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@thefridayfive 251128
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halfcactus1. What were some of the smells and tastes of your childhood?
General scents: Mosquito coils; the colorful chemical paste that you'd smear on a little stick and blow up into a plastic balloon; the smoke from the (now discontinued) toy revolvers that you "reloaded" with red plastic bullet rings; White Flower oil
Star margarine
Hometown dimsum, my beloved for life.
Hometown "street" food: grilled scallops, grilled pork, lemongrass-stuffed native chicken, puso (rice boiled in pouch of woven leaves). And ngohiong, a five-spice-based ('ngohiong' is just 五香) spring roll that never grew on me but is everywhereeeee in my hometown.
Mango tarts, which I just realized that I haven't seen in a decade, at least not in the exact way I remember. It's the kind that has a round shape, a crimped crust, a custard base, a layer of mango slices and a layer of colorless gelatin (I forget in what order), and they'd be sold in solo sizes.
Eucalyptus leaves, dampened to release a minty scent and cooling sensation (we had a tree).
Santol (cotton fruit) - I haven't had one since we moved to the capital. I only liked the pulp around the seeds anyway lol, I haaaated having to eat the sour outer rind to get to the sweet cottony center.
Kamunggay (moringa). My mom hasn't cooked with these since we moved to the capital. I guess because they're not leaves that are worth spending money on (we used to have a tree).
The whole sensory experience of inasal (roasted suckling pig, more commonly known as lechon outside my hometown) we'd have at Christmas/New Year parties. The meat was soft, succulent, and salty, the way only my hometown can do it. The skin was a glossy, deep red shell. It made a satisfying crackle when you broke off pieces with your fingers and shattered them with your teeth, a full ASMR experience. I am not a lechon enjoyer (I prefer them in leftover form), but adults were always putting cuts of it on my plate and telling me to tryyyy the skinnnnn because it was apparently just That Important to them. Is it any wonder that those relatives developed cholesterol and blood sugar issues over years.....
2. What did you have as a child that you do not think children today have?
Winamp skins and piracy skills!
3. What elementary grade was your favorite?
None, elementary and high school are a blur to me.
4. What summer do you remember the best as a child?
The summer my parents shipped my brother and me to different households in my hometown. During that period, I watched Prince of Tennis, got bundled into an overnight ferry for a beach trip (snorkeling) with my cousins' cousins (my relatives had plans and couldn't just leave me behind), and got yelled at and insulted a lot by my aunt who hated girls bc of generational trauma.
5. What one piece of advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?
IDK, I guess do more extracurriculars, learn to network, and hang out/do things with other people more? But probably more extracurriculars, I didn't really have any.
This question unlocked something inside me
2. What did you have as a child that you do not think children today have?
Winamp skins and piracy skills!
3. What elementary grade was your favorite?
None, elementary and high school are a blur to me.
4. What summer do you remember the best as a child?
The summer my parents shipped my brother and me to different households in my hometown. During that period, I watched Prince of Tennis, got bundled into an overnight ferry for a beach trip (snorkeling) with my cousins' cousins (my relatives had plans and couldn't just leave me behind), and got yelled at and insulted a lot by my aunt who hated girls bc of generational trauma.
5. What one piece of advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?
IDK, I guess do more extracurriculars, learn to network, and hang out/do things with other people more? But probably more extracurriculars, I didn't really have any.
(no subject)
Nov. 28th, 2025 10:29 ammaluretteYou know what? taking the course on fire safety systems is doing me a world of good. I really don't think I'll work in that field once it's done, but having to get up in the morning has gotten much easier; socializing, learning stuff but not too much actually (so much of our time is just waiting around for the teachers to get photocopies and hearing them go all over again stuff we've already seen, or go off on tangents), and having my day end at 4:30PM and my week on Thursday afternoon? yeah that's nice actually.
Plus we've discovered this week that we're allowed to go to the school library during lunch breaks, YAY!!!
(Well we've still don't have wifi because of the pirating two months ago but...)
(D'ailleurs si quelqu'un a des recommandations à transmettre au cahier de suggestions du CDI d'un lycée professionnel, la documentaliste et moi sommes toutes z'ouïes ?)
Plus we've discovered this week that we're allowed to go to the school library during lunch breaks, YAY!!!
(Well we've still don't have wifi because of the pirating two months ago but...)
(D'ailleurs si quelqu'un a des recommandations à transmettre au cahier de suggestions du CDI d'un lycée professionnel, la documentaliste et moi sommes toutes z'ouïes ?)
Excised video for second Macy's Parade post
Nov. 26th, 2025 02:02 pmneonvincentI found a video I like better for Local news covers the marching bands in the 2025 Macy's Parade.
WLBT 3 On Your Side reporting Alcorn’s band heads to NYC to perform in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Alcorn’s band heads to NYC to perform in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
🍵🫖
Nov. 26th, 2025 05:39 pmhalfcactusJust trying to keep track of various media culture news. I apologize in advance for all the internet drama I am importing from other platforms. 😂
Crunchyroll:
Crunchyroll has swapped Aegisub for Ooona as their subtitling tool. Reasons why this is causing outrage:
1) Ooona is a product of an Israel-based company
2) Ooona is the same software used for Netflix and Amazon subtitles. This means the subtitles are more, hmm, minimalistic? And lack the same amount of onscreen translation and styling that are standard in the anime community. It's also subscription-based (and cloud-based). From what I understand, the change in services is meant to make it easier to conform to Netflix / Amazon's subtitling standards (using one subtitle version across all platforms instead of converting from .ass), but a lot has been lost in the process.
Here's a detailed write-up about it, with plenty of screencaps and subtitle samples for reference. It's so long I never finished reading it. 😂
Several high-engagement Twitter threads have alleged that Crunchyroll now uses "AI subtitles" or "AI software". I haven't found any definitive info that supports that, but I've seen some Reddit posts/comments point out the use of AI in closed captions.
Twitter has rolled out a feature that allows you to see what country each user is based on (something that I think has been in c-socials for a while, I hate it lol). You can set your profile to display your continent instead. It was really noisy for a few days, but now the novelty seems to be gone.
OmO fictions: An international knovel platform for BL that uses """ethical""" AI translations (ethical in the sense in that they have the authors' permission to use AI translations, it's on the contract and all).
Ken Chu allegedly dropped from F4 concert tour: I didn't even know they were planning a reunion tour, but I guess that's the power of Mayday for you
Pocket Comics is dead and will be officially gone on Oct 31, which makes me sad because they're the only international platform I know that had Goldiluck (my fav manhwa!!!). Goldiluck is still up on a 🏴☠️ site, but that one's been under fire recently, so...
TIL Baiheverse is translating audio books and audio dramas, which I think is an interesting endeavor. If I were a Baiheverse user, I would try to archive the audio and video content.
Manta:
Ridi's Subsidiary Prodifi Launches AI-Powered Webtoon Localization Tool
+ November 2025 update:
Prodifi, the subsidiary of RIDI, has announced a service termination next month due to “internal service strategy adjustments.” (this article includes Lezhin's statement about its involvement with Prodifi)
RIDI is the parent company of the international webtoon platform Manta. The localization tool supposedly streamlines the process of adjusting typesetting (for speech bubbles, sfx, etc) and supports multiple languages. It is unclear to me how much auto-translation is used in the actual translation process, and with Prodifi's service termination announcement it's unclear if they are still able to use the software. I'm not tapped into the translated manhwa scene enough to have anything to say about the translation quality, but readers have been very unhappy with Manta's new pricing scheme and even unhappier with the recent AI revelations.
Subtitling controversy
Crunchyroll has swapped Aegisub for Ooona as their subtitling tool. Reasons why this is causing outrage:
1) Ooona is a product of an Israel-based company
2) Ooona is the same software used for Netflix and Amazon subtitles. This means the subtitles are more, hmm, minimalistic? And lack the same amount of onscreen translation and styling that are standard in the anime community. It's also subscription-based (and cloud-based). From what I understand, the change in services is meant to make it easier to conform to Netflix / Amazon's subtitling standards (using one subtitle version across all platforms instead of converting from .ass), but a lot has been lost in the process.
Here's a detailed write-up about it, with plenty of screencaps and subtitle samples for reference. It's so long I never finished reading it. 😂
Several high-engagement Twitter threads have alleged that Crunchyroll now uses "AI subtitles" or "AI software". I haven't found any definitive info that supports that, but I've seen some Reddit posts/comments point out the use of AI in closed captions.
From their Notion site:
We realized that relying exclusively on 100% human translation would prevent many valuable works from ever reaching global readers. But with recent improvements in AI translation quality, we saw an opportunity to address this challenge.
We understand that opposition to AI usage often stems from concerns about it potentially replacing human writers—and we feel the same way.
That’s why we explicitly inform all of our writers and publishers that use of AI is strictly limited to translation purposes only, never for creating original content.
And we’ve received full consent from all writers and publishers we work with.
We operate through 100% legal contracts with authors and publishers, and proceeds go directly to the authors. Constructive criticism of our service is welcome, but it should not distract from the importance of supporting authors legally. 😔
— OmO fictions_official (@omo_fictions) November 25, 2025
We want to express our sincere… https://t.co/TSs4WWbAPk
again, it's disgusting how even the *authors* know their work is being fed through AI. it's no AI until it benefits them a tiny bit https://t.co/4UA47MLQTT
— レン (@riamuyumemi) November 25, 2025
Controversy about AI tools
Ridi's Subsidiary Prodifi Launches AI-Powered Webtoon Localization Tool
+ November 2025 update:
Prodifi, the subsidiary of RIDI, has announced a service termination next month due to “internal service strategy adjustments.” (this article includes Lezhin's statement about its involvement with Prodifi)
RIDI is the parent company of the international webtoon platform Manta. The localization tool supposedly streamlines the process of adjusting typesetting (for speech bubbles, sfx, etc) and supports multiple languages. It is unclear to me how much auto-translation is used in the actual translation process, and with Prodifi's service termination announcement it's unclear if they are still able to use the software. I'm not tapped into the translated manhwa scene enough to have anything to say about the translation quality, but readers have been very unhappy with Manta's new pricing scheme and even unhappier with the recent AI revelations.
Rejected video for Macy's Parade post
Nov. 25th, 2025 01:58 pmneonvincentThis didn't mention the Spartans marching in the Macy's Parade, so I didn't include it in WMUR covers the Spartans in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
If this were a complete episode, I'd have shared it at Crazy Eddie's Motie News
Nov. 24th, 2025 09:12 am
Movies about performative men
Nov. 23rd, 2025 02:19 pmhalfcactusAhhhh I can't believe November's almost over. A couple of weeks ago we had a typhoon that was as big as our entire country. The coastal areas bore the brunt and weakened it; I spent that weekend keeping an eye on the news while watching a bunch of movies and Physical: Asia, which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected (at 1.5x speed) though I can't be bothered to watch the finale.
MOVIES:
Ballad of a Small Player (2025)
Directed by Edward Berger, who worked on Conclave (which I haven't seen). This movie is all style, no substance. Macau is painted as a rainbow of neon, dreams, and desperation with a display of excess that feels thematically performative—Colin Farrell plays a gambler who calls himself Lord Doyle and performs at opulence and meaningless hunger. Fala Chen's character recognizes in him a "lost soul" and appears to feel a thread of connection to him. I feel like if the movie had tried to flesh out her thoughts and motives this movie would have struck me as orientalist, but there really is not enough substance here to turn over. It is, however, very nice to look at.
American Psycho (2000)
A portrait of the wealthy as vapid, interchangeable men in suits who are in constant need of affirmation and identity markers and are quite literally an echo chamber. For all their resources, they never achieve self-actualization. They don't even have real jobs. The jokes are funny, but I'm extremely squeamish about violence so I ended up only watching the first third of the movie—which was enough to see its thesis statement—and listening to the rest. Patrick Bateman is the OG # performative male.
Superman (2025)
Enjoyed this a lot, not just because there's a DOG (though mostly because of the dog). Hearing Noah and the Whale's 5 Years Time in a 2025 blockbuster was NOT in my bingo card, didn't really know how to feel about that. The first hour really flew by, while the second one was very standard superhero shtick. The visual gags were fun, the interpersonal conflicts were great, and the ending was satisfying. It's very much a socially relevant movie that's centered on human experiences and doing good. I watched this while a supertyphoon was brewing and seeing the extras take their pets with them in the evacuation scene really hit hard.
The Running Man (2025)
Rather than a dystopian movie, this is more like an alternate reality one, since its themes are very much "present". Apparently this is not just an adaptation of a Stephen King novel, it's also not the first one? It's definitely a great one to catch at the theater and immediately forget once it's over. There's a lot of interesting action, fun references to reality TV shows, and timely reminders about the dangers of AI and digital surveillance and cops, though it's horribly underwritten and overly sanitized. The script simply doesn't support the film's intentions. The dialogue in the last 1/3 outright assumes that the audience is stupid, and the ending is played so safe it loses its meaning.
Glen Powell's character's defining characteristic is meant to be his ANGER towards injustices but he just isn't angry enough and is weirdly passive for someone who's known for always going rogue. Rated R-18, but values are very family-friendly. Michael Cera's scenes were the truest part, both in terms of underground activism (the zines!) and in terms of what I think of as Edgar Wright's directorial voice, which seemed otherwise lost.
罗小黑战记2 | Legend of Hei 2 (2025)
I can see this movie selling really well to overseas animation fans (or at least battle shounen fans), but as I feared, for a movie about Xiao Hei, this didn't have enough Xiao Hei. ;___; First half was great, but second half was bogged down by too many action scenes that didn't feel very meaningful; the entire appeal of the first movie (and even the TV series!) for me was the characters, the relationships, and emotionally driven action and personal conflicts. Instead, this movie was high-stakes and brought to a real-life level I simply didn't care about. There were too many scenes of NPCs with no clear motive or emotional development and the "mystery" suffered for it.
Humor, banter, slice-of-life moments, and 晚安喵 montages were still on-point, though! Like I would still rewatch this for all the character interactions (and I would live in the montages if I could), it's just that I think this movie should have focused more on the found family storyline.
MOVIES:
Ballad of a Small Player; American Psycho; The Running Man (2025); Superman (2025); Legend of Hei 2
Ballad of a Small Player (2025)
Directed by Edward Berger, who worked on Conclave (which I haven't seen). This movie is all style, no substance. Macau is painted as a rainbow of neon, dreams, and desperation with a display of excess that feels thematically performative—Colin Farrell plays a gambler who calls himself Lord Doyle and performs at opulence and meaningless hunger. Fala Chen's character recognizes in him a "lost soul" and appears to feel a thread of connection to him. I feel like if the movie had tried to flesh out her thoughts and motives this movie would have struck me as orientalist, but there really is not enough substance here to turn over. It is, however, very nice to look at.
American Psycho (2000)
A portrait of the wealthy as vapid, interchangeable men in suits who are in constant need of affirmation and identity markers and are quite literally an echo chamber. For all their resources, they never achieve self-actualization. They don't even have real jobs. The jokes are funny, but I'm extremely squeamish about violence so I ended up only watching the first third of the movie—which was enough to see its thesis statement—and listening to the rest. Patrick Bateman is the OG # performative male.
Superman (2025)
Enjoyed this a lot, not just because there's a DOG (though mostly because of the dog). Hearing Noah and the Whale's 5 Years Time in a 2025 blockbuster was NOT in my bingo card, didn't really know how to feel about that. The first hour really flew by, while the second one was very standard superhero shtick. The visual gags were fun, the interpersonal conflicts were great, and the ending was satisfying. It's very much a socially relevant movie that's centered on human experiences and doing good. I watched this while a supertyphoon was brewing and seeing the extras take their pets with them in the evacuation scene really hit hard.
The Running Man (2025)
Rather than a dystopian movie, this is more like an alternate reality one, since its themes are very much "present". Apparently this is not just an adaptation of a Stephen King novel, it's also not the first one? It's definitely a great one to catch at the theater and immediately forget once it's over. There's a lot of interesting action, fun references to reality TV shows, and timely reminders about the dangers of AI and digital surveillance and cops, though it's horribly underwritten and overly sanitized. The script simply doesn't support the film's intentions. The dialogue in the last 1/3 outright assumes that the audience is stupid, and the ending is played so safe it loses its meaning.
Glen Powell's character's defining characteristic is meant to be his ANGER towards injustices but he just isn't angry enough and is weirdly passive for someone who's known for always going rogue. Rated R-18, but values are very family-friendly. Michael Cera's scenes were the truest part, both in terms of underground activism (the zines!) and in terms of what I think of as Edgar Wright's directorial voice, which seemed otherwise lost.
罗小黑战记2 | Legend of Hei 2 (2025)
I can see this movie selling really well to overseas animation fans (or at least battle shounen fans), but as I feared, for a movie about Xiao Hei, this didn't have enough Xiao Hei. ;___; First half was great, but second half was bogged down by too many action scenes that didn't feel very meaningful; the entire appeal of the first movie (and even the TV series!) for me was the characters, the relationships, and emotionally driven action and personal conflicts. Instead, this movie was high-stakes and brought to a real-life level I simply didn't care about. There were too many scenes of NPCs with no clear motive or emotional development and the "mystery" suffered for it.
Humor, banter, slice-of-life moments, and 晚安喵 montages were still on-point, though! Like I would still rewatch this for all the character interactions (and I would live in the montages if I could), it's just that I think this movie should have focused more on the found family storyline.