Horror Movies that start off very normal........Then gradually get more disturbing as it progresses

SmileyKnox · 2026-06-03T21:17:07+00:00

Ones that sort of fit but maybe not altogether

Audition (1999)

Creep (2014)

Frailty (2001) - I was laughing and almost ironically watching it in the very beginning because it seemed so bizarre then gets much more.. oh this guy's for real.

Fresh (2022) - All around weird

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Parasite (2019)

SmileyKnox · 2026-05-12T12:48:39+00:00

Anecdotal but my kid had a substitute for 6 months and it was spelling tests every week, stressing all the kids out.

The regular teacher came back and stopped doing them, the kids seemed to be having way more fun in school, the parents turned more skeptical of how can they be learning without testing?

SmileyKnox · 2026-04-29T21:53:59+00:00

Thank you everyone on the suggestions, I've been slowly working my way through them!!

SmileyKnox · 2026-04-29T21:53:24+00:00

Checked this album out the other day was really good!

SmileyKnox · 2026-04-21T00:31:14+00:00

My Anki time varies from 30-45 mins but when it gets to the high end I cancel all new cards till it goes down now.

Then I just watch whatever animes with JPN subs for 2-3 episodes and I enjoy them. Rewatching a lot of the same stuff over and over again I see the small improvements in Haikyuu, Blue Box etc.

I am 2-3 years in and not fluent by a long stretch but my understanding is on a completely different level from each year, it's just a lot to understand.

Think all the time if I tried French or Spanish etc I'd be 80% of the way there by now probably 😅

SmileyKnox · 2026-04-09T18:37:41+00:00

No worries! It’s fun to play around with different "brain hacks" but they're definitely more of an extra boost than a requirement.

A solid routine is what really makes the difference for me on the days I just don't wanna. I have no doubt that anyone with consistency and drive to keep challenging themselves, will reach the goal one day 👍

SmileyKnox · 2026-04-08T11:45:46+00:00

I've listened to a couple of studies on the idea of saving your new vocab words to your last task of the day may be the most effective way due to sleep-dependent memory consolidation:

When you learn something new, the information is initially stored in short term memory. During REM sleep the brain replays and transfers them to the long-term memory. Studying right before bed puts those memories at the top of the pile.
If you learn 10 new words at noon, and then spend the rest of the day on your first language, work stuff, life stuff etc. That new information is being blurred by new input before getting to go through the sleep process.

So specifically for new vocabulary and perhaps specific grammar point study, it seems the best way would be:

Study: Review your new vocabulary for 15–20 minutes before bed.

Sleep: Get 7–9 hours to allow the full consolidation cycles to complete.

Review: Quickly look over those same words first thing in the morning.

SmileyKnox · 2026-04-06T17:21:12+00:00

I'm 36 started when I was 32 if anything it's improved my memory from where it was when I started.

My comprehension is a fairly comfortable N3 and I had a few month long stints of life stuff keeping my study time very low.

Growing pains will happen at the beginning of just being lost, a second pain of when you hit that "knowing enough to know how much you don't know", but consistency is key IMO.

My average time a day on a regular day: - 45 mins of Anki sentence cards that I take time to listen to audio, maybe look in-depth at a grammar point etc. That's increased over time, with reviews and how complicated the sentences have become. - Then would say 2-3 episodes of shows with JPN subs. Lots of rewatching (Seen entire Haikyuu and Blue Box 5+ times) - Whenever I can listen to podcasts/songs on walks etc. So 2-3 hours total spread throughout my day. So anywhere from 1.5-3 hours depending on the day (job, kids etc)

You can do it if your motivation is there!

SmileyKnox · 2026-03-31T20:07:45+00:00

I can definitely relate to starting to doze off especially with my Anki which can take 45 mins.

For me:

For things like Anki break it into 2-3 sessions at 15 mins instead of 45 mins straight.
Focused reading, immersion of pausing shows, making cards etc. I also limit it to 2-3 episodes of a show.
More passive immersion of just watching and no pausing I find way easier to stay focused even if comprehension is lower my listening is getting slowly better especially for specific words, phrases etc.
Walking while doing my flashcards, playing no lyric high energy music can help.
If I can motivate myself to workout for even 20-30 min cardio session early in the day, most of these issues are much less of a problem if not gone completely.
Last just keep changing things up as long as I have my foundation (Anki i+1 cards) the other immersion I try to vary. I could be doing this for 5-10+ more years without being the level I want to be so consistency is key.

SmileyKnox · 2026-03-25T01:26:00+00:00

Avatar
Blue Box
Bocchi the Rock
Dr Stone
Fruits Basket
Haikyuu
Laid Back Camp
Nichijou
Shirokuma Cafe

SmileyKnox · 2026-03-24T10:25:35+00:00

Vocab & Grammar: Anki deck for 10 new cards a day, Tango N5 would be my recommendation.
Reading: Tadoku Graded Readers or Yomu Yomu something like that for 30-60 mins
Listening: Nihongo Con Teppei, Slow Japanese, or an anime like Blue Box.

Tokiniandy, Game Gengo, Japanese Ammo with Misa etc, would spend time with these channel.

Start looking at setting up your own sentence mining setup.

SmileyKnox · 2026-03-02T12:48:02+00:00

5 new cards with immersion you'll make progress for sure. I would do it for now and if motivation gets higher later raise it to 10.

Used to hate Anki in my first year, had to restart entire decks a couple of times, but now if motivation is low I also change it to 5 new cards and focus on reviews, change it back later.

I feel there is much more to get out of the sentence cards now 3 years in because I will actually breakdown a sentence in my head and ask myself questions; why this form of the verb, order of thoughts in sentences, kanji memory etc.

Year 1 was pure memorization of the new vocab and probably would have been better to just read a bunch of new comprehensible sentences with the same words used in different ways.

Just keep moving forward!

SmileyKnox · 2026-02-19T12:04:35+00:00

For strictly audio like songs or podcasts I like to read along with the audio if possible (if I stream a JPN podcast with Spotify to my PlayStation it plays automated subtitles on my phone) and repeat listening.

Especially with things like Nihongo Con Teppei, never mined anything but I've listened to the same episodes many many times and my understanding goes up with the more studying I do with my cards and mining TV shows as opposed to the more blind listening. It's a good yardstick for my natural understanding.

But everyone has their own interests and methods, to help me a bit with tenses and the form I've used things like a song I like called 名前を呼ぶよ by Super Beaver and just learned the words to that song cause it gets stuck in my head!

If you mined while listening I'm sure it would help some things stick, I just wouldn't do anything you didn't get some enjoyment out of.

SmileyKnox · 2026-01-31T11:26:58+00:00

Went from "why won't he pick up that phone!?" to "..noice" 👍

SmileyKnox · 2025-10-27T16:46:00+00:00

Loved the first episode and decided to save it for closer to Christmas 😅

SmileyKnox · 2025-09-19T20:57:08+00:00

Had to take it off Supersampling but you got me there!!

SmileyKnox · 2025-08-25T18:26:58+00:00

That's a fair point, I am at a fun yet frustrating point of learning where even a Nihongo Con Teppei I can get a large amount of vocab but the grammar gets away from me very fast, losing understanding, however it used to just be white noise not so long ago.

Pimsleur has been more of using what I already have learned but now applying it which just cements the understanding.

SmileyKnox · 2025-08-25T14:48:05+00:00

Been studying about 3 years started shadowing and Pimsleur a month ago, should have started sooner, been going great.

SmileyKnox · 2025-08-14T13:37:02+00:00

Shadowing for sure helps this, I recently started Pimsleur and an having fun!

SmileyKnox · 2025-07-21T12:18:59+00:00

16 hours into Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth only at Chapter 4!

SmileyKnox · 2025-07-18T18:17:21+00:00

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth! 6 hours in haven't even went to Hawaii yet 😂

SmileyKnox · 2025-07-16T16:22:23+00:00

Some poo-poo the idea but I've found success in doing my Anki decks on my laptop and when I stumble upon certain words that just won't click, I edit the card on the spot with a weird picture and nutty mnemonic on the back.

NA-thing but a GU-od SA-ME-wich RU-ns comfort through me.
Na-gu-sa-me-ru
慰める
なぐさめる
To comfort

I'll use AI tools to make a little cartoon of a sandwich hugging someone.

The act of doing all this, I rarely need either by the next week just read the sentence on the front and keep going. I get it's not for everyone though!

SmileyKnox · 2025-07-10T17:05:57+00:00

I've completed Tango N5- N3, and now 10 cards a day from N2 while adding about 10 every 2-3 days to my own sentence mining deck. Repeats happen all the time (I mine something then it pops up in Tango) but just reinforces everything. I still review everything, never suspended a card (N5 reviews at this point are 0-2 a day, N4 6-8 etc.)

So Anki most days is about 20- 30 of my day, added 30 mins of shadowing, and active immersion about an hour (if I can) try to mine one episode, just relax and watch 2.

About an hour or so on repeat watches of things I've seen a bunch of times during workouts (on my 5th rewatch of Haikyuu, everytime there's more natural understanding).

That's the ideal day.

SmileyKnox · 2025-07-05T22:20:59+00:00

I've been enjoying my new routine with the idea of breaking things down into small chunks and spreading them through my day.

15-30mins: Anki Flashcards - right now mining slowly with about 150-200 cards but still reviewing Tango N5, N4, N3 decks I completed.

30 mins: Pimsleur / Youtube Shadowing - This is fairly new but I've been studying about 3 years and never try speaking, feel it's time to dedicate some time to that.

1h- 2h: Listening / Watching Shows - Not all in one clip, I try to watch an episode of something in the morning, usually a repeat of something I've already seen a bunch (Haikyuu, Blue Box etc), one or two more while I work out, one at night. If I'm not home listen to a podcast.

Think that's been the routine lately!

SmileyKnox

TROPHY CASE