hello

Pedestrian traffic lights

When I taught second grade, one of the options for students who had finished their work was to write a letter to the president. I would send all of the letters in a big envelope at the end of every month.

Watching my students get more and more frustrated with him (and concerned about his wellbeing) was not the result I'd hoped for when I came up with the idea, but it was kind of hilarious.

See, Obama had a standard packet with information and activities about his dog he'd send in response to letters from very young citizens...and of course his office sent one back to our class every single time we sent mail.

So eventually all of the letters looked something like this:

All the episodes of Galavant are on the Internet Archive!

1) they reproduce asexually and the children are clones of each parent OR

2) Kermit and Miss Piggy are members of the same sexually dimorphic species, hence the split between their male and female children

In which Captain Amelia (left), an extra terrestrial anthropomorphic cat, had hybrid babies with Doctor Doppler (middle), an extra terrestrial anthropomorphic dog, whom also gave birth to the babies

post (YESTERDAY) it stopped at

the second Eggman

I can finally put all 8 animations I made together 💐

To me, the ending wrapped up quite nicely. I already had a feeling they wouldn’t go for the 10Dance competition in the movie since it still hasn’t occurred in the manga. Some people are saying the ending is open-ended or sad. I don't agree.

In the final scene, Sugiki asks Suzuki to dance with him, and Suzuki accepts. And that explains everything. What I see is Sugiki finally braving up and doing what he truly wants. And what he wants is Suzuki. Dance is neither about technique nor stamina. Love is what makes it whole. Sugiki is choosing love here, finally.

In front of the whole world, he claims his love for Suzuki. Then they perform the honor dance that Suzuki had always wanted. Remember how heartbroken Suzuki was when he had to watch Sugiki and Liana dance together, realizing he would never get to do that with Sugiki? Now, it actually happens.

They dance together to their hearts’ content. And they KISS! Right there! In front of everyone! Who does that if not lovers? They are officially boyfriends!

Yes, they still need to compete in the 10Dance and that’s how they end their story, by reminding us of the competition and the continuation of their journey. It’s a brilliant way to finish the movie.

So I don’t see this as an open or sad ending at all. It’s a happy ending, period.

A very enjoyable two hours of my time.

(Also one of my fave kiss scenes of 2025)

It was delightful to hear Spanish in 10 Dance, but I always find it interesting how Netflix tones down the familiar and playful aggression of Spanish like by translating "maricón" to "bro" or some other non-offensive term (it's closer to "fag"), so the Spanish conversation in the bar in 10 Dance was interesting not just because I want the bartender . . .

But because the bartender is saying that Suzuki is "enganchado" as in hooked or addicted to Sugiki. The emphasis is on the nature of Suzuki's feelings, so it's not a soft love, but an obsessive one in which he keeps going back to Sugiki for more . . . like a drug.

Which makes sense because Suzuki just describe his relationship with Sugiki like this:

But Suzuki seems to take humorous offense to the bartender's comment implying he is addicted to Sugiki.

So the bartender tries a different approach saying that people "lust" ("lujuria"), sexually. In a sense, the bartender is shifting his question to make Suzuki's attraction to Suguki carnal instead of something deeper.

Which causes Suzuki to pause again before he laughs it off.

But it's clear that the bartender is actually trying to approach this in a "no big deal if you like a dude" way because he says "contigo" as if he is saying "I'm being serious with you."

And follows it up with this which is close to the word-for-word translation ("el mismo sexo también se puede sentir? -> "the same sex also can be felt (by one)"), so he is reinforcing that a man can have the same addictive or carnal feelings for a man that he could have a woman. No biggie.

But Suzuki brushes it off and calls the bartender a "cabrón" -> bastard (affectionately) rather than just merely saying "come on!"

However, the ending line of the conversation is where I get a bit confused with the translation because the bartender isn't saying to back off. In fact, the bartender is saying the opposite. The bartender says, "Bueno, si no te importa hacer un tarrudo, entonces vete" -> "Well, if you don't mind making a mess, then leave!" but "vete" implies force and finality, like a command. It's kind of like telling him "to shit or get off the pot but you have got to quit bullshitting about it because nobody is holding you back from fucking a man, coward." Like, "vete" is heavy.

Then, the music in the background reinforces what the bartender just told him.

So when he leaves the bar and immediately sees Sugiki dancing, he approaches.

And I think that Spanish conversation is the reason he gets upset at Sugiki. He has just been told to make a mess with a man if he wants and he has been sitting in that this entire time only for Sugiki to leave the conversation and their interaction with simply asking him not to mention his previous bad treatment toward Fusako to her. That's the secret he wants Suzuki to keep.

Like "what a fucking waste of a bisexual awakening, man."

¡VETE!

"Bueno, si no te importa hacer un tarrudo, entonces vete"

Then it happens. Every ounce of fatigue or hunger leaves your body. The face of your beloved is perfectly still, their expression exactly the same. The ticking of the clock on the wall has stopped. Once again, it’s 20:17. 

You stretch your arms and walk to the table with the homework for the three doctorates you’re working on. The work is mentally stimulating and enjoyable, but it’s finished far too quickly. You check your pocket watch and see that not even one hundredth of a second has passed. 

You knew it was too soon to be able to see any movement on the watch, but you can never quite help yourself from looking early on every 20:17. Time to move on. 

You clean your home, do your budget, then go outside and fix a noise that your car was making earlier that afternoon. (Oh how you already miss afternoons.) Then you go back inside, boot up your computer (which magically speeds up to keep pace with you as long as you’re in contact with it) and check for any new orders. 

You’ve set up a website for the small business you started called “Magic Elf Services.” People in your area can pay a modest fee on your site to have different tasks and odd jobs done by “The Magic Elf” at 8:17pm every day. It was a little slow to get started, but word has spread and these days you have a steady stream of clients. 

The money that comes in from the business is nice, but you’re mostly grateful that it gives you a clear list of things to do. You print off your updated list of clients, step outside, and start making your way through the neighborhood with your to-do list. 

There’s the apartments down your street where several neighbors have hired you to tidy up, do the dishes, and mop the floors. You do the windows too, just to see if they notice. There’s the large house across town that paid the “Magic Elf” to clean out the gutters. After the first dozen jobs are done, you manage to stop looking at your pocket watch. 

As near as you’ve been able to determine in the past, 20:17 seems to last for approximately one normal year. But it’s not exact. For one thing, it’s hard to keep track of “time” when everything but you has crawled to an almost total standstill. For another thing, time seems to move differently depending on how “productive” your behavior is. One time you tried to spend all of 20:17 sitting at home in your pajamas, but that was getting you nowhere, so you eventually gave up and got busy. (Though you defiantly stayed in your pajamas the whole time.) 

During 20:17 your body doesn’t get tired, hungry, sick, or injured. You’re essentially tireless and immortal for the duration of the “minute.” So sleeping or eating away your boredom has never really worked for you. 

One of the houses on your list forgot to follow the instructions and leave a key for you to get in. At first you figure you’ll just send them an email telling them to pay more attention and that you’ll do the job tomorrow. Then you decide to go home, get your locksmith tools, and come back. 

After finishing up all the jobs on your list, you go into several other homes and small businesses in the area, performing tasks you hope they’ll find helpful, and leaving a hand-painted business card at each one. (The business cards don’t contain your real name just in case somebody thinks “The Magic Elf” should be subject to breaking and entering laws.) 

Speaking of laws, you head down to the local police station to pick up your case file. You’ve been in contact with a detective who’s been investigating corruption within their department, and your ability to investigate unseen and get in almost anywhere between the ticks of the clock has proven invaluable. You see that they’ve also added five missing person cases to your file this evening, which certainly raises your interest in the job. 

You make your way through town gathering evidence, and start making your way to the outskirts of town. Since you happen to be out that way (and you’ve already solved three of the five missing person cases) you decide to swing by the stone castle you’re building and do some more work there. 

The castle walls stand about 20 feet right now, but you know they’ll be much higher when you’re done. You’re far from any roads and pretty safely tucked away, so for now it’s your little secret. You’ve been excavating and moving all the rock yourself, which has been much easier than you first expected since your body doesn’t get tired or sore. You’ve also got a nice system of tunnels going underneath the castle, and you dig and build more of that network for a while. 

All that time spent underground has left you feeling rather lonely, so you walk back home to see the face of your sweetheart. Their facial expression has moved ever so slightly since you last saw them, which is a comfort to you. Looking at them gets your imagination going and makes you dream up a story you’d like to tell, so you sit on your couch, plug in your laptop, and write a book. 

After you finish editing the last chapter for the third time, you finally allow yourself to look at your pocket watch again. Three seconds have officially passed so far.