What’s Up: Week 45

Another week has gone by and we are into second last month. As things calm down a little, its slowly getting the projects back on track.

READING

Currently reading: Proximity, Legends of the Exiles

Moving along with Proximity nowadays. Legends of the Exiles was put on the backdrop for now just because of re-evaluating upcoming blog tours and prioritizing what needs to be done. Both of them are still on my reading list right now and hopefully will be done. Proximity is a lot of fun to read so I’m definitely hoping to find a lot more time to just sit down and focus on finishing it up and see where the story goes.

PLAYING

• Cube Escape: Theatre
• Cube Escape: The Cave

Currently playing: Cube Escape: Paradox

I’m working through the last few games in the Cube Escape series to wrap up the Game Warp second half of reviews. Its really coming along in this second playthrough of the Cube Escape games as the story is piecing together really nicely and I’m seeing it all in a better picture. Cube Escape: Paradox is currently a first playthrough and its proving to be much longer with two chapters and I’m only on Chapter 1 right now and also much harder than its predecessors.

WATCHING

• The Wedding Banquet (1993)
• Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
• My Teacher, My Obsession (2018)
• Sense and Sensibility (1995, Rewatch) Review

The main focus of this past week has been primarily the new season of Movies and Tea as we dive into non other than Ang Lee. We have had quite a few recording sessions for it so with wrapping up Father Knows Best Trilogy and then Sense and Sensibility prep, its taken up most of my viewing schedule.

No worries though, Blood in the Snow Festival is just around the corner and I’m doing some remote coverage so that’s coming up very soon as I need to work out the review schedule.

BINGING

• Bromance (2015)
• Soft Memory (2019)

Currently binging: Lipstick Prince (Season 2), When I Grow Up, Viva La Romance (Season 3), Wait, My Youth (2019)

A productive week in TV binging for sure as I properly finished binge watching Bromance which was a ton of fun and really  got me incredibly involved by the end of it although I kind of guessed the ending (which really isn’t too hard as it was fairly obvious at a certain point). At the same time, Tencent’s Soft Memory also wrapped up. Bromance definitely has my heart as the series that really built up to something a lot of fun, plus there was a lot of romance and comedy and Megan Lai and Baron Chen really sold their roles really well. Either way, the TV Binge post will come up eventually. I’m stopping to make promises when as I have so many of those piling up. I did start up Wait, My Youth (called My Youth when it first aired on  whichever channel on Youtube that I can’t remember right now) and that’s been a lot of fun.

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

What’s Up 2019: Week 44

Taking a little week to relax while work took over as it inched towards a huge deadline, things somewhat are a bit slower and less completed than I’d have wanted. However, it did give me back the energy I need to kick things back into action. With that said, here’s what’s up the past week!

READING

Currently reading: Legends of the Exiles

Not going to lie that reading has yet again dropped down this week. Its mostly fatigue getting in the way as I just can’t find the energy to read more than a few pages without dozing off or wanting to take the reading time and do some writing. Moved forward slightly on Legends of the Exiles and its a pretty good book just still not too far ahead so hard to say much more about it.

PLAYING

• Cube Escape: The Mill
• Cube Escape: Birthday

As I continue to work through the Cube Escape games, or in general the Rusty Lake games. The majority which so far are all replays. Its a lot of fun to dive back into and see a little more of how each game has its place in the spectrum of the story itself. While it wasn’t deliberate, the second half of the Cube Escape is much more animated and the games so far have more depth as well.

WATCHING

• Summer of ’84 (2018) Review
• The Divine Fury (2019)
• Pushing Hands (1991)

Currently watching: The Wedding Banquet

As I try to wrap up the horror marathon and also get some other viewing obligations done, this week has been primarily those goals. With that said, all the movies this week were around the same score so with that said, The Divine Fury being a screener and upcoming release on November 19 is the one that I took the time to watch two times and saw a depth to its execution and horror elements. The review coming out around the release date will have more on that.

As for Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet, Movies and Tea is stepping into our Season 4 soon and we are looking Ang Lee’s filmography. We are kicking off with his Father Knows Best Trilogy.

BINGING

• Creepshow (Season 1, 2019)
• Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! (Season 1, 2019)

Currently binging: Super Nova Games 2, When I Grow Up, The Inn (Season 3), Lipstick Prince (Season 2), Soft Memory, Bromance, Relation Ship

It seems busy times means an increase in TV. I don’t even know why. Either way, we wrapped up Creepshow on Shudder and that was an okay experience. Some good, some great and some meh stories mixed together in these 12 short stories over 6 episodes. Because of that, you can’t really beat out Queer Eye: We’re in Japan which had 4 episodes that tugged on heartstrings like crazy and had me tearing up a ton especially because Asian culture and stuff is something that I can relate to even though Japanese and Chinese values are different.

As for some fun new shows to start, Lipstick Prince Season 2 is back and episode 1 was so much fun. It is going to be a fun season. I can already tell. At the same time, The Inn Season 3 started up which has a more competitive structure to it this time around but I’m not quite sure how I feel about it yet but the celebrities involved are quite good. As for Soft Memory and Bromance, those two should be wrapped up in the coming week.

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

What’s Up 2019: Week 43

A crazy week has gone by! Its made blogging very abnormal and made it essentially impossible to get back into the Halloween marathon. Luckily, there’s Toronto After Dark and that was 95% horror and I had angled some horror stuff to go up. Either way, lets see whats up the past week!

READING

• Murder in Montague Falls by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hutton & Patrick Thomas

Currently reading: Legends of Exile

Its seems I have been in a phase of multistories in books as Murder in Montague Falls ended and my review goes up next week which was three stories set in this location. The book currently being read is also somewhat like that with a setting and four stories in Legends of Exile. I literally just started it so too early to say too much about it.

PLAYING

• Cube Escape: Case 23 (Review)

Currently playing: Cube Escape: The Mill

I am working on the next Mobile Games Roundup and the second half of Cube Escape series right now. I am a tad stuck with Cube Escape: The Mill, which was one that I had trouble with the first time I played it also. However, I am trying to do these without any help or walkthroughs and just figure it out so definitely get back. Although, I have my eye on the release of Afterparty as its highly considered as the next review podcast for Game Warp. We will see!

WATCHING

Toronto After Dark Short Films

• Ocimokw!! (Go Away!!) (Review)
• Grave Sight (Review)
• Down the Rabbit Hole (Review)
• Hearth (Foyer, Review)
• Barabara-Anne (Review)
• Kakatshat (Review)
• Schism (Review)
• A Noise That Carries (Review)
• Eilid + Damh
• Dead Before Dawn: Convoy (Review)
• Patterns (Review)
• The Changeling (Review)
• The Haunted Swordsman (Review)
• Canadian Shorts After Dark: Imagine A World, Plainsong (Melopee), Moment, Alaska, No One Will Ever Believe You, Best Friends Forever (Review)

Since I was watching all shorts except for one film from the week before that I realized that I forgot to add in, I did banner of my faves. Toronto After Dark has some great short films. The majority are impressive and very fun. Its also very diverse in topics and angles sometimes into sci-fi, even had superheroes plus all kinds of horror. I always appreciate creativity and great cinematography and a lot of these had those elements in spade and some projects that I would hope will expand to some feature films on their great premise.

BINGING

• Gilmore Girls (Season 2, Rewatch) Review
• Fated to Love You (2007, Rewatch)

Currently binging: Soft Memory, When I Grow Up, Relation Ship, Creepshow, Bromance, Super Nova Games 2

When I’m busy with work and overtime, my main focus drops to rewatching stuff so that its more background noise than requiring much of my own focus. Hence why Gilmore Girls has popped by on the radar (not that it really needs a reason for a rewatch other than its pure satisfaction and fun times). I’ve been trying to also go through my unreviewed TV series from the past year and decided to give Fated to Love You a rewatch as well. This viewing has actually brought to continue the Taiwanese series catch-up and went on to start Bromance which I happen to watch on my downtime when all the other series I’m currently watching, airing weekly is out of the way.

Along with that new beginning, I also started up Super Nova Games 2, which is a season 2 for this sports competition done by Tencent for its up and coming talent (singers, idols, actors, hosts, etc.).

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

What’s Up 2019: Week 42

Another week as passed. Festival du Nouveau Cinema is now behind us and having a sudden drop of a little remote coverage for Toronto After Dark (which is ongoing currently) for short films, we’re still in a heavy watching action. Of course, Toronto After Dark also is mostly horror films so that fits with the Halloween marathon. A lot of other stuff was going on at the same time so lets see what happened!

READING

• Hope by Terry Tyler (Review)

Currently reading: Murder of Montague Falls

Slowly getting back into the reading vibe! There’s a few blog tours coming up and other reading commitments. I was pretty close to deadline for Hope but it all worked out and actually was a really nice thrilling read. Right now, I’m in the first of 3 novellas in the Murder of Montague Falls novel. So far, its pretty neat and very matching to the Halloween horror sort of vibe so thats coming up as well.

PLAYING

• Cube Escape: Seasons
• Cube Escape: The Lake
• Cube Escape: Arles
• Cube Escape: Harvey’s Box

I’ve been revisiting the Cube Escape series in an attempt to review them. The best way I’ve figured out is to just go at it through the Mobile Games Round-ups which keeps them fairly contained, almost capsule reviews, style and still share some of them in case some of you haven’t checked it out and are looking for something fun. At the same time, I also wanted to play their latest one which I happened to have backed on Kickstarter and never got around to playing so I wanted to replay it from the beginning to piece together the story again. Four games in so far (Cube Escape series) but there’s still a good deal of not only Cube Escape but also the full games on Steam.

WATCHING

Festival du Nouveau Cinema 2019 Films:

• Sole (2019, Review)
• J’ai Perdu Mon Corps (2019, Review)
• Mickey and the Bear (2019, Review)
• A White, White Day (2019, Review)
• Dirty God (2019)

Toronto After Dark Short Films:

• Turbo Killer (2016 short, Review)
• Far Horizon (2019, Review)
• Flip (2019, Review)
• We Three Queens (2019 short, Review)
• Eyes Open (2019 short, Review)
• Make Me A Sandwich (2019 short, Review)
• International Shorts After Dark: Maggie May, Puzzle, Eject, La Noria, Your Last Day On Earth, Place

Crazy long list this time! Its why I decided to separate them by full features and short films and which festival they belong to. In terms of Festival du Nouveau Cinema, the story that touched me the most is Mickey and the Bear! Hands down, the one that hit me the hardest and it being a directorial debut really shows the power of new eyes in cinema coming up on the scene to look out for. At the same time, J’ai Perdu Mon Corps and Sole are two that I liked a lot also. The former will be landing on Netflix as an Original film so that’s pretty exciting (especially if you like French animation).

As for short films, my fave probably would go to We Three Queens for the holiday horror element that hasn’t been looked at before (at least I haven’t seen it), Turbo Killer for its exciting visually stunning, fantastic music video style creative sci-fi story and well as for horror drama-ish with tons of creativity, La Noria takes that one without any doubt.

BINGING

• Well-Intended Love (2019)
• Dream Space 2 (2019)

Currently binging: Soft Memory, When I Grow Up, Relation Ship, Creepshow

Feeling quite nice nowadays as the whole TV binging thing has been much more toned down at a normal level. I wrapped up Well-Intended Love, which I felt was a few episodes too long and really did lack a lot of the whole chemistry and whatnot that I would have liked. I didn’t really hate it but just slightly indifferent about it, I guess. We’ll see where Season 2 goes, I suppose as that’s in filming now. However, my choice goes to Dream Space 2 which definitely had its up and downs. Its not quite as entertaining as the other shows of the same style (or even its first season) but I had some participants that I was really liking a lot so hoping that their whole leaving the show together will result in some happy ending in the future.

As for currently binging, I let the husband choose the next show to binge together and he went for Creepshow on Shudder. We’re three episodes in, which is 6 stories and I have to say that while its relatively fun to watch, its a lot of hit and miss but I think it all dials down to what type of horror you enjoy more of.

That’s it for this What’s Up!
Its been a crazy busy week with one more of the same to go as well as wrapping up the final few bits of Halloween month!
What have you been reading/watching/binging/playing?

Short Film: Paradox – A Rusty Lake Film (2018)

For those who don’t know, I backed the Cube Escape Paradox project on Kickstarter a few months ago which was paired up with the both a free game (available on mobile and Steam), a sequel after 12 puzzle escape games sort of thing. Rusty Lake has created quite the world. The distinct part of the project was not that there was a game with one free access and the second chapter which is premium, meaning you need to pay for it, but also that it also included a short film set in the universe. Rusty Lake’s world is so fantastic that I had no doubt that it would work as a short film as well. Of course, making a game and making a movie are very different things (even if some games are very narrative and would translate really well or looks like an interactive movie aka Until Dawn).

I don’t think that you really need to know the game to appreciate the short film so here it is:

However, if you want to check it out. All the Cube Escape games are free on mobile so its very accessible and they are really good. I’m still working on the last few for Game Warp.

Anyways, I always like to see the projects I backed with final products to distribute. So I decided to do a quick review of this short film.

Review

Director: Sean van Leijenhorst

Cast: David Bowles, Elena Kejvalova, Bob Rafferty (voice)

A detective must solve increasingly challenging puzzles as part of a bizarre game orchestrated by an old foe in order to escape the room he’s in. – IMDB

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cube Escape, its essentially a somewhat twisted puzzle/room escape sort of deal. The premise of the game itself and the story that it tells about the detective throughout its different game might never be the heavy focus but its present enough for it to matter. Because of that, it does feel like the vagueness makes this like an official start to the story and creates a solid foundation. At the same time, the game elements of moving by flipping through screens in somewhat of a point and click style translates well enough to make it feel like its keeping to the theme of the game adaptation. It replicates by the camera through the eyes of the character looking from one room to the next. Its a nice touch to add that in. The source story itself has its own mystery which is always a good element to add into this one. As a film, there is a tighter knit of things so it works that the detective figures out the puzzles at a good pace but at the same time, it also highlights the main elements of the mystery.

There’s a lot to think about for Paradox. The main thing is whether the non-playing audience has a good entry point here or will it feel like you are dropping into someone else’s story and get confused. In my opinion, I think it does a fine job in that respect. The story in the game was vague but present. It answered some questions but there was never a big picture (take note that I am 3 games behind from this one). However, the main characters are here, the atmosphere and style are comparable and the short film style works well enough to be a stepping stone into this Rusty Lake world and man, is this world intriguing and mysterious? They did a good job here. I would be down to see them do more of them and see where its headed for the story. Its a great idea to pair it with the game.