satiate your indefensible hunger for a clash

Hannibal, Samurai Jack & WWE NXT
pop culture dailies 004

This is a great writing exercise for me since I can freely write about things that I am passionate about ...

Hannibal s03e03

Bryan Fuller's signature work of Hannibal is really a masterclass in creating an effective ambiance and tone, giving a beautiful platform for such a macabre premise while delving deep into his psychosis and psychological state. It's a brilliant character study between the cannibalistic serial killer and the character study specialist (I can't remember what he's called) FBI character profiler and the interaction between Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy is the backbone of the series and it is what have kept me coming back for more the most. The reason I am inching my way through the last season is because it is the only consumable property by the showrunner that I haven't fully digest yet. With American Gods Season Two currently in indefinite limbo, I will fully enjoy this series as slowly as I could to fully appreciate it. The concept is simple but kudos to them for trying to diversify the product every iteration!

Samurai Jack s01e04

Since Genndy Tartakovsky's magnum opus has officially ended, I am planning to rewatch the whole series from the start to fully understand the main protagonist's journey through time because of A ... KU! I know how much of the world has developed now comparing the final outing to the debut season, which can clearly be seen on the screen what full creative control and virtually unlimited budget in the former compared limited amount of budget and time would produce for the latter. His signature style and flair are still prevalent throughout the whole series though as his measured approach to slowburn storytelling let us the audiences to being fully enveloped by the world and the Samurai called Jack's tireless pursue to right the wrong once and for all.

WWE NXT 011017

With all said and done, we can safely conclude that NXT has been the best place to find the the best storytelling on the whole company and this (or rather last) week's outing just another solid case for it. The recent Mae Young Classic provided a number of viable candidates to be plucked straight into the developmental phase (or even arguably the main roster!) but whether it is beneficial in building up the homegrown talents or not, that's a question for another time (The UK Tournament also have its own pros and cons and WWE's inability to make UK-specific shows is baffling! The same can be said for the validity of women-only shows being run just like NXT). With that being said, the NXT Women's Championship is starting its next phase with Shayna Baszler right on the steering wheels gunning for Ember Moon's Belt after quickly dispatching the future Bayley, Dakota Kai (poor her, getting the short end of the stick here but the future star will find her place soon). The forever midcarder Kassius Ohno doing his job to showcase an up-and-coming talent in Raul Mendoza, a decent match of the classic clash between a flipping speedster and a hard-hitting giant. The same concept but with much more disparity in proportion, the slow buildup of Lars Sullivan keeps on going strong with Lio Rush unfortunately in the crossline this time around (is his distasteful tweet to be blamed for this predicament?). The one hour format is a blessing and a crutch at the same time whereby they have to push some of the storylines aside i.e. how they put the least focus on the NXT Championship (which would be contested for next time out if I'm not mistaken) but that means the main event of the evening could be only on one of the main Belts for the night and this time around it's for the Tag Team Championship. The Undisputed Era is now being properly booked as the top stable of the division and their constant middling of other people's businesses started to haunt them back but even the impromptu alliance of the small package Roderick Strong and the undefeated Aleister Black could not overcome the numeral advantage and the cunning  ... ADAM COLE, BABY!

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Well, that's all folks! Thank you for your time and please do come back for my future posts! :-)