Thought I’d post this to get advice on what to show them next

Arrietty

Probably the first anime in general that my family was exposed to. We thought it was just gonna be a retelling of the Borrowers, but I threw it into the cart anyways. Safe to say we loved every second (though we were just laughing at that one close up of Sho. Something about it was hard to take seriously)

My rating: 8/10, would rec

Their rating: 7/10 (family rewatches it occasionally)

Howls moving castle

After Arrietty, I went to a summer job, and ended up binging almost all of the movies, so I was eager to show a few off to the family

Howls ended up not being the right choice though.

My family isn’t quite used to how anime expressions work, and found a lot of moments to just be over the top. Calcifer and most side characters were great, but the scene with Sophie and the witch had some people taken out of the story. Dad’s already an anime hater, so eventually he switched it over to something less cartoony

My rating: 8/10, visually awesome, calcifer stole the show

Their rating: 4/10 (dnf)

Kiki’s delivery service

It was nice to watch. Little me would’ve hated yet another “Disney princess,” but Kiki is just an awesome person now that I’m grown

Family wasn’t all there whenever it was on, and those that were weren’t always engaged. Ended up being a movie to turn in when we wanted noise but not to pay attention

Mom isn’t exactly a Halloween lover, so she had questions about “the witch girl,” but was ok in the end

My rating: 6/10. Not stunning, but nice

Their rating: 5/10, some have already forgotten it

LAPUTA: Castle in the Sky

Started this one on my laptop during a trip. Several siblings watched, but a small screen equals a small audience

That being said, pretty much top marks from the audience! I’m glad because it’s one of my favorites, and wanted to be able to talk about it with others

The pirates stole the show, to the point that one sibling was hoping their school does a show with pirates so that they can act in it (they’re gonna do their best Dola impression lol)

My rating: 10/10, top 3 Ghibli

Their rating: 8/10 will watch with others

Ponyo

Easily the most absurd of the bunch, this somehow got a decent reception from my family. Littler ones liked the magic and adventure, and older ones chattered about making ramen and the mom’s driving (apparently we have a crazy driver in our family too).

Family was engaged most of the time, but I noticed a few willing to get up and walk away for a while, so it didn’t always hold their attention

Parents weren’t too fond of having to explain kissing at the end (or why it’s not ok to just up and kiss a boy in public), but otherwise didn’t mind the show

My rating: 7/10. HAAAMMMM

Their rating: 6/10. HAAAMMMM

the Wind Rises

…and we must learn how to live

I had the feeling my family liked serious stuff better than over the top stuff, but also figured this would be just for the older crew (it may be fade to black, but the “lights out” scene would have some younger people asking too many questions)

(Also, this is one of my favorites ever, and I’d be mad if we had to stop it partway through

Started with a decent group, by the end there were just three of us

I enjoyed every second, they enjoyed every minute

My rating: 10/10 top 3 Ghibli

Their rating: 5/10 (some found gold, the rest went to bed, mixed results either way)

Only Yesterday

Last week I decided to give the slightly more serious films another try

I’d forgotten a few scenes, but I figured it would resonate with my 10yo sister

I was right, she had a few questions

The movie was banned

Rating: 10/10 dnf

(Longer story, mom wasn’t fond of the skirt flipping scene, or the mini skirt scene, or the bathhouse scene, or the… still kinda wish we made it to more adult Taeko scenes)

Nausicaa

Whole family watched, whole family enjoyed

The plot was engaging, the world was fun (even for my anime hating dad) the way the robot was portrayed was well done, and characters were fun.

Honestly, well done Ghibli!

Rating: 9/10, we still watch it

Now, here’s to finding a time and place for Princess Mononoke!

Edit: yo, u/sryt7, can you chill out? It’s not that deep?

Also, removed a sentence about my family’s strictness. I think top comment has all I wanna hear on that covered (I respect it, I just don’t want this thread derailed)

Title says it. I’m not much of a painter, but I figured it’s worth a shot

Materials

- war paint speed paints
- $6 Walmart brushes, one of them trimmed for the sake of removing an outlying hair or two that were leaving streaks
- a Lego holder (I’m cautious with money, and this is something I can cheap out on lol)
- a tin of water (somewhere)
- a sticky note reminding me to thoroughly wash brushes between colors (was not there when I started)
- rust oleum flat white primer (couldn’t find matte gray)

Questions

- is Rustoleum good to use? I’ve read it’s a good one, but the paint seemed to pool weirdly

- how do I get the color on evenly in one layer? It took me four to get a somewhat even tone for pirate man’s pants

- how do you tell which colors are “lighter”? My red is much lighter than most of the other colors, but completely overpowered everything except brown and black (even blue only kind of held on when testing on my little clipboard palette tester thing™)

- why are some of my colors so wierd? Yellow barely does anything once the first layer has been done. Is it just a speedpaints (or war paints) thing?

- are my results weak enough right now to consider practicing with food coloring? Washes of and I’ll get multiple tries per mini

- how do yall handle hard to reach spots? In between the butt and Bow was stupidly hard for the fighter, considering how small he is

- how do you keep a freshly dipped brush from spilling over into areas you’re not trying to paint? Even when scraping off a bit, I get areas where it just pops over the invisible lines in my head (especially that red. I love it, but boy is it stressful to use)

- what a single/multifaceted piece of advice you’d give based on what you’re seeing? Don’t be afraid of hurting my feelings (I actually work better when i hear genuine disgust over fake cheerfulness)

These answers have probably been answered before, and I will be surfing the thread for some of them, so feel free to just link me into other threads if you feel that it’s the better answer

Mostly putting this down because I’m prone to doom scroll, so I don’t want to get stuck in the loop of searching for info instead of using it.

Ever since watching The Cat Returns I can’t help but think this sort of thing about every figurine I see

Needless to say, they look pretty bad now, but that’s due to me using them well past their prime

Here’s a few things I’ve noticed (or tried to ignore) while wearing these

The Tread (neutral)

It started to look flat by the start of year two, and that hole finally appeared about a month ago

I won’t blame the brand for this, since I’ve been running around, shuffling on asphalt, doing hard stops on bikes, climbing rocks/trees, pacing… doing pretty much EVERYTHING with these on at some point, and the website says they’re meant to be closer to a watershoe/sandal than an everyday wear

It should be noted that I was able to wear a hole in a good pair of crocs in about six months easily, so these holding up kinda impressed me

The laces (bad)

Drawstrings just aren’t my thing to begin with, but the aglets were crap, they grab dirt and don’t let go, the end broke off of one side and forced me to use my awful knot tying skills (ok, they’re not that bad, I was just in a rush), and after the first year just feel too brittle to draw on when tightening the shoe (which kinda defeats the purpose)

Luckily, they do adjust to my feet well, and after a while I could just slip my shoes on without adjusting straps

The look (good)

I REALLY like the design in these.

I’m a sucker for interesting looks that take themselves seriously, and these were right up my alley. They have a no nonsense profile combined with what should be a goofy mesh, but ends up being a pretty sleek look

The foam did catch dirt pretty easily, and they only stayed that super white for about a year, but even then for a while it just looked like I was wearing a slightly cream colored shoe, which ended up going with a lot of things I wear (better than full white tbh…)

So, maybe I’d get a different color next time, but otherwise great

Inside (meh)

It was ok, just your average croc style shoe

Extra toe room was great!

Blister on my heel? Not so much

Socks are advised if you’re gonna be actively doing something in them for hours on end. Definitely don’t go running around the neighborhood playing tag unless you’ve got socks on, or your feet will be raw

Water tends to make friction between my foot and other materials to increase, so I was happy to find it’s not too bad (so long as you aren’t jumping around or dancing everywhere)

Walking in them is fine though. TLDR, pay attention to how much you plan on doing before going barefoot in the barefoots

They stop feeling good when you get mud or sand in them. I find this funny since tha the top two things a watershoe will encounter besides, well, water.

This being said, ALL shoes start to suck after mud gets involved, and it washes&drys faster than everything I’ve worn before, including other water shoes (sidenote: they’re ocean safe as far as I can tell. Your shoes won’t smell like rotten seashells when you get home so long as you’ve rinsed them out, which can’t be said for a lot of brands, sadly)

Durability (good, but not perfect)

Not what I needed, but definitely what I should’ve expected

I used the heck out of these things, and after a while it started to take a toll on them. I’m sure avg. 14k steps a day doesn’t help that, especially with how rough the surfaces I walk on are (primarily asphalt, dried clay dirt, and backroad caliche)

I have a tougher pair of shoes for hikes and stuff these days, but I got those fairly recently, so these poor guys had to eat up those treks for a while

Weather never did anything permanent to them. Had a pair of boots mold up after being left out in a particularly humid week, but these are pretty much invincible against that kind of thing

Got some grease on the right one recently, but that will definitely come off if I bother to wash it (I think it’s time to retire these guys though, so it’s probably a waste of time)

I would reccomend that vivo improve their tread to last a bit longer, even if I’m an exceptionally rough shoe owner.

Comfort (good)

The pinch wore off after about two months of use, and now the front actually uconfirms to my toes a bit when moving. Feels good, and I don’t get blisters there when walking around (I can’t say the same for crocs).

They don’t have almost any cushioning to them, so if you’re a feel the earth kind of person this is for you. I personally enjoyed it

Like I said earlier, lots of activity that involves changing directions or shifting your feet will earn you blisters if you don’t have socks on, but this should be expected if you’ve ever played sports before, and is easily avoidable

Nice and airy, managed to keep cool even in 95+ degree weather, and (maybe this is just me, it’s kind of wierd), so long as you wear an extra pair of socks, keep warm enough to go out in snow for a while. Maybe not an all day excursion, but walking around for a few hours doing chores? No problem. Something about their material just makes certain kinds of snow slip by instead of melting into your shoe.

Yeah, on second thought that last bit could just be my Northern European blood talking

End? (worth it)

Again, they look like garbage now, but I also have friends who’ve legitimately never seen me wear any other pair of shoes around them, so it safe to say I’ve enjoyed them.

I’m horrible with saying good things about the stuff I buy, so I’ve probably given the impression that these shoes are mediocre, but just know that they’ve been good for me for a long time, and I’ve enjoyed working them to death.

Somehow pulled a victory with dev cards despite barely getting any wheat, and they messed up a road building and ended up with that random offshoot at the bottom

This game is the fastest I’ve played since I became aware of catan as a concept