beni

I agree with that. I think they handled that battle extremely well. They used very simple techniques and basics for it, but it was o'so effective to be honest. Game of Thrones has an awfully big budget for being a series (around 10m for each episode), but compared to bigger films (100-200m) it's nothing for an episode lasting an hour, and it's not often we get to see battles this massive, intense and epic anymore. It's a rarity IMO.
 
While the CGI was awful for a second here and a second there I thought the CGI looked real nice in this episode. I'm not a fan of CGI and I am very rarely impressed by the use of it, but I was very impressed with it for this episode, and aside from the very few seconds I didn't even think about it being CGI when watching it. That's a huge plus for me.
 
Anyway, another great episode. Really looking forward to the last episode now. Shit's gonna be good.
 
 
Very surprised anyone would multitask when watching Game of Thrones, or anything at all, to be quite honest. If anyone came into my house and picked up their phone/tablet/whatever the fuck during a film/episode without it ringing I'd stop the film/series, throw 'em the fuck out and continue watching it alone. That's like blasphemy to me.

Wanted to start this topic up mainly because of discovering this on Netflix:
 
The basis and rules are simple, unlike other similar reality shows like Big Brother where they have to do challenges and is encouraged to be outlandish, with celebrities, and other shows like Georgie Shore, where the supposed "no script" is an obvious lie. They're all strangers, and quite close in age, and sometimes interests. The only guideline is: “Three men and three women live under the same roof, recorded with no script, and only thing provided are fancy house and two cars.” In Terrence House, there's something sincere and genuine about the whole thing. Studio commentators, from the show presenters (such as Ehara Yukiko and Reina Triendl) to comedians and actors give out comments from the same clips we see at the same time, usually giving snarky or funny remarks, and predication/discussion on the individuals' traits and suggestions from what we have also only seen. I personally like how interesting it is to see how they socialize in an environment unlike what I've seen from Britain and America. Similar, but the whole culture is different, and it's surprisingly heartfelt. All we know of them when we first see them come in one by one, from male to female, are their name, age, and occupation:
From left to right-
 
Makoto Hasegawa - University student, baseball player
Yuriko Hayata - University medical student
Tatsuya Uchihara - Hair stylist
Mizuki Shida - Office (sports) worker
Yuki Adachi - Tap dancer
Minori Nakada - Model and student
 

 
 
This is such a worthwhile watch. I had to put down what I was already doing and just wanted background noise but ended up watching quite a few episodes (not nearly done with 18 to get through!).
 
Any thoughts? Anyone else seen this or something similar? Or does anyone else like the bigger ones? Use this thread to share and discuss anything reality TV!

@beni, your thread convinced me to give Terrace House a try! This past week, I binge-watched all 18 episodes on Netflix. A very intriguing watch to say the least.

I totally get what you mean by the "sincerity" of the whole thing. It was refreshing to see the "strangers living together in a house" premise so prevalent in American reality TV re-imagined as something different. I was always engrossed in each episode, even if nothing really took place. My siblings, who were only half-watching in the background would always ask, "Well, did anything happen?" and after thinking about it, often nothing really happened, haha. What I really liked was the cinematography! It was beautifully shot and the long stationary takes added tension, so that you didn't need fabricated drama--still, it was almost a feat that no real drama took place. I think one time,
and that was about it. I also just enjoyed hearing conversational Japanese with subtitles. It makes me want to pick up on my Japanese studies again. One thing that set it apart from the American reality TV I've seen was the lack of intrusive interviews with cast members where they provide fake commentary on their own actions. The show presenters were an interesting alternative. Even if the two older men irritatingly dominated the conversation (that poor little boy didn't even speak every episode!) and some of the commentary was reaching for drama, I found the six commentators outside of Terrace House to be a preferable format. Plus, I've loved Reina Triendl ever since seeing her in Riaru Onigokko, so it was a nice surprise to see her here 

Now beyond praising production aspects of the series, I did find many of the characters to be annoying:

 

I love it. ;3;

Welcome, welcome, welcome~ Lovely to have you! I love DISACODE!! So happy to see someone sharing the same amount of love. ='D I spot LM.C and An Cafe loving too. Great stuff! Enjoy your time with us, and if you have any concerns, do feel free to message any member with a blue/red name. See you around!

Hello everyone !
I'm a 22 years old Visual Kei lover from France.
I discover VK 9 years ago and I had a very big crush on it, so if I decide to join this community, it's for talk about it,  discover new artist and stay inform about VK scene and news.
I'm also learning japanese, at first to be able to read and understand blog and twitter of my favourit japanese artist, and VK magazines like "Cure" and "Shoxx".
About my favourit band, there are Phantasmagoria (even disbanded today, their songs are always the best for me), X Japan, Sadie, MEJIBRAY, AvelCain (sadly disbanded soon), LM.C, PENICILLIN, Diaura, Alsdead, DADAROMA, Lycaon (sadly disbanded), An Cafe, DISACODE and Azlina.
I also listen glam rock, symphonic metal and a little k-pop (but I'm far to be an expert in it).
So, I hope to learn more about Visual Kei here (^_^)
 
Thank you to take time for read my topic and have a nice day (^_^)/

I agree that this season has been really predictable so far. As enjoyable as it is to watch, sometimes I feel like i'm just watching them go through the motions with no real investment on my part. I'm not sure if it's because showrunners are trying to wrap things up or if we've just come to know the characters so well that their actions perfectly jive with our expectations. Probably both...Maybe it's because it seems near impossible to avoid fan theories these days!
 
Also, It would blow my mind if Varys was somehow connected to the attack. I REALLY hope not, though - he really believes in Dany and Tyrion is his friend, right?? Either way, I don't think this will end well....
 
Honestly, that arc felt like such filler in the 5th season. I would not have missed it. I am guessing D&D seeded Dorne in the first ep for a reason, but...it's so unclear as to why atm.
 
 
 
I agree that this arc had a ton of potential, but overall, I don't get the impression that Arya is all that better off than when she began. We only saw her do the face-swap thing once when assassinating Meryn Trant. They did not go into the mechanics of it, but is that something she'll be able to perform at will from now on??? And if she could, why didn't she use it to fool/escape the waif? Like, ok she can fight in the dark now...but other than, I don't sense much development in her skills nor her character.
 
 
I agree about The Blackfish being an idiot. He was a good character, but...Why didn't he just go with Brienne? He COULD have went with Sansa, and say they actually take back winterfell, does he think Sansa would serve under the lannisters!?!? ofc not! He would have most certainly had a chance to retake Riverrun in the future if he'd been more patient.
 
Also, and the video I linked below raised this point, but why did Edmure practically kill/trade in his uncle for a wife and kid that he could not have possibly known very well????
 
And some random musings:
 
If the brotherhood are going north (and seeing how fast ppl have been getting around this season), would it be too farfetched to believe they could serve as reinforcements in the battle of the bastards?
 
Or will Baelish arrive and save the day? And if Baelish does arrive with the knights of the veil, will he simply serve Sansa/Jon or try to take control of the chaos for himself?
 
Also, @beni and I like to watch the episode reactions @ GameSpot on YT after each ep. These guys raise some interesting points sometimes!
 
 
 
also LMAOOOOO @ this comment:
 
"Arya is DEAD!!! The Waif killed Arya and cut her OWN FACE off and stole Arya's face and identity! She's is now NO ONE (just like Jaqen confirmed and then smirked when she said that she was Arya Stark). Mind blown! She will pretend to be Arya of House Stark to carry out a mission. THEY KILLED ARYA and NO ONE..... NO ONE knows it! lol. D&D trolling hard."
 
That would be INSANE if that actually happened - since we didn't actually witness the fight, but Arya is too much of a favorite to get that kind of a harsh treatment IMO.

It's early in the week so let's get this going! Anyone up for a themed session this coming Sunday? It's been a while!

Hello everyone,
My name, or at least the one I go by, is Seth.
I'm a student and musician from Ontario, Canada. I love all sorts of Japanese music, but particularly J-Rock hence my interest in joining this community to hopefully stay current and discuss the music I love with other fans.
While I study computer science in school, with a minor in Japanese, my dream is to become a musician or composer, particularly, as unrealistic a dream as that may be for a Canadian, in the realm of J-Rock / J-Pop.
I play sing, play guitar, drums,  Saxophone, and a bit of violin which I may or may not have picked up as a result of my infatuation with TK's use of strings in tracks like Unravel.
Though I am more familiar with what I would consider "mainstream" J-Rock, I do enjoy Visual Kei bands such as The GazettE, DIV and MEJIBRAY. I get the impression a lot of you are particularly Visual Kei savvy, which is fine as I'd love to improve my knowledge of the genre, though I like that all the same I do see a lot of variety around the site and hope that you'll accept my musical openness. (I'll try not to profess my love for Nishino Kana and FLOWER  as openly to stay on topic with the rock music. Can't make any promises for Eir Aoi  and LiSA though. They rock hard enough for me.)
 

I'm spoiling myself due to my YouTube subscription feed with people going over the latest manga chapters, but I'm only in the midst of Fishman Island, and I had been so excited to get to the time skip, and now that I'm here, I really need to just catch up to the anime. I'm so interested in so many minor/supporting characters who I want to see more of (MORE OF THE SUPERNOVAS PLZ). And knowing what the upcoming arcs are in the anime doesn't help (especially knowing how good most of the anime's fillers are I'll have to check out once I finally get to the new episodes)! Having experienced Naruto and Bleach previously, it's wrong OP is considered a Top 3 with them. It's on a whole other level. While I was disappointed with some moments (Marineford arc in particular), but super delighted with others more so than I was expecting (Thriller Bark and Impel Down), I can't believe I never could have brought myself to get to it before. I know I wouldn't have bothered at any point, so thank you, @CAT5!

Not really sure if this counts, but this picture of Mana and his nephew is one of my favorites:
 

Kisaki's nephew (his brother's son). He's one angry kid.

I'm spoiling myself due to my YouTube subscription feed with people going over the latest manga chapters, but I'm only in the midst of Fishman Island, and I had been so excited to get to the time skip, and now that I'm here, I really need to just catch up to the anime. I'm so interested in so many minor/supporting characters who I want to see more of (MORE OF THE SUPERNOVAS PLZ). And knowing what the upcoming arcs are in the anime doesn't help (especially knowing how good most of the anime's fillers are I'll have to check out once I finally get to the new episodes)! Having experienced Naruto and Bleach previously, it's wrong OP is considered a Top 3 with them. It's on a whole other level. While I was disappointed with some moments (Marineford arc in particular), but super delighted with others more so than I was expecting (Thriller Bark and Impel Down), I can't believe I never could have brought myself to get to it before. I know I wouldn't have bothered at any point, so thank you, @CAT5!

^ Gah! As if they don't have enough reasons to take my dosh already.

This is one of my favorite bands, so I'm absolutely delighted to see this thread! I'm incredibly fond of Raphaelle's voice and the music is usually a perfect match!
Have you had a chance to hear the new album yet? And if so, what did you think?
It's one of the best albums I've heard all year so far. Although I wasn't very fond of "miniskirt" when I first heard it, the album turned out way better than expected. Definitely more accessible than "Flourish // Perish" was (although I loved that one too).
I recently came across the following track, which was a leftover track from "Flourish // Perish". No idea why this didn't make the album, but it's fantastic. Oddly enough, I've seen this track on the amazon Japan mp3 store, so maybe it was a Japan-only bonus? idk. Great stuff either way.

Whats up everyone? I am JS and im korean but love visual kei and all things asian. 
 
My favorite bands are Mejibray, BORN (sad to see them breaking up!), SADIE, and Purple stone. Boo yah!

http://www.thterrortime.com/the-rings-sadako-and-the-grudges-kayako-play-baseball/
 


 
 
 

I try to put on clown makeup
 

we're gonna have a meet, yayay ^^
so I suppose I gotta post a mugshot so you can recognize me. I'm sorry I look like a junkie
 

Because I'm still in love with my new glasses.
 

changes.

Hello, fuckers...
 

Hooo boy, May sure was a cool month! At least for me, I found lots of awesome stuff to listen to. What were some of your favorites?
 
As usual, the rules are pretty simple: you can list what releases you thought were the best, and explain why in a few sentences. You can even pick just 1 album if that's all you've got, and try to keep it to a maximum of 5 items. Feel free to add or remove any albums later if you feel like your taste has changed, etc. Oh, and try to include a sample or two so that others could peep those sweet tunes more easily!
 
Here we go~
 

Gustave Tiger - Chaste and Mystic Tribadry / This album completely blew me away. I've already been a casual fan of this artsy Hungarian punk group, but they've really upped their game for their 2nd full-length! They deliver sizzling and bubbling guitar melodies, catchy vocal hooks and an all around pleasantly weird atmosphere (those lyrics, bruh!) in spades. The horn section on some of the tracks is a nice touch too. Highly recommended if you enjoy melodic punk-rock with an eccentric twist.
 

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool / It's been a long time since I've actually really sat down and listened to Radiohead, but when they released their new album I just had to check it out, of course... and what can I say? It's a completely immersive listening experience, very intimate yet grandiose. They show their weird side now and then too, which is always fun. However, it's not a 'fun' album, if you get my drift. Very melancholic and moody, with some pleasant orchestral arrangements to elevate the atmosphere. Strong release.
 

Vektor - Terminal Redux / What a beast of an album this is! Clocking in at over 70 minutes, it's Vektor's most ambitious project to date. We're dealing with a sci-fi concept album here that doesn't miss the mark, not even once. Raspy thrash metal collides with truly progressive elements making for an unforgettable listen. Some of the more gargantuan tracks might seem intimidating at first, but they're all packed with cool riffs and themes, so you won't get bored easily. Killer stuff!
 
 
Honorable mentions
 
Death Grips - Bottomless Pit / Another new DG album, another victory for them. Not much else to say.
Heart Attack Kids - No Future / Ass-kicking noise rock with just enough catchy bits to keep you hooked.
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley / Almost made my top-top list. Excellent synth-stravaganza, just like last time!

ASEUL - New Pop
ASEUL, formally known as YUKARI, is a Korean chillwave artist and one of the better members of the country's growing indie scene. New Pop is her first album since 2012's Echo and it's very much a maturation of her sound. I'd argue that it doesn't have as many individual stand-outs as her previous effort, but it's more consistent nevertheless. 
Sample song: Loveless
 

Death Grips - Bottomless Pit
It's Death Grips being doing what Death Grips does best. At this point I don't really feel comfortable calling them a hip-hop band. They are to hip-hop what 385 is to Jazz music; a messy, chaotic perversion of it that honestly has more in common with noise punk than anything else. Bottomless Pit sees them build upon their new-found intensity explored on Jenny Death  while bringing back the catchy sensibilities of 2012's The Money Store. Might be one of my favourite albums of theirs. 
Sample song: Spikes
 

Siraph - Siraph
I still can't believe this project exists. Masayuki Hasuo (ex. school food punishment) and Yoshimasa Terui (haisuinonasa) joining forces to create the school food punishment sequel I've always wanted to hear. Vocalist Annabel's delivery and melodies do leave a little to be desired, but maybe that's just because I'm incessantly comparing them to Yumi Uchimura's. Either way, this band is on a level compositionally that the former was never quite able to reach after it went down the simplistic anisong route. Hopefully they'll deliver on their potential going forward.
Sample song: 時間は告ぐ