AMA Ask Meistro

[OmegaMeistro]

Figured I'd create one of these.

Feel free to ask me anything. I'm usually available from 8am - 11pm on a GMT+8 timezone. My knowledge mostly revolves around movies, TV shows and visual novels.

 

[Stan]

What are your top 5 favorite movies?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

What are your top 5 favorite movies?

That's a tough one.

My Letterboxd account has a "Favorites List" where the top five movies are:

1. Casino Royale
2. The Prince of Egypt
3. The Fly (1986 remake)
4. The Dark Knight
5. Spider-Man 2

On the other hand, I haven't bothered to update that list in a long time, so take it with a grain of salt, as they say. Mostly, I prefer films that can both entertain with a unique plot or compelling characters while also providing some form of intellectual discussion, like The Substance or Heretic, both recent movies that I've liked quite a bit. Or A24 horror movies in general, I guess. Talk to Me was great.

But more than something intellectual, I prefer to feel something emotional, preferably cry my eyes out if possible. lol It's kinda why "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Fly" are so high on my list because of the emotional nature of the plot, not to mention how Prince of Egypt pretty much excelled in all categories of the film: the animation, the amazing all star casting, the voice-acting, the music, the writing, even the "cinematography" so-called (but that's just animation and good storyboarding), and also the sound design and editing. It's such an epic film with a tragic antagonist.

I actually wrote a review of the film I'm rather proud of, but I'm not gonna post the whole thing, so I'll paste an excerpt here:

And there's the sound design... oh that terrible, mournful sound. Can you hear that almost inaudible screaming and crying in the tranquil background? That's the sound of thousands of Egyptians weeping and wailing over the deaths of their firstborn... as Rameses had foolishly prophesied when he uttered, "And there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt, such as never has been or ever will be again!"

Such an amazing film. And I'm not even a pious Christian (more of an agnostic), which is the best part because it works well as a standalone film outside of religious contexts.

Casino Royale's on that list because it finally gave me a James Bond film I could care about. lol I really didn't like the goofier James Bond movies of old. I just find them kinda silly and nonsensical. Those Bourne films though leaned too much the other way, too dull and grounded. Craig's Bond hit the right balance of stylish and gritty.

I could probably talk all day about my favorite movies, but I'll save it for another time. lol

 

[Stan]

Great reply, so lets go with what are your top 5 favorite TV Shows?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

Great reply, so lets go with what are your top 5 favorite TV Shows?

Mostly anime. According to my Serializd profile, it's:

1. Madoka Magica
2. Gintama
3. Nichijou
4. Watamote
5. South Park

with South Park being the only American TV show that made it to my list because of its irreverent humor that takes jabs at both sides of the political spectrum, but also because of how fast Trey and Matt catch up to the latest trending topics and satirize them, making it often relatable.

I think for me, a show has to speak to me emotionally while also entertaining me, more so than movies. With movies, an intellectual experience is cool because you get to digest it in one sitting, whereas with a TV show, it's more challenging to do that when it's a prolonged experience, leaving the impact less powerful for me than with a show that has more obvious themes and more entertainment values.

That's why while I consider shows like The Sopranos and The Wire superior TV, they're not necessarily my favorite TV series that I could rewatch on a regular basis, more of a one-and-done deal. Madoka is tragic and emotional; Gintama is a barrel of laughs with its over-the-top irreverent humor; likewise with Nichijou's exaggerated humor that's somehow so creative it might as well be a genre of its own because it's not even really riffing on other shows like Gintama. As for Watamote... well, not everyone's into cringe humor, but I laughed my butt off watching Tomoko get into the cringiest situation. I seem to have a thing for hyperbolic humor ("Shoot 'Em Up" starring Clive Owen is one of my favorite films). Normal mundane humor like sitcoms are just too tame for me.

BoJack Horseman though is climbing up to be one of my favorites as well with its melancholic themes on self-loathing. Somewhat relatable, ngl... lol I'm only on season 3 though.

 

[Cpvr]

What are some of your favorite games?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

What are some of your favorite games?

I prefer games that offer players agency in regards to the direction of the story, like Detroit: Become Human and Baldur's Gate 3, or even visual novels like School Days and Full Metal Daemon Muramasa. I just enjoy the sense of control over the narrative like I'm telling the story my way.

I guess the Mass Effect trilogy was one of my favorite game franchises of all time though, not so much because of the player agency (choices matter less than DBH), but more so because of the great writing (ME3 had so many emotional moments) and great characters (Mordin especially). Dragon Age: Origins was great too; your choices mattered a lot, and the writing's excellent as well.

Nowadays though, I've mostly stuck to visual novels and mobile games. Currently playing Chaos;Child for visual novels, and Pokemon TCG Pocket, Monopoly Go, Pocket Champs and Animation Throwndown for mobile games.

 

[Shortie's iconShortie]

What’s a surprising fact about you?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

What’s a surprising fact about you?

It depends on the context because what's surprising to some people isn't really surprising to others. If you're close friends with me, for example, you might not find certain aspects of my life surprising.

But I guess a surprising opinion of mine would be that I didn't enjoy those Spider-Verse films despite my profile pic. I just didn't really like Nicolas Cage as an actor all that much, and I think he's the wrong fit for Spider-Man Noir. Christopher Daniel Barnes played the gritty detective much better in the video game, "Shattered Dimensions".

In terms of food, I don't like ketchup, so that might be surprising to some people.

Anything deeper would unfortunately delve into the more private areas of my life.

 

[Shortie's iconShortie]

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?

Study hard, focus on school, ignore the bullies, get a good career going. I'd probably advise him that he'd have a more comfortable future if he just hang on a little for a couple of years. I'd probably also advise him to try and start his filmmaking career before it's too late. lol

I'm not in a bad place right now, financially speaking, but if I have a chance to improve that, I would probably take it.

 

[Shortie's iconShortie]

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

That's a tough one as my memory isn't the best. I'm pretty sure I've been given a few great advices in the past; it's just too bad that I'm so opinionated and individualistic.

I don't really have an answer for this, sorry. lol It really doesn't really help that I'm kinda a loner who relies a lot on myself, not on others, so most of the viewpoints and life directions came from either me or my other best friend: movies. lol

 

[Stan]

What is your favorite food?

 

[OmegaMeistro]

What is your favorite food?

French fries. Man, I could eat french fries all day, especially salted fries. That, or chicken nuggets. Even regular chicken nuggets I bought from the local food court can be so delicious. There's just something about nuggets, even without all that juice, that chewy meat in your mouth... oh, so good.

I wouldn't mind popcorn chicken either. Those, I like more than nuggets because of their crispy skin, but they can be harder to find in my local shops.

 

[Stan]

Do you have a bucket list? If so, what's on it.

 

[OmegaMeistro]

Do you have a bucket list? If so, what's on it.

Not really tbh. lol I have a TV watchlist, and I have a movie watchlist, which are probably the closest to what a bucket list would be since they're such big parts of my life. lol Perhaps the things I wanna do before I die on my bucket list would be to watch all the best prestige TV and noteworthy movies out there. That's a goal.

But if I'm to be more ambitious with such a list, maybe head to Japan someday. I always kinda wanted to visit there, but travel expenses are a lot. I used to want to visit America, maybe California or New York, but then I thought about the gun violence and it's like nah fam. lol Singapore doesn't have guns, so I'm probably not gonna get used to that gun culture.