cms.explosion.fun

Author: reubenroyk@gmail.com

  • Violet Evergarden

    Violet Evergarden

    Violet Evergarden is one of the most remarkable anime series in recent memory, distinguished not only by its visual elegance but also by its thematic depth. At its core, the series is a meditation on grief, healing, and the struggle to communicate emotions that often feel inexpressible. Nearly every episode has the capacity to move the viewer to tears, yet it never feels manipulative; instead, the emotional weight arises naturally from the characters’ journeys and the quiet sincerity of their stories.

    The direction and editing are finely tuned, allowing moments of silence and subtle gestures to carry as much power as sweeping climaxes. Each 25-minute episode is carefully constructed, offering a complete narrative that resonates long after it ends. What elevates the series further is how it situates Violet’s personal growth, her attempt to understand both her own feelings and those of others, within broader reflections on love, loss, and the human need for connection. The result is a work that is as emotionally fulfilling in individual episodes as it is in its cumulative impact.

  • Superman 2025

    Superman 2025

    This was a surprisingly fun Superman movie to watch.

    There were a few reused shots toward the end, especially in the scene where Superman and Lois Lane were lifted into the air, but that didn’t take away too much from the experience.

    What I liked most was how this Superman wasn’t presented as perfect or undefeatable. He struggled, made mistakes, and often needed help from his friends, his dog, and other allies. That made his victories feel earned and the story more engaging.

    He also wasn’t portrayed as flawless. He had emotions, lost his temper, stumbled in interviews, and even went through a short existential crisis when he realized the message from his parents wasn’t what he thought it was. This forced him to choose his own path rather than simply follow what was given to him, and that gave his character real development.

    The older Superman films, at least from what I know, often portrayed him as an almighty figure and a projection of American might. That image feels outdated and a bit cringe to me. While this movie still carries a trace of that patriotic framing, it’s toned down enough to let the human side of the character come through. For me, this made the film far more compelling than Man of Steel or the earlier versions.

  • Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra

    Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra

    A good movie. Quite well directed.

    The script used was simple but good. They did have to make several languages work together, which was done well.

    I wasn’t a fan of how it ended, since it’s acted as the launchpad for a whole series of movies, instead of being one great movie.

    It’s good overall.

  • Mob Psycho 100

    Mob Psycho 100

    I wonder show I’ve been avoiding for silly reasons. I wish I’d watched it sooner. It’s well animated with a good and meaningful story you’d want to see.

    One of the highlights for me was the fight sequence near the end between Dimple, the once-evil-turned-good spirit, and the broccoli god monster. It actually made me imagine how incredible The Gamer manhwa could have been as an anime adaptation. Unfortunately, the author ended up steering it in a disappointing direction, but the foundation is still strong enough that it could make for an amazing show someday.

  • Why WordPress Still Dominates: Lessons from Building an E-commerce Site

    I recently built an e-commerce site for a clothing business using WordPress, and the experience left me genuinely impressed by what this platform offers out of the box. As developers, we sometimes get caught up in the latest frameworks and technologies, but this project reminded me why WordPress still powers 43% of all websites on the internet.

    A Feature List That Just Keeps Going

    What struck me most was the sheer breadth of production ready functionality available without writing a single line of custom code:

    • Drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor
    • Prebuilt, customizable themes
    • User dashboard for managing products, posts, and accounts
    • Flexible user roles and permissions
    • REST and GraphQL APIs for developers
    • Integrations with Facebook, Instagram, and almost any other platform
    • SEO stuff, static pages and analytics
    • Support for customer reviews
    • Full e-commerce setup in just a few clicks
    • Compatibility with nearly all payment gateways
    • Mobile apps for managing stock, taxes, shipping, coupons, and sales
    • Low cost hosting

    Building even half of these features from scratch would have taken months. WordPress delivered them instantly.

    The Reality Gap: Developers vs. Business Owners

    Working on this project highlighted something crucial that we developers often overlook: the enormous technical knowledge gap between us developers, business owners, and end customers.

    I could have built a React or Next.js application with all the latest bells and whistles. But imagine asking a clothing business owner to update their product catalog by editing markdown files and pushing to a Git repository. It’s not happening. And I can’t imagine spending months building a dashboard to solve this problem, when an open-source production ready one already exists in WordPress.

    And I did do exactly this once before, using Next.js to build an e-commerce site, for another business. It was alright, I spent a month on it, but I’d pick this over Next.js, and I’ve built this in what feels like 4 hours.

    The technology has to work for the actual users, not just impress other developers. WordPress gets this right by prioritizing usability over technical sophistication.

    A Humbling Experience

    Here’s what really got to me: I later created a blog using WordPress as a headless CMS, feeding content to my custom-built site. The WordPress admin interface – which I was only using as a backend – had a better-looking UI than my own frontend. That annoyed me a bit, but it was also enlightening.

    The Bottom Line

    WordPress succeeds because it solves real problems for real people. While we chase the latest JavaScript frameworks and architectural patterns, WordPress focuses on making website management accessible to everyone. There’s wisdom in that approach.

    For many use cases, especially content-heavy sites and e-commerce stores, WordPress remains the pragmatic choice. It’s not always the most exciting option, but it’s often the right one.

    Want to experiment with WordPress hosting? I have excess server capacity available. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to try it out for free.

  • The World God Only Knows

    The World God Only Knows

    This manga, when I finished reading it, I hoped I could forget about, so that I could read it all over again.

    The anime version though didn’t strike me the same way.

    The main character calls himself the god of conquest. Conqueror of the hearts of women, in dating simulator games.. Based solely on the premise I wouldn’t have read it.

    But Manga Rock, the leading medium of Manga Consumption outside Japan at the time had The World God Only Knows as one of the most popular new manga’s at the time, and it stayed that way for a long time. Seeing this motivated me to give it a go, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    I’ve recommended this manga to so many people, and almost none of them have read it, heh. It’s been 10 years since I read it, and I fear my current self wouldn’t agree with what my teenage self found worth remembering.

    I can’t put much weight on the numbers in this review since it’s been so long since I read it, but I fully intent to re-read it soon and re-review it at that point. I’m only writing this down so confidently since I know that basically no one will be reading these reviews.

    This manga without a doubt though, has left a profound impression on me.

    It’s not all fun and games though by the way. The character development in this manga is really good and will likely make you very sad. If you intend to give it a go.. well now you know that.

  • Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

    Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

    Way too rushed and built around performing stunts.

    The script sucks.

    The story telling is bad. Some people die and you couldn’t care less.

    Tom Cruise keeps doing things that are straight up impossible. I know it’s called Mission Impossible, where the plot is Tom Cruise doing near impossible missions. But these are actually Impossible! There is no way these mission are in any way possible.

    Knowing Tom Cruise actually did those stunts, is kinda cool. But it doesn’t add that much to the viewing experience. It possibly detracts from the experience since instead of making the story better, the team could be focused on doing the cool stunts.

    There are so many issues with this movie.

  • The Naked Gun (2025)

    The Naked Gun (2025)

    Unsatisfying. The best part of this movie was that it ended quickly.

  • Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World

    Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World

    Good show

  • Vinland Saga

    Vinland Saga

    Exhilarating! At least season 1 was.

    Season two was kinda lame though, I waited on and on for the action to start and nothing happened. It had character development for sure, but it wasn’t developed at a reasonable pace. Basically nothing happens in Season 2 besides bunch of farming