Does Galavant count?

I’m pretty surprised. I am always trying to recommend anime to my friends to get them into it. But I can see how some fans are jerks. Like they forgot what it was like to be newbies.

I tried to list shows that were not only finished, but also relatively short so that they’re not intimidating to start. Hope you find one you like! I didn’t include any shoujo (girl targeted) anime because I forgot and don’t really watch many. Only one I’ve seen is Ouran Host Club which is actually pretty good so I’ll add it to my list.

Yay, I’m glad you enjoyed it! My brother and I watched it on a whim around Christmas and we both really liked it.

Personally, I prefer anime shows to movies since they’re allowed more time to develop plot and characters. If you’ve ever played any Japanese games you’d know how convoluted the stories can be.

Based on your list of movies, you seem to like a good mix of comedies and tragedy/drama. Below are some shows I think you may like:

• One Punch Man (comedy/action): Saitama is the world’s strongest man and can defeat enemies with a single punch. This causes him to feel ennui with life.
• Erased (mystery/thriller): time travel murder mystery. Don’t want to say too much more. It’s really short (12 episodes) so it should be easy to finish quickly
• Death Note (mystery/thriller): another murder mystery with supernatural elements, this time involving what’s know as the the titular Death Note which can kill anyone who’s name is written inside. This and Fullmetal (below) are pretty much always recommended starter anime.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (fantasy/adventure): Alchemist Brothers Edward and Alphonse travel the world looking for the Philosopher’s Stone in order to fix an alchemy disaster that left Alphonse’s soul trapped in armor. Make sure you watch Brotherhood first. There are two series of this franchise and the regular Fullmetal Alchemist does not follow the source manga all the way through since it caught up at a certain point.
• Hunter x Hunter (action/adventure): Gon hopes to become a powerful Hunter so he can find his father who left him as a child. Best story of all shonen (boy targeted) manga/anime imo. Only bad thing is that it was dropped before they could complete the series (from where the Manga continued). But the ending it has is also still satisfying.
• Asobi Asobase (slice of life comedy): follows three odd high school friends as they try to find ways past time. Absolutely ridiculous show with no plot, just a lot of really funny situations the girls get themselves into. One of my favorites is a punishment game where loser has to be slapped on the butt.
• Ouran High School Host Club: Haruhi is a working class student who enrolls in a high school for wealthy elites on scholarship. On her first day, she accidentally breaks an expensive vase at the famous all-male host club and now has to work there to pay them back. Only problem is, she’s a girl. Hilarity and hijinks ensue.

And if you don’t want to dedicate less time, here are some more good movie recommendations:

• A Silent Voice: moving film about the redemption of a former school bully to a deaf girl. It’s definitely an emotional roller coaster
• Grave of the Fireflies: I put this in my original list but did not specify that it was an anime movie. Only watch if you want to feel some intense emotions
• Spirited Away: there’s a reason this is the first anime movie to with an Oscar. It’s about a young girl who somehow becomes trapped in a magical fantasy world and has to find her parents and a way back home. Only reason I didn’t include it was cause I actually liked Tokyo Godfathers more. However, it’s definitely one of my favorite Ghibli films for sure.
• Your Name: supernatural movie in which a completely unrelated teenage boy and girl swap bodies. They have to figure out why this happens and how to fix it.

I’m glad you had fun watching it and thanks for the update! It’s my favorite Mel Brooks movie but can be jarring compared to how PC movies have become. But it is good that you realized all the slurs were coming from characters you’re not supposed to like.

If you’re looking for fictional accounts that would be easy. Witch Child by Celia Rees was a book I liked a lot when I was in middle scool. Another one we had to read for school was The Crucible by Arthur Miller. What’s cool about this play is they use some actual historical figures as characters.

But as for true, first hand accounts from the accused’s perspective I think you may be out of luck. Primarily because you assume there were actually witches in the Salem Witch hunt to begin with. Though there were many factors leading to the witch hunts, one of the primary causes seems to be that witches were scapegoats for the Puritan leaders to maintain control. In fact, many who were killed were just the most vulnerable of society, hence why nearly 80% of the convicted were women. The link also states that the definition of a witch has changed since then. Today most witchcraft is associated with Wiccan and Pagan beliefs but back during the Trials, a witch was someone who served the devil. Basically all of the convicted were just normal people.

This blog by a historian/journalist has some really interesting examples of first hand accounts of the Salem Witch trials. I didn’t go through the whole thing but it’s a good starting point if you want to learn more about primary sources.

I would respectfully disagree. Spoilers ahead for a 16 year old movie.

I think while the rest of the movie has some fantasy elements and requires some suspension of disbelief, it’s ultimately about Carl’s personal growth and being able to figuratively and literally let go of his wife’s death.

Also, when Ellie died, it was like Carl’s social life died with her. By the end of the film, Carl becomes a part of the community instead of angry and isolated. In the at way, it’s also about a found family with him becoming a father figure to Russell and taking in Dug.

The Room

One of these is not like the other

My thought process for this was asking myself what movie I’d recommend to people who have little to no experience or interest in specific genres. Tried to pick a wide range of movies

Comedies (my favorite genre)

• Kung Fu Hustle (probably favorite movie of all time): fun comedy action movie involving gangsters and a poor neighborhood. Think classic Hong Kong kung fu meets super hero movie. Haven’t met anyone who didn’t like the film
• Airplane: insanely funny movie with nonstop jokes. One of the best movies for comedy because you’ve got all types of jokes (puns, visual humor, recurring jokes etc)
• Blazing Saddles: revovles around a small western town through the perspective of a former slave turned sheriff. Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little have such great chemistry
• The Naked Gun trilogy: if you liked Airplane you’ll love the Naked Gun. Has a lot of ridiculously silly lines told with a straight face.

Action

• LOTR trilogy: I feel like this needs no explanation.
• Star Wars original trilogy: no hate to the prequels (and a lot of hate to the sequels) but nothing quite hits like the OG Star Wars trilogy
• The Mummy: fun, interesting plot, charming characters just the quintissential 90s action movie. Also a great first movie for many people’s bi-awakening 👀
• Police Story (trilogy, but mainly 3): it’s been a while since I’ve seen this trilogy but I distinctly remember really liking the third one because it features both Jackie Chan and Michel Yeoh as equal badasses. If you’ve never seen Jackie Chan’s Hong Kong films, this franchise is a great start.

Animation

• Spiderman Into The Spiderverse: beautifully animated movie that does an amazing job of capturing the feel comics in both style and vibes. Definitely way better than the sequel, in my opinion.
• Tokyo Godfathers: touching anime movie about 3 homeless people who ind a baby on Christmas. Don’t want to spoil any more than that but it has a good balance of comedy and drama and unlike other anime movies I’ve seen, completes the story so well that you’re not wanting more
• Up: my personal favorite Pixar movie and the first 20 min are a master class of short story telling. Was debating between this an Wall E but I think Up has a better story

Horror

Admittedly my least favorite genre. These movies are closer to thrillers than they are horror

• Train to Busan: zombie outbreak on a train. Premise is simple enough but the storytelling and characters are so well written that you get too attached and actually get anxiety when things are happening. It’s a movie with an ending that stays with you
• The Silence of the Lambs: there’s a reason Hannibal Lector is the most memorable part of this movie despite having only 16 minutes of screen time

Movies to watch only once

These are movies that will make you feel such intense emotions (usually sadness but not necessarily) that I would only watch once. No descriptions to avoid spoilers

• Grave of the Fireflies
• Schindler’s List
• Old Boy

As much as I love Kung Pao, I would replace it with Airplane because Kung Pao is just so dumb and divisive. I know people who love that movie and I know people who absolutely hated it. You have to be a certain age (under 12 imo) to really appreciate it.

Airplane however, is timeless regardless of how old you are when you first watch it.

Oh right, sim card compatibility was not something I had considered. Thanks for the tip!

I tried using the browser site for my bank but unfortunately it doesn’t allow depositing checks. Will have to think about that when choosing a phone.

Still, I appreciate all the helpful information you’ve provided. Lots to think about

Based on your responses here, I’m going to assume you don’t get invited out much

I tried to be nice and deflect your comment with a joke but it seems you just want to be needlessly mean.

I work from home and don’t go out much due to my limited mobility. And I use my phone to watch videos and read when in bed because a laptop would be to cumbersome to use. I do have a tablet as well but even that gets too heavy to hold for long periods of time.

When I do occasionally go out, I only use my phone for directions, to listen to a podcast since the noise of traffic and crowded areas is overstimulating, or you know, as a phone to make calls/texts. So no, I do not use my phone as a pacifier in public, you horse’s ass.

What’s all this crazy talk about going outside?

Thanks for clarifying. I guess I’ll look more into /e/OS to see what it’s really like.

My parents are going to France in October so if I decide on the Fairphone I may just ask them to pick it up for me. Not sure how that’d work though so I’ll look more into it.

As for the banking, I use it about once a week or every other week to deposit checks. I will definitely still need that though since it’s hard for me to physically go to the bank due to my limited mobility. Might be best to keep my old phone just for that purpose

Thanks for the detailed information. The Fairphone 6 is a strong contender to be sure and if I’m able to buy one with the OS installed all the better! Only problem is I’m in the US so I don’t know how much more expensive it will be for me to buy.

And after doing a quick search of /e/OS it looks like an iOS clone, which I am not super fond of. Have you used it before?

Also, it seems my bank isn’t supported. So that’s another bummer

More power to you! I enjoy browsing videos and reading webcomics too much to go back to a flip phone though. Don’t go on social media much so if I go deeper down the rabbit hole, a flip phone may bot be out of the question. It would also be a great alternative for a work phone

Thought since my phone couldn’t be rooted I wouldn’t be able to change the OS. It’s the SM-G981U model

Good to know, thanks!

Thanks for all of the options! May look more into LineageOS