do act like they're solving a mystery and are constantly playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the Traitors - unfortunately because of the nature of the game those tend to get murdered unless they're really good at hiding it. Top cinematic ending would be a Traitor getting to the final 3, about to win it but then a Faithful who's been shown to be decently smart up to then suddenly chooses to continue the game, convinces the third faithful to vote against the Traitor and gets the Traitor out. so close to this with the series 2 ending weren't we Hence I was all in on Harriet before she presented her case in a loud fashion, and at that point was doomed to be murdered if not banished, I am now very well predisposed towards Faraaz; if he is not murdered, he'd deserve to win. I think the Faithfuls have been pretty okay at reasoning throughout this series but because of the nature of the game and it being so hard to be right outside of genuine unfortunate Traitor slipups they've also gotten quite a lot wrong. I'd love more in plain sight murders to give the Faithful more tangible evidence.

what are the odds that the NATO chiefs just offered him the military bases that are already there and his completely addled mind thought that was him getting what he wanted Stock market dip this week was a bit underwhelming but still plenty of room for those with deep pockets to make their money but it's getting to the point of diminishing returns, SAD

Faraaz really has been sitting back, chilling and watching! I'd take him out - everyone heard his accusations, so it could be a great way to throw suspicion and they can't leave him alive, but it's not an easy murder by any means and entirely possible a Traitor gets done in tomorrow. Do kinda want Roxy's face to be there in the event of a Traitor victory too. The show's edit is really doing well this season, I loved that chaotic round table with zero Traitors accused while making up 25% of the contestants, yet I have the feeling it all stands on a knife's edge now.

I like the angle he went for there, because he, Trump, would absolutely abuse the institutions of his country for his own benefit, and he has, because any objective Supreme Court would have ruled him unfit to be reelected as President, and as such he can't fathom that the apparent institutions of another country wouldn't also be abused by the government for his benefit. that the Nobel Committee is nothing to do with the government of Norway... details.

Sanae Takaichi calls a snap election in Japan (and I learned about this from reading NHK-easy, discovering the word for 'dissolve' in the context of the Diet and figuring out in Japanese that she'd called an election) *.* making use of her alleged personal popularity to push through her agenda anyway you go girl

I have made references to it as a joke, but a lot of how the traitors have, so far, had a relatively easy time has been down to so much tunnel vision on the part of the Faithfuls this series. Principally with Amanda, and to a lesser extent Adam and Ellie, focusing on Jade, but also wild sidequests like Roxy against James and even Jessie, as much as we like her for being right on Stephen, her suspicions of him were also to a large part informed by tunnel vision. This group have an aversion to admitting they may be wrong and principally, against considering more people than just the one or two who are currently sticking in their mind. Which means that when someone comes along to disrupt that, they might go away from their preconceived thought for a moment, to banish the one standing out, and Harriet and Fiona both fell to this, but they don't actually listen to anyone elses' theory for the long term. There's little winning people round based on actions, words or body language, just a few hunches, largely from near the start of the show, that persist round after round. ironically it might be a severe overreaction to the first banishment of Judy where everyone exhibited the opposite, equally undesirable trait of herd mentality.

Myuk - Yukiuta world's worst at hiding it YOASOBI fan finds someone doing their shiz with acoustic instruments Yukiuta means 'Snow Song', which means it's perfect for this time of year, and young J-Pop singer Myuk has released a really well structured and beautiful song. According to the youtube comments, she was teasing it for a very long time, which makes sense as it's very good.

VIOLENT VIRA - Saccharine My last entry of last year, a fantastic rock song with shades of 00s emo to it, Violent Vira carrying the scene scene in some corners of music fandom.

Yuko Suzuhana - Samurai Diva Our entry to 179, the lead singer of WagakkiBand with a lovely dramatic pop song.

catching up with posts here: Hagali - For Those Who Remain Our entry to 178, a fantasy epic sung in a constructed language.

I feel I've heard that Maruja song before at some point, they seem good so looking forward to getting reacquainted. That's about it for songs but of course many names are familiar. quite pleased with that semi for me, but we'll see as I'm sure everyone else has put in some amazing songs too. Interesting no one ever sent 'Idol' as that was a barnstormer of an anime OP (easily the best of what I know from the 2020s), though I wouldn't often call any of those cheap, that might be one just too popular to appear here - if you picked up on YOASOBI at all after they first entered here you'd know it.

I used to have encylopaedic knowledge of this contest. I'd know when a song was entered, the general records of nations beyond their current Q streaks, how each non qualifier sounded months after the initial contest. Now I regularly forget about the existence of artists that got a top 10 hit 3 contests ago, which normally becomes apparent at listenthroughs when their future winner is playing.

Tariffs on European countries including the UK and Denmark over the Greenland situation. the regularly scheduled nonsense to try and prove 'might makes right, fuck my allies' then

It's a decent idea, and the strength of this show is its flexibility in switching the format up, but every decision like this has a lot of knock-on effects that may or may not be desirable. For instance, here, you instantly create a bloc of votes large enough to sway the round table as well as murder - perfect information players have so much power in these games and you want to be careful with giving them more, that's partly why I think they've been so generous with shields this series and had the Secret Traitor to dial back the Traitors' power in the early game. Even something as simple as upping the prize pot for each Traitor banished, which I've seen suggested at times, may create, through its incentives, more backstabbing drama than the producers want to deal with to keep a coherent television show story going. They've kind of landed on 3 as a number too because it works really well for a television show production. The turret is set up to film for 3 players, maybe 4 at a push, more would be crowded. Any more than 3 or 4 really also runs the risk of too many Traitor plotlines going on at once for the viewer. It's fine if we don't always remember who Jack the random faithful is until episode 7, but you want your audience to be aware of all the Traitors - they're the protagonists, they're the ones driving a large amount of the events going on and too many Traitors at once may well make structuring episodes too chaotic. Recruitment also works as a nice occasional concept to contrast against murder for every decision, and does its job to keep the show at its desired length no matter how many Traitors are caught. It's seemingly rarely taken now contestants know it often doesn't work that well, but it has potential with the right contestant - Charlotte was a fantastic choice last year and kept that series going towards the end.

confirmed a piano/acoustic-led winter song

Jenrick with Reform now, though the shock of his defection somewhat taken out by Badenoch outplaying him. She wins for now, and tbh I don't see what Jenrick adds to Reform as an unlikeable busybody who's also incredibly untrustworthy. He's loud, I suppose, so another gadfly to add to Reform's lineup of dislikeable arseholes.

Just to start off the year with how YouGov is looking on my favourite, the PM question: Starmer/Badenoch drawing on PM. Davey beating nearly everyone, Starmer no longer having the clear advantage he once had, Farage and Polanski currently below though, so somewhat victory for the sensibles. This is also the lowest Reform have been for about a year.