Adventures & What’s Up – January 2023

Hello everyone! The first adventures & What’s Up of 2023 is here as I wrap up a bunch of small things. Not a whole lot going on in terms of adventures since its winter and our little baby isn’t vaccinated so yet again, mostly updates on a few things.

If you missed my Upcoming Plans for 2023, you can check that out HERE.

ADVENTURES

Baby Update

7 months old now! We had our “supposed to be 6 month but because of previous postponed” 7 months checkup. Triple V remains high on the baby curve as a bigger baby and everything is developmentally on track. He has a little bit of cradle cap or dandruff or something along those lines but not a big concern so far. Triple V is also eating an assortment of purees now which is really fun to see his reaction to the different flavors. He even had his first snow picture and since January was rather snowy, we’ve had a few uses for his snowsuit. He’s definitely getting stronger day by day and its so nice to see him grow a little more and learn more things. One of the big recent successes after the doctor’s follow-up appointment and her pointer which he took the change like a champ is that he is officially able to sleep through the nights and has a decent sleeping and wake-up schedule. He even got his first teeth. Last development goal that he reached is recently responding to his own name.

Letterboxd Year in Review

Letterboxd Year in Review always is a bit late and its pretty self-explanatory so here’s a quick look at that.

Avenue of Daydreams – 365 Challenge

I’m working on reviving the Avenue of Daydreams this year with a 365 Photo Challenge. I’ve been sharing it on a weekly basis on Instagram as well. Here are the weeks in January. I fall behind every once in a while but its been really fun to try to get a little more creative and push myself to explore the pro feature on the camera on my phone.

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Hydroponic System

After a good bit of research and a final failed attempt at planting basil in our no sunlight house (or at least rarely sunlight comes in), we decided to get a hydroponic system. We got the Yoocaa 12 Pods Hydroponics Growing System and decided to give the first whirl to a herb garden. As we speak now, the mustard has germinated first and its only been about 4 days or so since we set it up. Fingers crossed it’ll work out. I’ll probably keep you all up to date with that here (and also acts as a notes for myself since I have horrible memory now).

February Romance Month

Normally, February is our Romance month. I have to admit that I’ve been pretty bad at keeping up with the marathons but I will try to get some reviews up for this one. No guarantees on how many movies but I do have a decent list compiled even if I’m pretty sure I won’t get through all of it and review them all before Valentine’s comes around. Maybe I will just do it for a month-long event and get some romance instead of the overabundance of crime, suspense and horror that I keep watching.

WHAT’S UP

Books

• Mr. Nosey
• Mr. Topsy-Turvy
• Mr. Bump
• The Queen Who Stole The Sky
• Mr. Messy
• The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day
• Love You Forever

Another month of children’s books despite really wanting to start an actual book. Good thing is that as I’m writing up this post, my Kindle is on charge plus after watching a TV series for a book I read last year, it changed my mind and I bought the remaining two books of that trilogy which I plan to start after a book review commitment. Its actually really fun re-reading books from my childhood that I’m passing on to my little guy now. He might not understand any of it but he’s starting to look at me when I read especially when I make weird sound effects for some of the things within my limited ability.

Movies

• Roadgames (1981)
• Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (2022 Review)
• Perfect Blue (1997 Review)
• Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal (2020)
• Freaky (2020)
• Kairo (2001 rewatch, Review)
• To All The Boys I’ve Love Before (2018 rewatch, Review)
• Project Wolf Hunting (2022, Review)
• Fall (2022)
• A Cinderella Story (2004 rewatch)
• Russell Peters: Deported (2020)
• Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
• The Wandering Earth 2 (2023, Review)
• Ponyo (2008 rewatch)

Its been a pretty fun month in terms of movie watching with quite a bit of variety. To be fair, I didn’t watch a lot of movies since I was absolutely obsessed with Matilda the Musical so had it in the background constantly. I did catch up on a lot of films that I’ve been meaning to watch for a while like Perfect Blue and rewatched Kairo with the husband and taking advantage of the wonderful MUBI deal I got. I did get a couple of screeners, one was a lot better than the other. I did manage to catch Everything Everywhere All At Once after multiple recommendations especially co-host listing it as his top first time watch of last year, much like Roadgames which also made it on his Top 10. If you haven’t listened to that episode on Movies and Tea, you can check it out HERE.

Basically, January is always a bit like this every year where I want to sort out what to review in the backlog while working out the upcoming year so working through a lot more TV or rewatches instead of starting something new.

TV

• Pressure Cooker (Season 1, 2023)
• Wonderland Junior (Season 1, 2022)
• Line Walker 2: The Prelude (2017)
• The Circle (Season 5)
• Bake Squad ( Season 2)
• The Summer I Turned Pretty (Season 1, 2022)
• Line Walker 3: Bull Fight (2020)

Currently binging: Night on the Greater Bay S2, Physical:100, Drunken to Love You, Lockwood & Co., The Last Of Us

I’ve been catching a lot of reality shows on Netflix. The beginning of the year has been pretty packed with a lot of these shows from Pressure Cooker to Bake Squad and the latest season of The Circle. I also signed up for the Amazon Prime trial so caught up with The Summer I Turned Pretty which I had reviewed the book (Review) last year and as mentioned in the “Books” section above, I ended up buying the sequels and it kind of changed my mind a little on the story. Its rare that the adaptation is what changes my mind but somehow it did in this case especially since it was renewed for Season 2. The big triumph and focus was to finish the second and third season of Line Walker and boy, it was a crazy ride. Line Walker 2 and 3 aren’t nearly as great as the first one but it still has some great moments and such a solid central cast.

Games

• Doors: Origins
• Doors: Paradox

Currently playing: The Gunk, Alt-Frequencies

I believe I mentioned last month that I picked up the Google Play Pass for peanuts so I’ve been focusing on that mostly. I ended up finishing the Doors: Origins and Doors: Paradox which is so creative. Its a mobile game but I had a ton of fun figuring out the puzzles and such. I’ve moved on to Alt-Frequencies on my phone which is one that I’m definitely going to talk more about when I’m done as the game mechanics, premise and concept are all very creative and a very unique gaming mechanic and experience. Aside from that, I’m still waiting to get back to finish The Gunk but January has been a wild month so didn’t have time to get back to Game Pass just yet.

That’s it for this month’s adventures and What’s Up!
What have you been up to?

What’s Up 2020: Week 45

Another week has past by. I have to say to due to my current real job workload, the stress is getting to me so things are a bit behind on wrapping up the film festival reviews. I’m hoping to get it done soon but its the reality. Its also the reality that I’m coming to terms with right now that this unfixed schedule for blogging will be what’s going to happen for the next while until things settle down in real life so to not add extra stress. With that said, I’m still taking some time to relax and as its beginning of November, I’m starting to finalize a project (or two) for next year to change things up a little or maybe better wording it as changing the format of some of the segments right now.

Either way, that’s whats been going on behind the scenes for myself. Figured that I should address the weird posting schedule that’s been going on for the past month or so.

Let’s recap what happened last week!

READING

Currently reading: Nothing Good Happens After Midnight, The Girl on the Train

Starting up this book for an upcoming blog tour commitment! Reading is definitely on the low right now but look forward to this next week.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Double Kick Heroes

Taking a little time to game a little more to just break through everything and to relax. Nothing like a rhythm game that packs in entertainment, focus and music. I finished the game once on the easiest difficulty to get back into the groove and working through it a second time on the medium difficulty (Hard Rock difficulty) which was how I had played it in early access. Its the difficulty that I enjoy more.

WATCHING

• The Farewell (2019 rewatch)
• Bloodthirsty (2020, Review)
• The Return (2020)
• Come True (2020)
• A Simple Favor (2018)

The movie watching has finally dropped back down to a normal amount. As Blood in the Snow Festival wrapped up over the weekend, the last few movies were all fairly decent. I’m working on the last 2 reviews right now to at least get that done and over with. I’m a bit delayed on the remaining Festival du Nouveau Cinema reviews with four reviews left or something. Just a quick update. The highlight of this week goes to Come True, the final movie of the BITS festival and happened to sweep up a lot of the festival’s awards, all of which I do agree with. Its a very unique story, premise and the ending is fantastic.

I rewatched The Farewell for the Season 6 production of Movies and Tea and it actually resonated even more on the second viewing. It seems that I never reviewed this one before here (oddly) so I’m going to get one up. As for the surprise of the week, it goes to the rental, A Simple Favor which is not my pick of the week but one that I had a lot of fun watching. Review coming up once I get back to double features.

BINGING

• Go Newbies (Season 1, 2020)

Currently binging: Sing or Spin S2, Love Signal S3, Professional Single, The Journey Across The Night, Our Song S2, You Are So Sweet , Meeting Mr. Right S3

Go Newbies wrapped up. It was a fun little show about celebrities getting their driver’s lessons and the whole process. It was pretty fun to learn about the different laws in China and it was a fun experience overall to see how their driving tests are structured. Learning new things while having fun is always a good combination. No TV binge post for this but I do hope that they do a second season.

As The Journey Across The Night and Love Signal S3 heads into one more week before it ends, I’ve been looking for some new things to watch. You Are So Sweet is the latest one which is so far fairly generic but I like the cast and its about voice acting business which is a cool angle. I do have to say that Professional Single is still the most anticipated watch for me every week and variety shows like Our Song S2 and Meeting Mr. Right S3 also really entertaining.

A super late What’s Up this week!
Like I said, funky post schedule.
What have you been reading/watching/playing/binging?

What’s Up 2020: Week 29

Week 29 has gone by and the first week back at work was subconsciously more stressful than I physically felt. Its been nice to be able to walk around outside more back and forth except its also not so easy since it was also heat wave so wearing a mask was rather uncomfortable but of course, needed. As for the actual week of blogging and doing these little things that we cover here, it was relatively unproductive in terms of everything. I actually didn’t feel the fatigue until the weekend hit and the longer than usual run along with the heat just knocked me out. Its probably why motivation level was low and indecisiveness was high. Either way, let’s check how that’s affected progress (and it did because its been a long time that I had posted so little in a week).

READING

Currently reading: And Then We Vanish: Collected Stories

I’m going to confess right now that there was no reading done AT ALL this past week. I need to wrap up this novel so I’m going to work in some reading time.

PLAYING

• Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions – Temptations DLC

Currently playing: Gorogoa

I’m still working on the two games. Currently, I’m more focused on Glass Masquerade’s second DLC because its just super relaxing and essentially a puzzle. Gorogoa is a lot more thinking involved but I did move forward with that a little. The Temptations DLC was all themed around women in various stories and such set in a somewhat pretty fantasy design.

WATCHING

• 47 Meters Down (2017 rewatch, Review)

Currently watching: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Being tired and watching movies is really not helping. I didn’t feel like progressing with much movie watching so here we are, one movie watched and its a rewatch. What can I say? However, we are having half a mind to watch the Night of the Living Dead franchise and it all started with my husband’s desire to watch the 1968 version of Night of the Living Dead, which not to do with its quality but more my fatigue, that I fell asleep and watched half of it only. Currently finding time to finish it up.

BINGING

• Life is Beautiful (Season 1, 2020)
• Unsolved Mysteries (Season 1, 2020)

Currently binging: Great Escape 2, Love Timing 2, Woof Meow Story, Super Nova Games 3, Little Forest, We Are Blazing, Gagman, We Are Young, Summer Surf Shop, The Coming One: SuperBand, Rap Star, Twogether

I just noticed that its a complete rundown of variety shows right now. My currently binging is all variety shows over the course of a week. Some of them are ending soon though. I think Love Timing 2 and We Are Blazing has their big finale the coming week. I got back into Twogether to try to wrap up the last two episodes and the series so that I can work on a binge (depending if its worth it) since it is a Netflix series afterall. The new thing this time around is Super Nova Games 3. I’m not sure if I’ll finish it since last season, I watched halfway and stopped. I do need to try and find a new series to watch soon although Netflix has some good stuff coming up. And I have my eye on a Tencent Cantonese series called White War but I’m saving up a few more episodes so that I can do an actual binge.

For the highlight of this week, it was pretty much a fight between the two completed series. Life is Beautiful is a Tencent variety show which looks at the everyday lives of these Chinese actor/actress/musicians/TV host. A few of them are people that I quite enjoy so it was a lot of fun. However, I used to love Unsolved Mysteries and watched it with my dad so there’s a whole nostalgia factor going on there. Its Netflix revival is really impressive. I’m halfway through the TV binge so I’ll discuss it more in the coming post.

That’s it for this What’s Up!
What have you been reading/watching/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. 

Double Feature: Christmas Evil (1980) & All The Creatures Were Stirring (2018)

Welcome to the last holiday double feature for this year. Not double feature because that is staying, just before Christmas, no more holiday reviews. So we are ending with a nice change of pace to alternate Christmas horror found via Shudder: 1980’s Christmas Evil and 2018’s Christmas horror anthology All The Creatures Were Stirring.

Christmas Evil (1980)

Director (and writer): Lewis Jackson

Cast: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Andy Fenwick, Marc Neville, Joe Jamrog

A toy factory worker, mentally scarred as a child upon learning Santa Claus is not real, suffers a nervous breakdown after being belittled at work, and embarks on a Yuletide killing spree. – IMDB

Christmas Evil is really a Christmas film as its not only set in Christmas but a horror story of a mentally unstable man who was scarred so deeply as a child that Santa Claus isn’t real that he chooses to make himself into Santa and takes revenge on all those who did him wrong. Being 1980 film, there is definitely that 80s slasher vibe that goes with it which actually is quite endearing to watch. However, the film does suffer from some issues of being rather slow in the first half of anything happening other than setting up all the bad things that happen to Harry and then his desire to become Santa.

Deal is, there is still this unsettling feeling with Christmas Evil especially in the second half when Harry loses it completely and from the moment that he commits to turning into Santa and starts all the actual killing spree parts, it gets rather fun to watch in an 80s horror way and as much as I don’t find them particularly scary, it has the entertainment element. This is pretty much where Christmas Evil fits in.

All The Creatures Were Stirring (2018)

Director (and writer): David Ian McKendry & Rebekah McKendry

Cast: Graham Skipper, Ashley Clements, Constance Wu, Jonathan Kite, Jocelin Donahue, Mark Kelly, Matt Long, Amanda Fuller, Catherine Parker, Morgan Peter Brown, Michelle DeFraites, Stephanie Drake, Peter Cilella, Makeda Declet, Megan Duffy, Brea Grant, Matt Mercer, Diva Zappa

When an awkward date on Christmas Eve leads a couple into a strange theater, they’re treated to a bizarre and frightening collection of Christmas stories, featuring a wide ensemble of characters doing their best to avoid the horrors of the holidays. From boring office parties and last-minute shopping, to vengeful stalkers and immortal demons, there’s plenty out there to fear this holiday season. – IMDB

All The Creatures Were Stirring is a horror anthology with five horror stories set during Christmas and revolves around the central story of two people going on their first date on Christmas Eve to see a play where these five stories are being acted out. As with more horror anthologies, its a hit and miss deal with a lot of the stories. There’s an obvious indie low budget thing going on here as well which for some does add to the charm. If anything, its a lot more about some of the interesting creative elements added into the scenes than the stories as a whole which at times were downright odd or hard to get into while there were two that did stand out.

Dash Away All and In A Twinkling are the two that definitely were highlights of the anthology. Dash Away All is set in a parking lot where a man locks his keys in his car and ends up asking two girls to borrow a phone and ends up having this really fun twist. In A Twinkling is about a bunch of friends going to visit for a surprise Christmas party and the night takes a turn for a worse when they enter into a black and white loop from outer space. These two were a tad funny and had a hint of creepiness.

The Stocking Were Hung was okay with an Secret Santa party at work which turns into a Jigsaw killer sort of thing. There are some clever bits here but it feels a tad familiar (especially with Saw having so many movies in that franchise already). All Through The House is a horror Christmas Carol sort of deal which is pretty much the same sort of stuff but they did have one thing that I remembered kind of gave me a little jumpscare. It just feels a tad weird in its pacing. The last one to talk about is Arose Such A Clatter which really was the least appealing BUT it had the whole “killer” point of view going on that kind of made it a little more unique in the way they executed it.

The central story which is generally called To All A Good Night is what links these pieces together. It does capture the awkward element well but then it seems to lack some substance to it as it does try to have a twist ending and ends up leaving it as an open-ended deal which is a good and bad thing, leaving the mystery but then makes it feel incomplete especially since this being the piece that connects the stories together means the story itself isn’t fleshed out in between the stories. Some good, some decent and some meh stories here making this one that I might not want to revisit considering it took me a few sittings to get through it this time already.

That’s it for this holiday double feature!
Have you seen these two films before? Thoughts?
Are Alternate Christmas films part of your holiday viewing?

What’s Up 2019 – Week 36

Its been a crazy weekend to say the least. Between doing coverage for Dreamhack Montreal for Game Warp and then the area where I work having a gas leak and being shut down causing a day off when I really couldn’t afford it but then it can’t be help and finally getting caught up in the rain which has resulted in my current cold and cough which the collective happening of everything up there is why it has been more quiet than usual over here.

READING

Currently reading: The Moonlight Pegasus by C.S. Johnson

I’m well underway with reading The Moonlight Pegasus with a little slowdown due to Dreamhack coverage and in general, the whole sickness thing giving me less energy and focus. However, I’m still moving forward to hopefully get it done before the blog tour swings around. Reading is my current priority whenever and I’m glad to do so because while The Moonlight Pegasus is fairly lengthy, its actually quite good. I have a few flows of events and reasonings behind why it works so far so looking forward to see how it ends.

PLAYING

On hold for Dreamhack Montreal! I am still working on some games for this month’s Mobile Game Roundups however.

Gaming was put in the backseat. I’m trying to wrap up some final things with Injustice as Dreamhack Montreal coverage wraps up soon. Here’s the coverage for Day 1 HERE and Day 2 HERE.

WATCHING

• Antisocial (2013) rewatch – Review
• The Boy Next Door (2015)
• Pitch Perfect (2012) rewatch – Review
• IT: Chapter 2 (2019)

Seeing as going to the theatres is a very rare thing in my current life, our highlight of the week was going to see IT: Chapter Two. We probably wouldn’t have gone on an event coverage weekend but I did have a Lambcast recording which is currently live and you can find HERE. I’ll share the written review for the movie soon.

BINGING

• Meeting You (2019)

Currently binging: The King’s Avatar, Dream Space 2, Super Vocal 2, Love is Deep

Keeping things a bit more tame on the TV side of things, I actually have been planning a post and then landed on the show called Meeting You which is pretty much the same as Dream Space sort of style where its a dating show sort of thing but just from another channel. Either way, its all about comparison since I’m working on a post about these types of show and how they compare and whether they are good or not in concept. As this week ends, The King’s Avatar enters into their final week ramping up to the ending, Dream Space 2 and Super Vocal 2 are somewhere in the middle right now and Love is Deep is done but I’m still 4 episodes from finishing the series. All very good shows so I’m trying to find time between writing and everyday things to fit it in when I can.

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

What’s Up 2019 – Week 33

Welcome to this week’s What’s Up! Things are slowly getting back on track with probably only gaming still a bit lacking some action. I’ll talk more about it in that section. As for everything else, progress and moderation is the key. Its been quite sporadic on the writing front with a lot of less heavy weeks to just recuperate from July a little. Sometimes, its nice to recharge a little to get back on track stronger especially when I definitely need it. Also, I’m working out another strategy to kind of go back to zero on everything that’s outstanding because that list is now daunting and stressful to look at and let’s say I’m doing a redo and restructure on how to approach things and hopefully with less procrastination, it should be a more efficient way to do things.

READING

Currently reading: Wild Dark Times

Almost three-quarters of the way done with Wild Dark Times now and its a decent book. I have some minor issues with it so far but its still intriguing to say the least especially to see what the end game is going to be.

PLAYING

Not a whole lot is going on on the gaming front in this past week, the main reason is that I’m trying to get the other projects set up before sitting down to do something a little more time consuming, which is gaming because its not something that can be done quickly. However, mobile games round-up post is almost done and scheduled for release to cover the last few months of games while our next game to review on Game Warp Podcast is also decided. In the meantime, we will be posting up an episode leftover from before soon on Anchor so that’s happening. I guess the best thing to share here is my upcoming gaming plans. Whats done will remain done for now because I can’t find the energy to write up the overdue reviews and games played months ago so we’re starting fresh just like Game Warp is currently doing after a few months hiatus.

Games I’ll be taking a look at in the next while: Linelight, Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy, to start…more as I decide further what to do next and set a tentative solo gaming and Game Warp gets things back on track.

WATCHING

• An Inspector Calls (2015)
• Somewhere (2010)

Currently watching: A Home With A View (2019)

Trudging through through the Movies and Tea third season so 2010’s Somewhere was seen this past week and as usual, I won’t talk too much about it however on the spectrum of the film, it ranks above Marie Antoinette and comparable to how I feel about Lost in Translation but some little issues. I’ve been somehow spontaneously going through my Hong Kong dark comedies on my Netflix list. Its not a bad thing. An Inspector Calls is based on the English play of the same name while with the same director and some of the cast is A Home With A View, which I haven’t finished yet.

BINGING

• I’m So Pretty (2019)

Currently binging: We Grew Up, Another Me, Heart Signal 2, Dream Space 2, The Coming One 3

I’m watching a ton of variety or reality shows in general right now. Due to the contestant on The Coming One 3 that I like a lot, I found out that she is part of a TV series which I had brushed past because it didn’t seem like something that I’d like but after knowing that, I went to check out I’m So Pretty. Its a very odd TV series and does parodies of a lot of pop culture and movies and such however in its not taking itself too seriously but still giving it a very different kind of execution and its very short no matter in episode length of how many episodes, its a quick one to get through so here we are. A ton of shows are coming to an end with one episode left: Heart Signal 2, We Grew Up and The Coming One 3 is all ending next week so I’ll be looking for something new afterwards…I have an idea of what but I’ll talk about it next week.

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

What’s Up Week 18: Currently Ongoing Update

Welcome to Week 18 of What’s Up! We’re back on track now and things are slowly rolling back into action. Its mostly currently ongoing things but at least something is happening rather than nothing. It sounds a bit pathetic when I look at it but the energy levels are back to normal by the end of the week and its time to get more movies watched (and reviewed) and some more games as well.

READING

Currently reading: Justice For Belle

I’m currently reading Justice For Belle. I mean, I’m literally only 10% into it so I have the absolutely basics and set up of the story right now. However, this is an ARC so…it goes live on May 15th which should be around the time that I get the review up, maybe on the 16th. It gives me some time to finish reading and form my thoughts. I need to pick up my pace in terms of reading as I’m falling behind on the Goodreads Challenge.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc

I’ve been meaning to start Danganronpa for a while and finally dived in at the end of the week. I literally just finished the prologue and decided that I’m not playing this one with the husband because if thats the case, I have to read it out and its a lot of reading as its very much a visual novel with some mystery twist, I think. Anyways, this one is set for a long haul as I believe it clocks in at about 30 hours so not doing the recording for it either because its going to be too long.

WATCHING

• The Silence

There is this new wave of movies that target your senses and the latest horror Netflix Original, The Silence is all about being quiet again just like A Quiet Place. I have a few issues with The Silence so its going to be interesting to write up that review. Overall, lets just say, it starts off good and spirals downwards real fast. Not the way you want your horror movie experience to be. Sad, because I really love Stanley Tucci and he gets this leading role and its for this lackluster horror film.

BINGING

• Z Nation (Season 1)

Currently binging: The Brightest Star in the Sky, Put Your Head on My Shoulder, Idol Producer, Produce Camp 2019, Flipped, You vs Wild, Brave New World, Escape Room, Z Nation

I’m enjoying everything that I’m currently binging but as The Brightest Star in the Sky comes to a close with 2 more episodes falling into the next week, its at the point where I’m having very deep feelings and love for this series. At the same time, Idol Producer is an older series so I ended up trying to be more on track with the current Produce Camp 2019 since I have some trainees in there that I’m really interested in giving some support for. At the same time because of Produce Camp 2019, I ended up pushing forward watching Flipped because of Kido Gao. I got back into watch Brave New World, a variety show and Escape Room as well is catching up as well. Z Nation is still the show I watch with my husband and we finished Season 1 and went right into Season 2. As for my pick right now is trying out You vs. Wild, an interactive Netflix series which I’m doing one episode per day and so far, its been quite fun. I’m liking it more than Black Mirror: Bandersnatch which I only tried for 10 minutes and stopped.

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

Whats Up Week 15

Welcome back! This week has been really good. I actually was getting some stuff done over the weekend and found a lot of new TV to keep me company in the background. Heavy on TV is not too weird as TV binging is still my fave activity which requires the least amount of energy. Old habits die hard, right?

READING

• The Collection of The Negatives (The Blood Rising Book #1) by Violet St. Karl

Currently reading: Forever People

We will keep this short and sweet. I wrapped up The Collection of the Negatives and its for a blog tour next week so look for the review then. I took on another blog tour the week after for Forever People so I’m currently reading that one.

PLAYING

• The Unfinished Swan

Currently playing: Omnicube, FutureGrind

So many things to continue and yet, the husband and I decided to get back to finished The Unfinished Swan which we probably started playing at least half a year ago and then stopped because I fell asleep while he was playing. We actually restarted the game and finished it in almost one sitting. I’m going to get back to Omnicube and FutureGrind the coming week. The Unfinished Swan is one that I’m pretty eager to talk about so you should see the review once I get a moment to sit down and write it as well as the playthrough. Giant Sparrow is known for its narrative excellence so suffice to say that this debut game for them definitely has a few things to talk about especially seeing how well their following game What Remains of Edith Finch, which was our top 3 games of 2017.

WATCHING

• Leatherface (2017)
• Flipped (Review)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming

After last weekend’s crap fest of movies, I decided to take a break from the Netflix alphabet since I’m relatively ahead and started the week on a spontaneous bad weather day where my husband couldn’t get to work and decided to watch Leatherface which wasn’t good but I have a little something to talk about for that one. Something that I’ve thought about regarding all these movies coming out for these iconic horror characters. That’s coming up at some point. But we’re here to look at the good stuff. The first, of course, is Flipped which I rewatched for Friday Film Club because I just love that film so much. If you don’t know what Friday Film Club is, its a double feature over at Movies and Tea where every Friday, Elwood and I each pick one movie that we want to share. You can see the post HERE. Flipped is my standout movie of this week however, its a rewatch so I figured I’d choose from the first time viewings and well, the choice would have to be Spider-Man Homecoming which I rented recently to catch up with the MCU films. Its pretty decent but I’m a bit fed up of how many Spider Man movies we’ve had in like the last 15 years or something and the different Spider-Mans we’ve cycled through.

BINGING

• The Singer 2019

Currently watching: The Brightest Star in the Sky, The Legend of the White Snake, Go Fridge! 4, Great Escape, Viva La Romance 2, Produce 101, My Daughter’s Boyfriend

The Singer 2019 finally ended! Its a pretty cool professional singing competition. The fact that they added in those little changes to switch things up and people got eliminated but had a chance to come back all had their uniqueness. This was solely voted by the audience so its a different experience altogether. I’ve learned that my tastes differ quite a few times and sometimes there is no reason on how people choose their faves. It was a nice few months of following this and I learned about some singers that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about. Because this is a singing competition, I’m not going to do a TV binge on it.

There is more and more currently showing stuff that I’m watching hence why the list keeps getting longer and I’m starting to fall behind on some shows, specifically talking about The Legend of the White Snake which I’m behind starting this week as only watched 2 of the 6 episodes released (and I might give it a little break also because the show is entering a slightly cringe-fest phase). While I did add some older seasons of stuff over on WeTV on Youtube like Go Fridge (Season 4) and Produce 101 (because they have a new season called Produce Camp 2019). Everything on WeTV is translated title because they don’t have official English titles for it. My favorite show right now, no competition at all, that is on my mind constantly is The Brightest Star in the Sky. Only a few weeks left of this one…

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

What’s Up Week 12: Accidentally Binging & Random Movie Viewing

Another week has flown by. A lot of stuff happened especially with my office having some changes that took away from some personal time. With that said, this week is one of the more balanced ones as I managed to get things done in all sections.

READING

Currently reading: Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3)

Obsidio is going a bit slower than expected. It always is a slower starts as I try to catch back up to the things that gone on in the previous two books, not that they really rely too much on it as the basis are generally reiterated again. However, some of the characters did overlap. I’m about 20% done at this point (and probably haven’t updated my Goodreads progress in a while as I’m writing this). So far, its still pretty good and is setting up for what this novel’s race for time is. The format still works really well. We will just have to see how things go from here and hope that it wraps up the trilogy in a satisfying way.

PLAYING

• Her Story

Currently playing: Mortal Kombat X – Towers

Our next Game Warp review is for Her Story. We are finding a pace in doing longer and shorter games as much as possible to hopefully keep episodes going more frequently . There will be a first hour or first half hour gameplay of Her Story going up on the channel at some point because this story is all about unveiling the story through piecing together 6 different videos. Its a pretty cool idea but then I’m not going to talk too much about it since the episode will come out in the next few weeks.

If you missed it, Mortal Kombat X podcast review has been released. Talking about MKX, I decided to go back to check out some of the other modes and dive a little deeper and landed on the Towers mode which is essentially using a character and fighting 10 opponents. At the end, a little story parallel to the one in story mode plays out in art images. I want to eventually get through all the fighters but so far I have only gone through 2 of them with the husband.

WATCHING

• The Cave
• Jaws 2
• Death Note (2017)

Its a real mish mash of randomness this week in terms of watching. Probably the most random since the beginning of 2019. I’m trying to do a random alphabet Netflix thing. Not official or anything. A lot of good stuff is coming up and I wanted to clear out more films in the mean time. Call it a preemptive strike in anticipate for the crazy April month coming up. The standout film of this batch might be a bit tough but I think Jaws 2 was the surprise of the three. I didn’t expect The Cave or Death Note to be anything too special but Jaws 2 took a good angle for its sequel and I like the execution pretty well.

I’m working through some double features now and hoping to get it out soon. Its a work in progress to work through the lesser backlog (although still there).

BINGING

• Accidentally in Love (Netflix Original, 2018)
• My Little One 2 (2019)

Currently binging: The Singer 2019, My Amazing Boyfriend 2, Mr. Swimmer

Took  a little detour and break from Mr. Swimmer as most Chinese dramas tend to take the last 10 episodes and turn them into mega frustrating and emotional and stupid bits before it gets to whatever finale. To save myself from breaking anything, I decided to take a moment and watch something else. Who would have thought that it was a binge-fest of Accidentally in Love, a Netflix Original Chinese drama which was so much fun that I finished it in less than a week. It has perfect episode lengths (35 minutes or so), perfect series length (30 episodes) and the fun and cute tone with some infectious characters. I’m so excited about it that I want to write up the TV binge right away (it won’t happen probably). To be fair, My Little One 2 also finished up and I also liked it a ton. The finale wrap-up episode was a really nice one. I need to go back to finish Season 1 for the sons version, which I’m about halfway through.

 That’s it for this What’s Up!
Things are picking up and finding its balance again!
It never lasts but the point is to try 🙂

What have you been up to?