Tranquil Dreams Podcast #14: What’s Up 2021 Week 21

The next episode of Tranquil Dreams Podcast is here! I’ve finally gotten a routine down…kind of, considering there should be probably another episode coming out in a day or two to do a little catch up since I’m about a week or so behind.

This episode covers Week 21 of What’s Up 2021 as reading is still on hiatus and gaming hasn’t changed a lot compared to previous weeks or two. I do give my general thoughts on Army of the Dead and the adaptation of Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase while also giving an overview of my thoughts on the new volume of Love Death and Robots. Its a quick one this time.

Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy!

Related Links

Army of the Dead – Film Review
Love Death + Robots (Season 2) – TV Binge

Music in the Episode:
There It Is by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4519-there-it-is
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

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TV Binge: Love Death & Robots (Volume 2, 2021)

Love Death & Robots (Volume 2, 2021)

Creator: Tim Miller

A collection of animated short stories that span various genres including science fiction, fantasy, horror and comedy. – IMDB

The first season of Love Death and Robots (podcast discussion) was an absolute treat with its 18 episodes or so and having a variety of different short films that explores the three themes: Love, Death and Robots. Thinking back to it now, there are still many segments that are memorable. In comparison, the second season is much shorter running at a swift 8 episodes with some stories feeling more familiar however, the animation style has shifted to some refined visuals that for some almost look real and also, some unique animation art style. The stories itself also has overlapping themes in some in some interesting settings.

Anthology volumes are always going to have hit and miss. The good news is that the second volume of Love Death & Robots is overall pretty good with some segments landing better than others but nothing that is lackluster. Looking at more specific segments, the art style and story of a few do stand out like the horror creature feature of The Tall Grass which had painting-like illustrations or Ice with its world building and comic book/graphic novel illustration style that brings in creative designs and a outer space setting with normal humans being in a world of modded humans. There’s also a Christmas short All Through The House which has its characters almost like dolls while playing with who Santa is and leaving it with a rather troubling question.

In terms of overall stories that seem to be a great basis for a bigger scale movie to some kind of full-length feature, some of these definitely have the basis and foundation for it. Coincidentally, these also have some good voice cast behind it and some more renowned names. The first, of course is for Pop Squad which sets up a future where humans have traded the rights to have children for living forever and being young forever also where having children is now a crime and when found, said children will be killed in order to maintain the population balance. Its a well-structured story with a lot more to explore especially when its voice cast includes Nolan North and Elodie Young. Much like Snow in the Desert which also has a barren wasteland setting and manages to blend all three themes of this volume together.

Two other ones well worth mentioning is the starting episode and the final one which both contrast from the rest of the series in tone. The first called Automated Customer Service carries in a different setting of a futuristic senior residence where a cleaning robot goes rogue and packed with a comedic element mocking the future of automated customer service. Its one that sets an upbeat yet sinister tone but is rather entertaining overall and pretty fun. The final episode, The Drowned Giant is a slow-paced one that leaves room for reflection on humanity in general as it circles around the discovery and gradual deterioration of a drowned giant washed ashore with a monologue from the scientist that observes it over time. Its one that might not fit the general one of the entire volume but does end with a more meaningful and thought-provoking point.

Overall, the second volume/season of Love Death and Robots is a pretty good one. Most of them are well worth a watch and each have their own value whether from visuals and art style to storytelling and world building. It is a short season but one that is still bingeworthy.

After Hours – Love, Death + Robots (Season #1)

Season 2 officially wraps up with our final After Hours pick. This time, Elwood picks our first anthology series, Netflix Originals, Love Death + Robots. We try to touch on all the little stories here as well as talk about the ones that impressed us the most.

As Season 2 wraps up, you can already see that the banner on Movies and Tea has already changed with our next feature director, Sofia Coppola for Season 3. With that said, guests are always welcomed to join us if any of the movies interests you. Just drop me or Elwood an email or leave us a comment. Its almost completely unfamiliar territory for myself so it’ll be a fun dive into her filmography as we change not only film genre and our first female director highlight.

With that said, head over to Movies and Tea to check out our latest episode and share your thoughts on Love Death + Robots!

Movies and Tea

Wrapping up season #2 our final bonus episode has us looking at Love, Death + Robots for our first boxset binge.

A project from David Fincher and Tim Miller whose initial plans to
remake Heavy Metal were mophed instead into this anthology of short
animated tales with seemingly limitless scope for the stories which can
be told as we discover from this first season.

So get ready for alternative histories, monsters, shocking twists and of course love, death + robots!!

Music on this episode

Keith Mansfield – Funky Fanfare

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What’s Up-Week 21: Back to the Cinema!

Welcome to Week 21 What’s Up where everything seems to be back on track. I even had time to head to the theatre. Its been a while that I haven’t just been trapped at work or being a hermit at home. Either way, let’s see what’s gone on in this week’s recap!

As usual, you can find me on Letterboxd to see all my ratings and what I’ve been watching as I update it after each viewing HERE.

READING

• Crossline by Russ Colchamiro (Review)

Currently reading: The Space Between Time

This week and the next is going to be a dash to the finish line as I get some blog tour commitments together. I don’t usually put things so close together but sometimes, you just have to try to work things out with books that seem intriguing in the sea of indie book releases and what’s available. The review for Crossline is already out so you can check it on the review link above. As for The Space Between Time, I only brushed the very beginning of the story so not sure on what I think just yet but if its anything like Charlie Laidlaw’s last book that I read (HERE), there should be some creative fun in the horizon.

PLAYING

Currently playing: The Witness

The husband and I are still playing The Witness. Some of those puzzles are quite mind-boggling to say the least so this game is more in small doses or whenever we feel like our brains need a break.

WATCHING

• Natural Selection (2015)
• John Wick – Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019) Review
• Godzilla (2014)

We missed John Wick in theatres for the first two so since we’ve known about Parabellum coming out, we’ve been planning go see it in theatres. No regrets on that level. Not going to say too much since I’ve already done the review and you can check it out in the link above. Due to some podcast plans, we will be going to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters so in anticipation for it, we went back to check out 2014’s Godzilla which also is my first Godzilla movie ever. Its a bit surprising to some however, I have mixed feelings about this one but it had mostly to do with the fact that being a Godzilla story, it definitely felt like Godzilla was not as present as expected.

BINGING

• Nailed It! (Season 3, 2019)
• Love, Death + Robots (2019)

Currently binging: Le Coup de Foudre, Produce Camp 2019, Love O2O (rewatch), Great Escape, Street Dance of China (Season 2), Beautiful Youth

While I am still watching a lot of TV series on Youtube, this week was all about catching up to the Netflix series. Of course, I had to get Nailed It Season 3 done because its just always so much fun and honestly, a very short series anyways. Then coming up soon will be a podcast related watch and that is Love Death + Robots. I’ve heard lots of good stuff about it so was pretty excited to check it out but because of recording, it was pushed up on the viewing list and boy, am I happy that I did but it was a blast. I’ll be doing a TV binge for it at some point (probably sooner than later).

Nothing too new in the currently binging list except that I’m rewatching Love O2O since I’m working on the TV binge for that right now (looking for quotes and trying to get some screenshots). The only two new addition here would be Street Dance of China which is in its season 2. I didn’t watch Season 1 but I did see some highlights from that. I won’t be going back to it since its mostly blocked in Canada except for highlight reels so since it really makes no difference, I’m just keeping up with the new season. At the same time, I’m watching Beautiful Youth which is a part of the Nine Percent boy group in their journey through New Zealand for 20 days on a budget.

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