What’s Up – March 2024

Quick Update on Reality TV Round-Up

The beginning of the year has been pretty crazy. I’m not sure why I expected otherwise as I’m pretty much back into the normal routine of working. With that said, there’s been a lot of delays on the monthly posts which I’m trying to stay on top of but not really getting anything done. While I can’t change a lot of the other posts without it being too bulky, I’ve decided to do the Reality TV Round-Up posts every two months now as I don’t watch as many variety shows or documentaries to have enough to talk about. Its already been the case for the first Reality TV Roundup post this year and it will continue with that.

With that out of the way, let’s get the show on the road with a very late What’s Up for March round-up! And yes, there is no books section because I haven’t really finished anything or started anything new other than cycling through my child’s books and re-reading a lot of them.

MOVIES

• The Bad Guys (2022)
• Joy Ride (2023)
• Nope (2022)
• Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Bring It On: Cheer Or Die (2022)
• Missing (2023)
• Slaxx (2020)
• Tampopo (1985)
• She Said (2022)
• Door Mouse (2022)
• Paranormal Activity (2007)
• Halloween Ends (2022)
• Julie & Julia (rewatch 2009, Review)
• Before Sunrise (1995)
• Wonka (2023)
• Pig (2021)
• Damsel (2024)
• Before Sunset (2004)
• John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
• Chef (2014)
• Cobweb (2023)
• Spring (2014)
• Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

March viewings was primarily dominated by the one month Crave subscription I took for a Movies and Tea viewing. Looking back at March, some of these films feel like a long time away however there were some impressive offerings on Crave with an Awkwafina voice acting fix with The Bad Guys, a slightly awkward but entertaining Joy Ride, an outstanding alien invasion with Nope, a well-executed look at a true story adaptation with She Said, a stylistic offering with Door Mouse, a gripping cyber found footage with Missing, a truffle pig chase road trip with Nicolas Cage in Pig, a great action piece with John Wick: Chapter 4 and a fairly creepy offering with Cobweb and finally catching up with an overnight wandering in Vienna with Before Sunrise. Let’s not forget a musical adventure with Wonka.

Of course, it wasn’t only Crave that had some fun offerings although those titles really did stand out quite a bit. Tampopo was a fun foodie trip into ramen which has definitely become more impressive as I think back to it. Netflix’s new film in March Damsel starring Millie Bobby Brown had some issues but overall was pretty fun as well. However, the surprising find was definitely our first time into Paranormal Activity franchise with the first two films were sufficiently creepy. Those last few have reviews that will come out soon.

TV

• Asia Super Young (Season 1, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 7 rewatch Review)
• Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2017 rewatch)
• Closer To You Season 2 (我的刺猬女孩之念念不忘, 2023)
• Till The End of the Moon (長月燼明, 2023)

Currently watching: Memories Beyond Horizon S2, Run For Time S4, Is It Cake? S3

As my Gilmore Girls rewatch comes to an end in March, I’ve been trying to work in more Youku viewings with the last month of the streaming service subscription and I have to say that I picked two decent TV series to wrap it up. I still have a few more series on my radar from the service that I will probably sub again when the second season of Asia Super Young comes around.

Closer to You Season 2 is a fun series but the change in the female lead does impact the feelings toward it. While she did a great job, the first season definitely had a lot more going for it however for something angled around time travel, it worked for the most part and threw some decent curveballs at the end.

As for Till The End of the Moon, I’ve been a big fan of Leo Luo since last year with Light Chaser Rescue so I’ve been intrigued by his series and he does a great job here, much like Bai Lu which I can understand her popularity. Its a fairly typical fantasy romance drama full of heartache and breakups and tears and it also has kind of a time travel element as well but the chemistry and the execution is really great and it ended up growing on me especially the development of Leo Luo’s character.

GAMES

• Season: A Letter to the Future (demo)

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Not a whole lot of gaming in general recently as I make a little bit of progress in the Ace Attorney as I edge to the end but not really finding time to actually finish it. A lot of the same expected in April as work takes over more so not a lot of time for gaming. However, I did get around to checking out a demo sitting in my archive since the last Steam Fest and in true forgetful nature, I can’t remember when that was so its probably been at least a month or two. The game is available already so it was just for fun to see whether its worth adding to my wishlist and its pretty fun as it adds in a biking element and definitely a more relaxing sort of game as the character goes through the story finding elements and taking photos to the story. That’s been my type of game lately.

We’re incredibly late with this one so expect the April What’s Up to be in about a week or so.
I need to catch up with the other monthly segments that hasn’t been done the past month.

Sting (2024)

Sting (2024)

Director (and writer): Kiah Roache-Turner

Cast: Alyla Browne, Ryan Corr, Jermaine Fowler, Nona Hazlehurst, Robyn Nevin, Penelope Mitchell, Danny Kim, Silvia Colloca

After raising an unnervingly talented spider in secret, 12-year-old Charlotte must face the facts about her pet-and fight for her family’s survival-when the once-charming creature rapidly transforms into a giant, flesh-eating monster. – IMDB

Sting is the latest creature feature featuring a fairly underused creature, spiders. Having fairly recently completed the creature feature season on Movies and Tea Podcast and looked at two of these films, the spider world is fairly underused despite having the Arachnophobia remake to look forward to. Directed and written by Wyrmwood director Kiah Roache-Turner, Sting is a more personal journey for the director with both his personal experience as a stepfather and as a person with a fear of spiders making this an interesting territory for him to explore and craft this tale. At the same time, it also sets the story in one location confined inside by a snowstorm.

The film takes place in an apartment complex in Brooklyn spanning over a few days when the creature lands spontaneously into the dollhouse in the grandmother’s home. The story focuses around this family centered around 12-year-old Charlotte (Alyla Browne) living with a newborn baby brother, her mother Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and stepfather Ethan (Ryan Corr). With the building being owned by her grand-aunt (Robyn Nevin) and her fascination to share the vintage things her grandmother Helga (Noni Hazlehurst) owns, she maneuvers the apartment via the vents. The story tries to strike a balance between the struggling family dynamic in Charlotte’s family unit as well as the acceptance of the struggling artist career that Ethan is dealing with which ends up creating a lot of tension aside as the underlying threat, the alien spider ends up growing up under the care of Charlotte. For the most part, the script is fairly well-paced and executed. There are some little bits of the family drama and feel like could be left out for a tighter execution and have more of a focus on the creature feature element however, the film never forgets the core of the film and keeps the creature development as a central plot.

The character dynamics work pretty well also. There are some pretty neat executions and use of the character especially in the starting sequence with grandmother Helga who hears noises around the house and calls the exterminators to end the scene with a well-timed, slightly fourth wall breaking shush towards the audience. Its a nice place to say that Noni Hazlehurst does a charming job with Helga as the aged grandmother who is losing her memory. The same can be said about Alyla Browne who plays as the main young lead as 12 year old Charlotte. Younger roles tend to have the threat of being annoying however Alyla Browne does a great job at maintaining the balance of being a normal 12 year old but also delivering the more emotional elements as she tries to find her sense of belonging in this new family unit. Another wonderful mention does go out to the supporting role as the exterminator Jermaine Fowler who delivers the comedic break in the film that helps tie up where it starts to when the story heads back into the present after it flashes back to how the whole spider situation started in the first place.

The spider design is definitely worth a mention as the director wanted the spider to have a physical presence in the film hence, the spider Sting is a puppet made by 3d printing material and maneuvered by a few puppeteers to make the whole creature move as are the venom spitting capabilities and the webs also implemented physically. There’s something so fantastic about creating a physical creature that makes it all the more believable and it definitely pays off in Sting. The spider scenes are done very well, not only from the element slowly revealing the creature as a whole after its initial size, but also have the growth progress and using the light and shadows to add tension to scenes as it interacts with the cast.

There’s a lot to love about Sting. While the creature feature does try to add in a more personal story element here and at times, it does seem to add more than this film actually needs, there are a lot of other elements that work well from having a great use of the one location concept to building and executing a horrific spider story. To be fair, Sting does have a few minor details that feel like its been inspired by other horror or creature features but in some ways, it does add to the film as a whole. In the world where the eight legged arachnid is not used sufficiently in all its creepy glory, Sting does a great job at rectifying that situation a little.

*Screener provided by Well Go USA*

Music Obsessions – March 2024

Losing track of time is honestly the theme of 2024 so that’s why this month’s music obsessions is coming at the end of the month instead of the beginning. However, we’re here with another Taiwanese singer as we dive into our next one. While I wanted to alternate between male and female singers, I ended up listening to a lot of this singer recently out of spontaneity so we’re just rolling with it. This month’s focus is….Leehom Wang! He is a singer that I happen to have a lot of their physical albums, probably the most out of the Taiwanese singers that I like.

Born in New York, Leehom Wang made his debut in 1995 when he was offered a contract by BMG after participating in a talent competition. However, his eventual success brought him into Decca Records and finally Sony Music Entertainment before releasing his best selling album, his fifth one Revolution that brought the breakthrough in his music career. As he worked through a career of best-selling albums and truly finding his fame in the early 2000s when he entered into the actor career in a few Hong Kong films.

Leehom Wang’s is known for his R&B and Hip-Hop style that fuses with traditional Chinese music. Its one of the stand-out elements of his music style that makes his music so unique in this area especially since he does also dabble in a lot of different styles as well from ballads to dance-pop to rock music. However, his traditional Chinese music fusioned R&B and Hip-Hop songs are the ones that do stand-out a lot as it was branded as China Wind music known as “chinked-out” and establishing himself as an influential and important artist in Chinese music. This eventually brings out some of my favorite albums starting with Shangri-La (2004) and Heroes of Earth (2005).

Being a musician with talents in multiple instruments like violin, piano, guitar and drums, its what gives Leehom Wang and his music a lot of variety and dives into a variety of style to keep things always feeling fresh. While his later albums after the “chinked-out” albums didn’t seem to get the same traction, his album Change Me dove back into the older styles of music paying tribute to 1930s Shanghai and Broadway while promoting an environmental awareness and global warming message.

Being not too current on the news for artists, my research has shown that due to his divorce issues, Leehom Wang has temporarily quit the entertainment business a few years ago. I’m not on top of the allegations and what happened so I’m not going to go into this. The Music Obsessions post is solely to share music that I love and Leehom Wang is an artist that has contributed a lot in this sense.

唯一 (2001)

你不在 (2003)

Can You Feel My World (2003)

一首簡單的歌 (2004)

心中的日月 (2004)

花田錯 (2005)

改變自己 (2007)

搖滾怎麼了!! (2008)

Reality Show Roundup – January & February 2024

Things are really behind the last month so we’re going to be doing a double month wrap-up for Reality Show Round-up! Its also because I haven’t been watching a lot of variety shows lately and trying to catch up on some dramas so this segment is a little more quiet than usual.

Queer Eye (Season 6, 2021)

Season 6 returned in 2021 providing the positive breather in the middle of the pandemic as their production also got shut down during the recording of the first episode. I’m a big fan of Queer Eye on Netflix and its great to watch the Fab Five start as it started more along the lines of a makeover show but has now become a lot more than that because Karamo isn’t the only person who shares on culture and general mindset as the whole group has something to share depending on who they are working with.

Set in Texas this time, they pick an incredible ensemble of heroes. Its probably one of my favorite seasons because I liked 90% of the heroes they chose because these people really have some big hearts and great stories to tell in how they are using their own way to support their community and/or the inner struggles that they need to work through. I honestly can’t really decide which episode I love more but I’m always a big fan of the following episodes:

• Episode 1: Showdown at the Broken Spoke
• Episode 3: No More Bull
• Episode 5: Craw-Zaddy
• Episode 7: Snow White of Central Texas
• Episode 8: Gimme Shelter
• Episode 9: A Legend in the Baking

Queer Eye (Season 8, 2024)

Kicking off 2024 at the end of January on Netflix is Queer Eye Season 8 which offered a continuation in New Orleans with six episodes featuring an array of “heroes” of everyday people who was nominated for one reason or another to help them move forward in life in a better way. New Orleans has been an interesting area and Season 7 did introduce some interesting people that had their makeovers from different walks of life and needed different help.

This season structures around a little bit of the same which looks at a family man in need of resparking the romance in his relationship, a KISS fan, a clarinet virtuoso, a deaf athletics director, a former nun and a grieving chef. Queer Eye episodes at this point have managed to create some touching moments and even educational for their viewers. There’s always something to learn from each of these people and usually helps create positivity and confidence in life. While as a whole, I don’t personally feel some of these stories to be as strong as say Season 6, there are some pretty good ones this season as well with The Sweet Life and The Flying Nun being the two that really stands out in my opinion.

The Grand Tour: Sand Job (2024)

While my husband remains a devoted fan to The Grand Tour since Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond moved their trio to Amazon Prime, the most recent release earlier this year The Sand Job set as a driving challenge through Mauritania, is my first time in over a decade to sit down and watch a complete episode. Not surprising that it still has a lot of the comedic elements that this group manages to have especially with the silliness and recklessness of some of the decisions. Being the penultimate show for The Grand Tour with these three, The Sand Job offers another exotic location and another trio of cheap modified race cars selected by the trio here to take on this long, arduous journey. The part of the joy of these challenges is not only the trials and tribulations they go through on the journey as each of their cars break down, but also the challenges thrown at them and the sometimes outrageous ways they decide to choose to solve it. As outrageous as it is, its part of the entertainment from these three as they engage in their shenanigans.

The Sand Job offers a very one-sided element issues in terms of car issues however the environment is fairly exotic so it also has its own set of unknowns and there are some moments where they all get into some fun stuff. I’m not sure if its just getting into one of these episodes after so many years but at times, this feels like a road trip travel show but just taking a more mechanical angle. The Sand Job is an entertaining episode and the dynamic of the trio still remains after so many years. I suppose its time to go back and catch up on the previous Grand Tour episodes and get some more laughs.

What’s Up – February 2024

BOOKS

Currently reading: The Book and the Sword

I’m not going to lie, reading really didn’t happen too much in February. While I do want to read The Book and the Sword, the fact that my toddler now requires a different bedtime story time style has limited what I read. Instead, we’re cycling through a lot of the easier children’s books. I’ve read about 10 times of 2 Chinese books per day because he just loves it and then bedtime revolves around a mish mash of other books that I’ve already mentioned before. I’m hoping with less work during my downtime, I will be able to actually pick up a book to read. A part of that will be made easier once I do another more realistic reorganization of my storage space so that I can sort through my books a little easier.

MOVIES

• Lust For A Vampire (1971)
• The Lost City (2022)
• Bitch Ass (2022)
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (short 2023)
• The Swan (short 2023)
• The Rat Catcher (short 2023)
• Poison (short 2023)
• The Mummy (1999)
• Wild Card (2015)
• Love and Monsters (2020)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
• Enola Holmes 2 (2022 rewatch, Review)
• Opera (1987)
• The Tall Man (2012)
• Past Lives (2023)
• Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (2015 rewatch, Review)

While everyone’s preparing for the Academy Awards and catching up with viewings, I’m surprised to actually review my February list and see that I watched one winner and one nominee with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Past Lives respectively. Both of which are really great films in their own way. As I truck along with the Oh My Horror Challenge and falling behind with the actual reviews, I’ve seen some pretty great movies this month which is making my first time watches list a little more respectable. All the short films on Netflix directed by Wes Anderson are pretty great. I finally watched the 1999 The Mummy which I’ve actually never seen before and absolutely loved it. Love and Monsters is an underrated film that is also incredible. As for a movie that grew on me more and more as I thought about it, that would be Past Lives.

TV

• Indulgence (染指, 2024)
• Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (Season 1, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 3 rewatch Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 4 rewatch Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 5 rewatch Review)
• The Grand Tour: Sand Job (Season 5, 2024)
• Justice in the Dark (光渊, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 6 rewatch Review)

Currently binging: Asia Super Young, Memories Beyond Horizon S2, Till The End of the Moon

I honestly don’t even know where to start for TV series. I had a lot of stuff to take care of so of course that meant a significant focus on the Gilmore Girls rewatch. I tried out one of the short dramas Indulgence, which are basically 10 minute episodes each on Youku. The best way to describe it would be best compared to reading trashy romance novels. The production value is not the great, the story has some old-fashioned plot points and the acting is below average for the most part but I can see why some people do enjoy these dramas.

We finished Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre and much like any anthology short film series, it has some that work better than others. I’ve never read any of Junji Ito’s horror manga but if this is even just dipping your toe into his mind, its absolutely wild. Some of these stories really go off the left field and some are pretty unique and others are simply terrifying. Like nightmare-inducing terrifying because I did end up getting nightmares when I first started the series.

Finally, for some shorter episodes, I don’t usually watch The Grand Tour but I did sit down for the latest season/episode The Sand Job which was a lot of fun. I also caught the 8 episode Youku series Justice in the Dark adapted from a novel Silent Reading by Priest. The series ended with so many loose ends but had some a great world building and concept that I ended up buying the novel series since it doesn’t seem like any sequel is in the works.

GAMES

Currently playing: Somerville, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, I Love Hue

As expected, gaming took a similar hit to books. I actually ended up continuing on I Love Hue which is a relaxing mobile puzzle game where you have to rearrange colors according to the gradient level. Its one that I’ve been playing on and off over the years but still like to go back to every once in a while.

Oh My Horror Challenge Week 4: The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)

The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)

Director: Johannes Roberts

Cast: Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Damian Maffei, Emma Bellomy, Lea Enslin

A family of four staying at a secluded mobile home park for the night are stalked and then hunted by three masked psychopaths. – IMDB

The sequel of 2008’s The Strangers comes a decade after with 2018’s The Strangers: Prey At Night which takes the initial vacation home setting into an open space mobile home park. While the initial film wasn’t impressive enough for myself to feel this was long-awaited, this sequel does have a few elements that end up being a much more satisfying horror film as a whole.

While certain films benefit and use a single enclosed location really well, its a tough one to use when its based around a home invasion and not some type of discovery or deeper location secret however, The Strangers: Prey At Night increases the scope of the film by opening up the location to a mobile home park which gives it not only multiple mobile homes to explore but common space area and lots of open space to increase that sense of isolation. Adding in the darkness from the night setting, the film is able to create a lot more surprises and unexpected scares from the trio of The Strangers.

While the film is set 10 years after its predecessor, The Strangers are essentially the same as they also are a trio with the same masks: Man in the Mask, Pin-Up Girl and Doll-face. The concept of having killers initially inspired by true events makes it unsettling especially with their masks which also help add to the creepy factor. The first film set up this trio’s purpose which gives them all the more freedom to truly do everything to further extents in the sequel. Prey At Night does take that element to give these characters a lot more than just creeping around but gives them a little more room to play and toy around their victims as they stalk and prey on the family of four that make their stop at this mobile home as an invitation from their family who they soon realize has been murdered. If there were any little issues with this character is the Man in the Mask feeling like a classic slasher which takes a lot of effort to get rid of.

The Strangers: Prey At Night does have a small cast which works to its advantage. The family of four including the mother played by Christina Hendricks eventually does dwindle to an even smaller cast as it switches it focus to the survival of brother Luke (Lewis Pullman) and sister Kinsey (Bailee Madison). There is no doubt that the focus of the survival is on Kinsey as a lot of the chase and escape focuses on her side of the story. Bailee Madison is known for a lot of her child actress roles in my knowledge so its refreshing to see her in this role, even, the characters as a whole don’t really have a lot of depth. However, the film does deliver on the entertaining horror moments that build up in their intensity as the film heads to the finale. The general store and swimming pool scene being one of the more memorable of the film.

Overall, The Strangers: Prey At Night is a better horror film than its predecessor mostly because it manages to be more well-balanced and increases in its intensity. Its not a perfect film by far but it does utilize a lot of its great horror potential to create something that has some great moments and add in a little creepy and unsettling feeling. The acting could be better as a whole but its sufficient to keep it engaging.

*Part of the 2010s Horror pick for Oh My Horror Challenge 2024*

What’s Up – January 2024

Letterboxd Year in Review 2023

Film Logged: 168 (there’s 10 TV series logged in here)
Hours Watched: 485 Hours
Most Watched Actor: Bill Murray
Most Watched Director: Wes Anderson
Top Rated 2023 Films: Hidden Love (TV series), Once Upon a Studio, Sly
Most Watched Week of 2023: 11 Films on Week 45 (Nov 6-12)
Most Watched Day of 2023: Monday
Most Watched Theme: Emotional and captivating fantasy storytelling
Most Watched Nanogenre: Horror, Twist, Death

Honestly, I’m pretty impressed with how Letterboxd has gotten pretty detailed with the other statistics other than the most watched actor and director which, due to Movies and Tea, its usually pretty easy to guess who those two will be and I guessed this year’s with no hesitation.

WHAT’S UP

Books

• Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain

Currently reading: Boy: Tales of Childhood, The Book and the Sword

I can’t even remember when I started the book but it has to about 3 months to finish Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain. If you’ve only seen any of the adaptations, I’d say to try to look this book up because it is such a treat. The version I had included two short stories originally published in 1961: Blade-dance of the Two Lovers and White Horse Neighs in the Western Wind which were also pretty fun to read as well. Its not quite as well structured and executed as Fox Volant but Blade-dance had some fun ensemble of characters while White Horse dragged a little but had some interesting twists. I will eventually get the actual review up once I catch up with all the writing that’s fallen behind in 2024.

Movies

• Saltburn (2023 Review)
• Asteroid City (2023)
• Body Parts (1991 Review)
• The Flying Swordsman (2022 Review)
• Puppet Master (1989 Review)
• I Did It My Way (2023 Review)
• Miss Shampoo (2023)
• Prisoners (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
• The Neon Demon (2016 Review)
• Enola Holmes (2020 rewatch, Review)
• Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002 rewatch)
• The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
• Wolf Pack (狼群, 2022 Review)

I’ve worked really hard to keep up with movie reviews this month and I think it really shows some promise (even though this post is coming out incredibly delayed from usual). January was a great month for movie-watching. Not sure the actual movie quality was really good but I did get around to catching up with the rest of the film series for Hunger Games before it left Netflix and joined the Oh My Horror Challenge so its boosted up the film count and helped explore some interesting horror genres/subgenres.

My recommendations this month aren’t too plentiful but Asteroid City, Prisoners and Wolf Pack from my first time watches are definitely the stand-outs. While Puppet Master, Body Parts and Miss Shampoo had their fun parts, the first two also had some really weird moments that I’m not sure I’m totally behind and the last one is solely because I’m not a fan of the comedy style so some of the jokes really didn’t land well for me and while it was meant to be cringe-y over the top romance, some of it just felt really uncomfortable.

TV

• Dead Ringer (叠影狙击, 2023)
• Mountains and Oceans (你是我眼中的山川和海洋, 2019)
• Closer To You (我的刺猬女孩, 2020)
• Queer Eye (Season 7, 2023 Review)
• Queer Eye (Season 6, 2022 rewatch)
• Queer Eye (Season 8, 2024)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 1 rewatch, Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 2 rewatch, Review)

Currently watching: Asia Super Young, Singing With Legends S5, Justice in the Dark, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre

While TV series kind of took a backseat at the beginning of the month and it was somewhat of a deliberate choice since I wanted to get back to writing movie reviews. The focus this month other than another Gilmore Girls run because its the best overtime companion was the new season Queer Eye and working through some of the Youku subscription which has some fun stuff and more Hong Kong series even if I just watched Dead Ringer which was relatively decent if not a little predictable and some weird acting but ruined it with a very lazy ending and then went through the Sabrina Zhuang series with Mountains and Oceans which I had some mixed feelings about throughout but it had a silent attack on me and caught me off-guard a few times and turned out to be pretty good but not quite as good as Closer To You which probably isn’t as good as a similar time travel series premise like Shining For One Thing but its a lot more fun.

Games

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Gaming really took stumble in January which usually happens because I’m just really busy with work. It doesn’t change even if I’m part-time because the workload just diminished in proportion for the most part. I did work through a a little bit more of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney but I’m at the episode 5 which is also the last and hardest one of the game. I’ve always had issues with this episode and with my crappy memory and its been probably the longest stretch between replays for this game, I basically remember the plot but can’t remember how to solve a lot of the stuff so its a new experience overall.

I apologize for the delay for this post but February wrap-up should be coming up relatively on time!
I have a few other posts to catch up on before we get there but I’m working on it!

What have you been watching/reading/playing?

Music Obsessions – January 2024

I know, I know, its not January anymore and its even time to get the February 2024 out but its been a bit of a roller coaster to start the year and somehow the monthly segments are falling behind. With that said, its tradition here (or at least as long as I’ve been using Spotify for music) to use the January segment to share my Spotify Wrapped. Full transparency that it was only at the end of the year that I got into a deal for Spotify Premium so for the most part, these songs was by random and I didn’t skip over. Still, I can’t say I disagree on why these landed on the list since they are frequently played when I use Spotify.

Taiwanese artists focus starts next post which should be coming up once I get around to all the delayed posts.

Lets start with some fun Spotify stats:

• Top Genres: Movie Tunes, Mandopop, Cantopop, Show Tunes, Chinese Hip Hop
• Listened for 10, 204 minutes with 164 minutes on June 21st (makes sense since I was doing a long drive on vacation)
• Listened to 475 artists
• Top Artist: Max LL (Thanks to using the Spiritfarer soundtrack to wind down with my toddler before bedtime)
• Top Podcast: I Am All In With Scott Patterson (its the only podcast I listened to….)
• Style: Vampire aka listening to emotional, atmospheric music more than most
• And now for the countdown of the Top 5 songs…

5. 舊日回憶的山丘 (OT:Time Capsule No Oka)- Joey Yung

Released in 2002 from album Something About You, one of the earlier albums from Joey Yung, its one of the songs that has tuck with me over the years which I like a lot but I honestly think doesn’t get enough love. I don’t even remember when I heard it, probably from one of her concert compilations. During research for this, I actually realized that its original is Time Capsule No Oka by Maki Yano.

You can check out my Music Obsessions focus on Joey Yung HERE.

4. You’re Welcome – Dwayne Johnson

While we’re not big Moana fans at home other than my toddler’s attachment to the plush Pu’a, the pig in Moana, my husband’s a big fan of You’re Welcome so we always listen to the whole thing whenever it randomly pops up. I’m guessing that’s why its on the list. It is a fun time. Probably should revisit Moana at some point.

3. Love, Maybe – MeloMance

This is the surprise of the list considering K-pop didn’t even make it on my top genres but somehow I listened to this one a whole lot. I honestly didn’t but Spotify seemed to like it and I listened to it a lot after I finished watching Business Proposal. I do like MeloMance and making a note to look up more of their songs.

2. School Song (from “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical”)

Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical almost made it on my Top 10 Film Discoveries of 2023. It was one that I watched a lot last January when it first landed on Netflix. I loved the songs a ton and even searched up the actual musical versions. The film is really fun and all the dance choereography was so on point. It was honestly a toss up between School Song or Revolting Children making the list here since I listened to those two songs a lot at the beginning of the year.

1. 快樂王子 Happy Prince- Pong Nan 藍奕邦

Talking about underrated artists, Pong Nan is the one that I honestly don’t hear a whole lot of people talk about but I really like his songs. His music is really unique and the lyrics are well-written. It tells an emotion and/or a story really well. I love three of his songs Knowing Oneself, June and this song, Happy Prince, a whole lot. While I’m not so current on his newer music, these songs are my go-to. I’m actually a little surprised that its my top song. I honestly thought one of the Max LL songs would make it but its a pleasant surprise.

Youtube Music 2023 Recap

Since I’m late to the party for the January recap, I wanted to share the Youtube 2023 Recap as well for some more fun music! It feels like the first year Youtube’s done something like this for individual users and these one are pretty interesting picks. A lot of these ones have to do with either appeal to my toddler or performances that I loved.

My toddler loves Tengger’s voice. I’m not sure why. Its why he loves when I put on anything with his voice. This cover is so unique though. One of the faves of last year for sure and I always listen to when I’m having a bad day.

That’s it for January 2024 recap!
Sorry for the delay! Feburary recap will be coming very soon!
I’m still having an internal debate as to what artist to start.

I Did It My Way (潜行, 2023)

I Did It My Way (潜行 ,2023)

Director: Jason Kwan

Cast: Andy Lau, Gordon Lam, Eddie Peng, Yase Liu, Simon Yam, Suet Lam, Kent Cheng, Philip Keung, Hedwig Tam, Kevin Chu, Terrance Lau

As the secretive, complex world of online drug trafficking increasingly targets Hong Kong, the police launch a risky, top-secret sting operation to bring down one of the most notorious drug lords in Asia. – Well Go USA

Hong Kong crime films have been a huge staple of the last two decades of its cinema from drugs to human trafficking to terrorists and more. Infernal Affairs kicked off the undercover phase and really pushed the recognition of these types of crime films into a whole new world. I Did It My Way enters another realm as its police force dives into the dark web and online drug trafficking. The concept is more modern and has more technological elements involved in their operations on a wider globalized scale. With many regular faces taking on the leading roles like Andy Lau, Gordon Lam and Simon Yam in a Jason Kwan film, the film in concept has no issues but in execution, there are some issues

There has been a lot of crime films in Hong Kong from incredibly successful ones in the early 2000s like Infernal Affairs to Cold War in 2012. In recent years, its been a lot more rehashing of familiar ideas and many sequels for Z Storm running through a few more letters. In concept, many of these films work very well especially since the casting is solid even if the characters and plot are familiar. I Did It My Way sets up its stage well in the first stage but quickly loses its pacing in the second act and spirals off into explosions and montage killing by the third act to end in a fairly odd way. In some ways, the film script does give a nod at the use of its older casting by using classy cars and classic Cantonese music as its soundtrack. However, for a few moments, I felt like I was watching Michael Bay film with the generous explosions happening on screen throughout the film. Its not exactly a bad thing except it feels like it was going very far for its purpose (but then maybe it was also to shape the character). While explosions are still acceptable, perhaps the biggest criticism of this film does go to the subplot of the pregnant wife and the death of a baby, granted its computer-animated, that truly felt like it was there to create an unnecessary motivator but wanted to be more of an emotional manipulator.

Looking at this script with the globalized drug trafficking, it is a decent idea which works to a certain extent. There is a little stretch of imagination here needed especially since it uses the dark web as a means of distribution. While there is no way to do this in a non-sped up version for film pacing purposes, it did grasp the global feeling and the threat that it created. Jason Kwan implements a lot of montages to help speed up the film a little from kill montages to drug effect ones. For a crime film, this one does use a decent amount of action and for the actual fighting bits, credit does need to be given to Ka Lok Chin as Action Director that choreographs some pretty neat action moments that adds a lot of tension overall.

While there’s been a general criticism of the use of older actors and actresses in Hong Kong cinema, I’m in the group that believes any actor or actress can act as long as they are capable of doing so and still offer great material. If not, how would there be Time, a spectacular offering by an even older cast than this one. In that sense, everyone in this casting are well able to do that even if the leads are in their fifties and sixties with a few younger cast like Kevin Chu and Terrence Lau. This roster is what made this genre great in the first place so for them, this is definitely familiar territory and well above their capabilities. As these films start to form, we’re really starting to actually see the fantastic work that Gordon Lam and Philip Keung is capable of, two actors that started out in supporting and smaller roles respectively but in the past decade finding themselves picking up more prominent roles and in I Did It My Way, these two characters stood out the most, much like Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng who carried most of the action scenes incredibly well especially one in a wine cellar/store. Having watched Kevin Chu recently in TV series Dead Ringer, this actor does feel like he would have potential for bigger things in time, much like Terrence Lau who was in the Anita Mui biopic as Leslie Cheung and in this one, captures a more mischievous hacker persona.

Overall, I Did It My Way tries to craft an action crime film to the globalized illegal business. While in concept, a lot of these ideas do work, there are some issues throughout from pacing which possibly showed its cards a little too soon but also adding unnecessary plot. However, its strength is in its casting choices and its action. There are some truly strong moments in this film that build up tension very well but its mixed in with some dragging and predictable ones as well.

I Did It My Way opened in theatres January 12th.

**Screener provided by Well Go USA**

The Flying Swordsman (雪山飞狐之塞北宝藏, 2022)

The Flying Swordsman (雪山飞狐之塞北宝藏, 2022)

Director (and co-writer): Qiao Lei

Cast: Huawei Zhao, Ray Lui, Yusi Chen, Shanshan Chunyu, Zihan Chen

After a wicked plot to steal a hidden fortune results in the death of two renowned warriors, the map leading to the treasure’s rumored location inexplicably disappears. But when the map is finally located a decade later, the eight assassins from the original plot re-emerge only to be challenged by a mysterious swordsman. – Well Go USA

Adapted from Jin Yong’s 1959 wuxia novel Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, The Flying Swordsman uses the general story and novel framework to craft this retelling with a lot of changes from its source material, changing what was an intricate story spanning over decades and romance, revenge, loyalty and politics to a more common vengeance scheme that feels a bit like Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, a coincidence considering this also features eight assassins and a little bit of the generous blood spill in certain kills. Being someone who recently finished reading the source material and truly enjoyed its original framework which would actually work really well in an adaptation that stayed true to its intentions, I’m not opposed to changes made for the big screen normally however, in this case, the screenplay takes away a lot of the themes and originality of the story and turns into a straightforward revenge tale that shows its cards way too early especially if you have a general knowledge of the source material and its main characters. I can understand that this does reduce the possibility of having too many elements in a film that could create a convoluted storyline.

Nothing can always be viewed in one way. In many ways, with all the changes, I’d actually prefer to look at this strictly from the point of view of the tale that its telling. Aside from the straightforward storyline, the film does craft its characters to each have their own essence which links to a part of the surprise element of what their special power is which is revealed when the wuxia elements come in. The cast itself is pretty impressive with special appearances as the cause of the whole vengeance setting the stage at the beginning with the battle between Yidao Hu and Renfeng Miao played respectively by Ben Ng and Mark Cheng, which are familiar names in the Hong Kong film and TV. The Hong Kong casting does end there as Ray Lui plays a bigger role as Baisui Tao, one of the assassins who are looking for the treasure who plays opposite to Baoshu (Shanshan Chunyu).

From the angle of the characters, the costume design and aesthetics as well as their different personalities do give each of the eight assassins their own distinctive style to tell them apart even if the film doesn’t have the time to dive deeper into these characters, making them fairly shallow. The main character Gui Yu (Huawei Zhao) is a well-constructed character which has a little bit of backstory in flashbacks and gets caught between the two main leaders of the assassins as his role plays off both sides.

The visuals of the film overall have some decent set pieces. The film has a few settings but mostly focuses on the treasure hunt element that is set on the “snowy” mountain which also has a few traps. These traps break up the assassins so that the main vengeance plot can unravel. As with most China sets, these are done fairly well. If there was any criticism on the visuals, it would be the unpolished CGI effects which does fall apart especially with its group of hyenas that is more comedic to watch than threatening. However, there is some impressive sound design in the film which helps build up the atmosphere especially when its in deep conversation, for example, pulling out actual soundtrack and trading in isolated wind and natural surrounding sounds which help amplify the sense of isolation for this location.

The Flying Swordsman is a very loose adaptation of the source material and could actually be its own wuxia story. If we look at this as what’s offered, overall there are some good choices from character design and costumes, sound and the setting itself. The framework of using flashbacks to help restore some of the past story to add context is commendable as it does give a nod to its source material in structure. The action sequences focus heavily on the effects and some slow motion emphasis rather than fluid choreography. Its not to say that some of these sequences aren’t done well. There are some fun elements with the special powers when its revealed for each of the characters involved. Overall, some good and average elements for the most part make up The Flying Swordsman.

**Screener provided by Well Go USA**