Mandaris

I do like talking about food and this one is lighter than yesterday's entry.

19. What is your favorite food? Why do you like it? What is your history with it?

My favorite food is pizza 🍕. I’ve enjoyed it since I was a wee little lad. I do appreciate that there are many styles and combinations in the ways you can make and eat pizza.

For me, I feel the combination of meat, cheese, dough with a nice tomato based sauce is comforting. And for most of my life, I have eaten it with someone else. I know that there is pizza by the slice or personal sized pizzas, but pizza is more of a social experience for me. Collaborating with friends and family as to what toppings are going to be on it and trying to get the size right for possible leftovers is part of the fun.

I didn't expect this kind of question. I feel it is relevant to a lot of things in my life.

18. How do you feel about alcohol? Is it something you enjoy? What do you like? What do you dislike?

The amount of times that I’ve seen alcohol used as a way to relax and have a good time has never come close to the amount of times that I’ve seen it make things worse.

I have addiction on both sides of my family and see the signs in so many people who use it just to get through the day. The problem being that it’s multiple days and multiple drinks.

It’s the magic ingredient in most of the arguments that I’ve had as an adult. Either during the drinking or some time the day afterwards.

I feel it’s the combination of being free of your inhibitions and having the excuse of having your inhibitions loosened that make it tantalizing for some.

I was drunk!

And it’s to number one drug in America.

I feel that it’s probably for the best because of all the regulations that have been placed over it. I’ve heard too many stories about other drugs being laced with unknown substances or prescriptions leading to people turning into zombies.

Ultimately, we should all find a better way to relax and have a good time.

This is the penultimate episode!

This episode like most of the season reminds me of a smoldering fire. It’s not as flashy as it was previously but it can still burn you and there is the occasional pop as the embers break.

I’m not trying to be deep or introspective on the (super) human condition or anything, but I feel that this is one of the most sinister episodes of the season. In our efforts to feel loved, respected, or powerful, what are we willing to do? What are we willing to give up?

17. What are your favorite books and why?

I think I'm going to say that my favorite genre of book is fantasy.

I think I’m drawn to the genre because most of them have a beginning, middle, and end where the protagonist resolves everything at the end. Not as complicated as real life.

Season four? More like Season Snore!

But seriously, I found myself struggling to care about the series at the end. The only thing pushing me through those episodes at the end was my desire to just be done with the whole thing.

I feel that this season does a disservice to the series as it renders all the characters to one note copies of what they were in previous seasons. Why does a character do something? It’s because the plot or joke demands it and pushes the episode forward so that we can fill the runtime.

Looking back on it, I can probably sum up the season to about 4 or 5 plot points. That ultimately set us up to be in roughly the same spot we were in back in season 2. I think that’s what frustrates me the most. The fact that I invested my time in watching this when there are so many other things available.

Skip this season.

We’re getting to the home stretch of a slow burning season. I feel that this episode highlights that you don’t need to have everyone in danger to have some tension and character development.

I feel that some might be turned off by having some of the subtlety of corruption and injustice not being as hidden as it was in previous episodes. Maybe that’s why some are complaining about it being too woke. Maybe they are ok with violence being perpetrated in an over the top manner but not the systematic approach of turning people into a form of involuntary income.

Maybe.

Anyway, I liked that we get to see that although Homelander can get his supporters behind him, he’s lacking in his ability to read a room of people.

Two more episodes to go and I’m wondering how they are going to stick the landing.

16. What things are easy for you to write about? What things are hard?

The easiest thing for me to write about is about my blog.

I enjoy writing about what changes that I make to the theme and different posting challenges that I’m doing.

After that, it’s different media reviews that I put together. Although, I do find myself spending too much time debating on formate and how long or short a review should be. I don’t see myself doing a 5 paragraph summary on everyone but I do want to put something more into it.

The hardest things to write about are personal stories. I don’t want to overshare on the internet and I do worry that I’m not quite getting my argument in the correct words.

You might be wondering “where is the review of episodes 2 through 4?”

Well, I accidentally binged them and I found myself in episode 5 thinking about how I hadn’t written anything about the show.

Well, if you’ve been watching the show for a while and wanted a chance for it to get back to simple plot, than this is the one for you.

You’re got a main plot line filled with gore just like in previous seasons, but with people that you normally don’t see getting their hands dirty or facing danger. I actually liked this part the best.

There’s the B plot with Homelander and Ryan bonding over helping people. For me, I’m reminded of all the criminals that heroes fight in different comic books. We have a tendency to think of them as less then. It’s ok to hurt someone because they are a bad guy.

At what point, does the punishment go to far?

Is it ok to get enjoyment out of pursuing justice?

I’d love to see how far the show goes with this thread.

15. Are you an early or late adopter of technology? What makes you that way?

I'm currently a late adopter.

I still get excited by some technology, but I don’t have the enthusiasm I used to have for adopting new things.

I used to think I had all the time in the world to pursue learning and making new things. The glamour of newness was enough to justify the hours of frustration as I tried to make things better or fix what gets broken with point releases or bad patches.

Unfortunately, it comes with an opportunity cost. The time that I spent getting the latest and questionably greatest to work decently hasn’t always paid off. The unknown amount of hours is something I think about. I try not to wonder too much on the what if of it but it does cross my mind.

In addition, I can’t justify the cost of pursuing new technologies these days. We’re no longer in the time where you would see marked improvements on something that justifies regular upgrades.

14. What has your relationship with music been like throughout your life?

Music is one of the things that express my feelings when I can't put it into words. I find that I feel better after listening to music for a while. Either with songs that are old favorites or new songs that I come across.

I find that even when I’m in a bad mood and I listen o something that matches that mood, I’m in a better mood afterwards.

It’s like the music validates how I feel and then I’m able to move past whatever I’m feeling and do something with it.