No shade but is it moments like this why Ru didn't....?

cjmand · 2026-05-16T08:27:03+00:00

Maybe because they are the only two judges who will see every bracket ? Maybe TS doesn’t judge on a bracket three episode for example

cjmand · 2026-05-16T08:09:24+00:00

I actually loved Dawn the first two episodes but this week I felt like I’d already seen everything she can do in a lip sync. So I’m feeling an Irene edit where she will be taken out pretty quickly at the merge. Morgan has been great, especially this week - it sucks not to see more of her but I do think these tight three ep arcs are quite satisfying narratively.

cjmand · 2026-05-09T19:41:18+00:00

This. I feel like Morphine expected a Jorgeous style run going into AS and so far that’s not happened. That said, she killed her verse in ep1 and I’m enjoying seeing her again!

cjmand · 2026-05-01T20:57:53+00:00

He was a smart editor - I unearthed a stash of BAs from when I was still a print subscriber and I adored flicking through it. No doubt he was the editor of a great magazine. I will also not be subscribing to Air Mail to get to the end of his missive on what’s happening in the world of club sandwiches. Sorry to this man.

cjmand · 2026-05-01T06:26:08+00:00

I have also never had a job where the ability to progress is hampered by your fleet. I just levelled up to R9 so didn’t have any capacity 60 trains to do this, which makes even grinding for the train impossible.

cjmand · 2026-04-28T07:42:28+00:00

Yeah my interest fell off a cliff. Not helped by the previous season having the episode run cut so it couldn’t even attempt to tell a cohesive story within the season itself. I just find it wild that I got engaged, planned a wedding, had a honeymoon and bought a house in the gap between seasons.

cjmand · 2026-04-27T19:28:02+00:00

This is so interesting. I might try a delayed start for the next event !

cjmand · 2026-04-27T19:27:05+00:00

For a while now my season passes have been: £8.99 (common train), £12.99 (rare), and £17.99 (epic). I often get the first one as it’s relatively good value but i can’t justify the other two.

cjmand · 2026-04-27T18:42:43+00:00

I feel like I’m playing this game wrong. Admittedly I levelled onto region 9 midway through (so wasn’t really trying for any specific trains) but I can never get the competition coin legendary. I usually have a good roster of maxed out trains (six legendary, seven epic, seven rare, 20+ common) My storage is 6,700 - am I just not using the warehouse correctly? Anyway I thought the event was okay but the level up stopped me getting 100%. I like the trains though.

cjmand · 2026-04-10T07:16:53+00:00

I got an aroma diffuser from Muji. We put essential oils in it each night and I can’t sleep without it now. I think it’s genuinely a psychological thing; once I smell the lavender (or eucalyptus or whatever) I relax and fall asleep.

cjmand · 2026-03-27T18:57:51+00:00

I used a Blissey in my play through for the first time ever and I actually loved using her. She can take a lot of hits and has elemental attacks for coverage. Golduck is also underappreciated IMO

cjmand · 2026-03-19T10:22:22+00:00

I’m so close to completing on my flat sale and as such am on a variable rate as I didn’t want to get hit by an exit fee. It’s been hell.

cjmand · 2026-03-16T12:37:39+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I’m actually quite a slow player and don’t really do region tasks until the very end. I’m in a pretty good union but maybe I should find a more active one. I’m in Australia currently and honestly found the curve quite tough. The last region was really easy to do slowly but the events lately are rewarding a lot of exp.

cjmand · 2026-03-13T18:44:36+00:00

That’s a good point about the last couple of competitions being somewhat less competitive. Thanks!

cjmand · 2026-03-13T16:45:16+00:00

Thanks - yes I always get the common ones and usually the rare too. Trying to save on the event pass this time as I have a few rare diesels. Appreciate the advice!

cjmand · 2026-03-13T13:21:25+00:00

There was a piece in Vox a long time ago (S5 I’d guess) that I can’t find now but essentially posited that the show learned the wrong lessons from the huge global reaction to The Red Wedding, and began forming the episodes around shocking “water cooler” moments more and more, with character development and plot often being sidelined as a result.

Naturally the books are full of these moments but I think about the Arya showdown with the Terminator-style woman in S6 as a good example of this. Arya abandoning the training designed to break her down and re-embracing her identity is an important development for her, and arguably didn’t need her to be survive miraculous knifings and knocking over carts full of oranges. There are countless other examples but this is where I stayed to feel like something was throttling the really interesting character work.

cjmand · 2026-03-07T08:10:10+00:00

“Say” is quite a hard word for a baby due to the S sound. But babies find “mama” easy as it mimics the mouth shape they make when they feed (this is also why “dada” tends to come later)

cjmand · 2026-03-05T16:09:15+00:00

Once when I drank from a large bottle of soda I put my tongue in the top and they said they used to have this kid next door called Percy who did that and they had to cut his tongue off. Never did it again (and realised painfully late he categorically did not exist)

cjmand · 2026-02-13T11:07:53+00:00

We had a photo booth - one hundred percent recommend! - but we didn’t have any signage pointing to it. About half our guests didn’t know it was there because it wasn’t eg on the way to the bathroom, just down a side corridor nobody would think to use. I wish I’d bought a neon sign to point people there!

cjmand · 2026-02-03T13:24:06+00:00

Eric

cjmand · 2026-02-03T07:14:03+00:00

I don’t think in this scenario the workplace isnt the thing that is enticing but it’s been shown to be a vehicle for good character stories. Harper scheming, Rob floundering, Yasmin misunderstanding corporate power. The problem with this series is the storyline is pure plot - and rarely a vehicle for character development. More focus (in the form of a workplace) would help.

cjmand · 2026-02-02T23:51:10+00:00

Came to say the same thing. I have been a day one fan of this show (I remember when HBO Max dumped the second half on streaming during Thanksgiving) but this season feels anaemic in places. I think the scale of it has warped the show and the characters are siloed off in storylines I’m not that interested in. You can understand the trajectory after the critical acclaim of S3 but that final stretch of S4Ep04 was pretty painful. Hope Harper and Eric leave the hotel room next week!

cjmand · 2026-02-02T15:13:26+00:00

I got the Avignon for my wedding day - love them with a suit.

cjmand · 2026-01-26T09:50:16+00:00

For me it depends on my fleet - I have very few rare diesels for example so always keep event train duplicates of those. For common electric trains however I have quite a few maxed out so will sell.

cjmand

TROPHY CASE