What’s Up 2020: Week 5

Week 5 of 2020! Man, time sure flies by. Probably because January was so immensely busy that I didn’t really have time to think about anything other than deadlines. It was kind of a mess. Because of that, its all kind of a mess and not a whole lot of stuff done but we’re slowing moving forward and I’m still relatively motivated as these little escapes have actually been helping with the de-stressing process.

READING

• Buried in My Past by  Eva Mackenzie

Currently reading: When Stars Are Bright

Wrapped up the little bit I had left from the week before for Buried In My Past. Its a fairly decent novel. I’ll be posting up the review as part of a blog tour soon so I won’t go too much into it as to leave it for the actual write-up. However, it did hit a lot of things that I like about novel structure and narrative and it was well-paced. I had some little issues of figuring a part of the end-game but then I watch a lot of thrillers and overthink a lot scenarios so I usually catch those little details.

PLAYING

• Glass Masquerade DLC: Halloween, Heritage & Inception

Currently playing: Life is Strange 2, Overcooked 2

I had to get Glass Masquerade out of my system after picking up all the DLCs so I ended up finishing that one up as it matched the pace of what I needed to relax in gaming. After that, I had to start working on Life is Strange 2 as due to my work, recording has already been pushed back so needed to jump right into it expecting a short game but the episodes are fairly long, running at 3 to 4 hours each, so its a little harder to do them in a speedy way. Plus, the story is definitely heavier this time around, bringing up a lot of issues. Currently done with Episode 2 and its been a decent ride especially as it managed to link itself back to the world of Life is Strange and The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

WATCHING

• Always Be My Maybe (2019)
• Dog Days (2018)

Movie watching at a low this week. I needed to get some Valentine’s marathon viewings out of the way and ended up choosing these two films. Both are actually quite fun to watch but Always Be My Maybe is really hard to beat as it has Ali Wong who I truly love her humor and then a great performance from Keanu Reeves appearing in the most random way and having the most random rule as a fairly spontaneous character. There’s just so much to love about it.

BINGING

• Master in the House (2019)
• Next in Fashion (Season 1, 2020)

Currently binging: Eternal Love of Dream, Who’s The Murderer 5

As I try to keep on track with getting out TV binges, I decided to catch up on some more relaxing shows in the form of variety shows mostly. Both the currently binging are still currently airing so they only have limited episodes per week making Eternal Love of Dream and Who’s The Murderer 5 sitting in the background for a while as weekend binges.

I finally took the time to finish up Master in the House that I had started when it first aired last year in April or something but Mango TV decided to get back to uploading to Youtube but just one week later than when its watched on the app. Its a fun one since I’m a fan of the group NEXT and the masters are pretty good and happen to partially be singers that I love also.

And Netflix takes on the fashion competition world as they have Tan France and Alexa Chung host (and judge) the Next in Fashion competition, which seeks to find the Next in Fashion fashion designer who can win $250,000. That show is incredibly bingeworthy. I’m also working on a TV binge for this as I’m a big supporter of Netflix holding these international competitions using their platform for its potential to reach an international audience in various sectors.

That’s it for this week’s What’s Up!
What have you been watching/reading/playing/binging?

Double Feature: Always Be My Maybe (2019) & Dog Days (2018)

Valentine’s marathon is here! Well, at least some form of it! There will be TV Binges and some other double features lined up. However, its a much more casual deal this time around. Kicking off will be 2019’s Netflix romantic comedy release Always Be My Maybe and paired with 2018 romantic comedy Dog Days, because anything with dogs are going to be fun, right?

Let’s check it out!

Always Be My Maybe (2019)

Director: Nahnatchka Khan

Cast: Ali Wong, Randall Park, James Saito, Michelle Buteau, Vivian Bang, Keanu Reeves, Susan Park, Daniel Dae Kim

Everyone assumed Sasha and Marcus would wind up together except for Sasha and Marcus. Reconnecting after 15 years, the two start to wonder – maybe? – IMDB

Ali Wong is truly a fantastic comedian and while this is stepping out of the comedian path and into acting, Ali Wong and her co-star Randall Park both take part in penning the script for this romantic comedy. It probably is why the script itself has some very quirky elements that somehow all come together in a random way. Randomness can bring in spontaneity and its what makes this romantic comedy rather fun and unique. Sure, the story feels about the same if you strip down the storyline but because Ali Wong and Randall Park are quite decent comedians, they adds a little more humor to their roles and works in the rom-com world.

Its this randomness in the script that actually does end up being a fun romp. Just like adding in a random Keanu Reeves cameo that honestly was super funny and probably the best part of the movie as the whole exaggeration of how the upper class things are rather silly. The movie takes that effort to play both sides as 15 years later, the two characters Sasha and Marcus have changed from Sasha being a known chef and rich and Marcus still doing the same as before in a somewhat starving artist sort of deal. Its the contrast that also creates a few sparks.

Always Be My Maybe is a fun romantic comedy. Striping it down, the main story is rather predictable but its the little comedic elements of both Randall Park and Ali Wong that give this flick a lot of heart and laugh. Its a feel good movie and one that is rather unique. Plus, they do have a few other more comedic roles especially with Michelle Buteau who plays a supporting role here as Sasha’s friend who after watching The Circle US as the host definitely was nice to see her here.

Dog Days (2018)

Director: Ken Marino

Cast: Nina Dobrev, Vanessa Hudgens, Adam Pally, Eva Longoria, Rob Corddry, Tone Bell, Jon Bass, Michael Cassidy, Finn Wolfhard, Ron Cephas Jones

A group of interconnected people in Los Angeles are brought together by their lovely canine counterparts. – IMDB

Set up as movies like Love Actually with different people in Los Angeles connecting through their dogs, Dog Days is a decent offering. The stories involve some great casting that has to take on most of the fun elements of this film. Vanessa Hudgens plays a woman who finds an abandoned dog and through this ends up volunteering at the pet shelter and connects with the socially awkward owner who happens to have a crush for her. Nina Dobrev plays an uptight morning show host who ends up being paired with an ex-football player to lighten up the show and connects through their two dogs. While Eva Longoria’s character and her husband are adopting a new girl who isn’t connecting with them but does through a lost dog who happens to belong to the fourth character of a widower who loses his dog accidentally and a pizza delivery kid (Finn Wolfhard) helps him look for it.

All pretty normal stories but because the characters themselves are well-casted, it adds a little something to it. It has its fun moments and a lot of cute moments as expected when working with a bunch of dogs and then some pretty heartwarming moments as connections build and love sparks and the likes, as with most romantic comedies, right? Its nothing super special but it does still have that feel good element when the film ends and everything generally pans out.

That’s it for this double feature!
Our first Valentine’s double feature to kick off this year’s “marathon”!
I’m a bit not sure where this is going so I’m aiming for another 2 double features in this marathon with some other tidbits like TV binges and such.