What’s Up 2020: Week 23

Another week has gone by as we step into June! Weather is warming up and we’re starting to find the reason to get back to the great outdoors and hike some more to escape a little and get back into shape a little more. We will leave that for the next Weekly Adventures and upcoming posts.

READING

• No Signal by Jem Tugwell (Review)
• Reaper: A Horror Novella by Jonathan Pongratz

Currently reading: Call Numbers: The Not So Quiet Life of Librarians

Fantastic progress with reading this week. I’ve been reading outside by the pool or in the sun a little during lunch time or weekend mornings. Its a lovely feeling and very efficient in terms of just catching up to the book commitments that I have to try to wrap up before the end of June. I’m definitely getting back on track! Both of the books that I read are really pretty good but I’d have to say that No Signal is impressive as both a sequel and the premise it takes and especially the world building. You can check out the review linked above.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Hidden Folks: On Tour

Hidden Folks, in general, brings me immense joy and then they always deliver new levels for free and that makes me also very appreciative. There’s just so much to love about Hidden Folks from its sound effects made by humans to its cute little things you need to find in the level and the quirky descriptions they use as clues. Its really a lot to love and their latest free DLC level is On Tour is just great. I’m still playing through the 2nd of 6 levels or something so still a long way to go.

WATCHING

• Harith Iskander: I Told You So (2018)
• Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018)
• The Foreigner (2017, Review)
• Gwen (2018)
• The Garden of Words (2013)

A little bit of stand-up comedy shows and a few more movies this week. Its really quite the improvement from the last 2 weeks at least. About time too, since I was running out of movies to review for the double feature if I didn’t start picking up some more movie watching time. Some solid movies here which were very different. One was slow-burn, one was nice and the other was action so it had a nice balance. The Garden of Words is my highlight of this week, although the two stand-up comedy shows were pretty decent also. This anime is only 45 minutes and is directed and written by the creator of Your Name and still has some great storytelling abilities as well as visuals.

BINGING

• The Big Flower Fight (Season 1, 2020) Review
• Welcome Back To Sound (Season 1, 2020)

Currently binging: Produce Camp 2020, Me To Us, Woof Meow Story, Go Fridge 6, Yes I Do 2, We Are Blazing, Queer Eye S6

While I had a lot of fun with The Big Flower Fight, I do have to say I’ve been really loving Mango TV’s latest variety reality show, Welcome Back To Sound which is pretty much bringing back the concept of radio shows where people call in with their stories and they listen and give their advice or discuss and try to suggest or guide them. The goal of the show is to pull people away from the screen life and bring back human contact of being on the phone or writing letters, etc. Some of the stories are incredibly touching and some are fairly bizarre and quirky and then each show, they have a listener goal and a different mission/challenge as their own showcase or structure. Its too bad that Mango TV doesn’t have English subtitles as its one of those shows that would be definitely worth a watch especially since the three hosts and their guests are all very fun to watch. At least Season 2 is confirmed so looking forward to that hopefully before next year.

That’s it for this Week 23’s recap!
What have you been reading/watching/playing/binging?

What’s Up 2019: Week 49

Welcome to Week 49! 2019 is moving so fast now and I have some big plans coming into play for 2020 as I’ve been doing some behind the scenes planning (where I will discuss further in the New Year’s post). However, this past week has been rather good with a good deal of everything going on..maybe except reading, but at least its moved forward…

Let’s check it out!

READING

Currently reading: Love Potions and Other Calamities (32% done)

I know I know…reading is really taking a hit. I haven’t been really in the reading mood and it has nothing to do with this book because its actually quite entertaining and has a rather unique story and I wouldn’t expect anything less from Charlie Laidlaw whose played with some fun twists on ideas before. This should be finished by the end of the current week and review will go up right away after that. I have a lot of reading to catch up to so I’ll be getting back on track sooner rather than later..not to mention I still have a book to finish up that I started which is also a commitment.

PLAYING

• Rusty Lake Roots
• Rusty Lake Paradise

Next up: The Room Three

I finally wrapped up all the Rusty Lake games up to date. Their new game is supposed to be VR, I think so probably I won’t have a chance to check it out. Either way, Rusty Lake Roots was a mountain to climb with about 5 hours of gameplay as you played each character from start to end and then the little stories in between to progress. It had 33 levels altogether with some puzzles that were easy and it got a little more complicated by the end but it always had a relatively logical solution to. Rusty Lake Paradise is also a good game but where it falls short is that there are some puzzles which were just a shot in the dark and trial and error in some ways (or at least it felt that way) and that got a bit frustrating. Detailed reviews coming up over at Game Warp soon! I’m deciding my next game to play in advance now so that gaming becomes less of a neverending choice and something a little more planned out.

WATCHING

• A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019 Review)
• Holiday in the Wild (2019 Review)
• The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Review)
• A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019)
• The Greatest Showman (2017)

So look, if I was going to pick a holiday film as standout for this week, it would be The Knight Before Christmas because that one is a ton of fun. However, no Netflix/holiday movie is going to beat out a musical and The Greatest Showman, albeit its very familiar plot has its unique elements of grand flair that musicals need especially with its cast of unique people and the start of show business and circus and whatnot and it has a great soundtrack.

BINGING

• Put Your Head On My Shoulder (2019 rewatch)
• The Fall (Season 1, 2013)

Currently binging: Who’s the Murderer 5, The Brightest Star in the Sky (rewatch), The Fall (Season 2)

TV has finally dropped to the backdrop now. The Brightest Star in the Sky is one that I’ve liked a lot earlier this year and it got added to play on Huace channel on YouTube so I’m watching that again now. In the effort to get those outstanding TV binges done,  I’m rewatching some of the shows that I’ve really liked so Put Your Head On My Shoulder got added to Netflix so I rewatched that one and the TV binge is about 80% done so it’ll be coming out soon (although no one really reads it and its more for my writing pleasure).

I’m trying to finish The Fall before it gets taken off Netflix but I don’t quite see myself getting through 10 more episodes before the 14th (or around then that its due to be removed). Right now, I’ve literally only just started Season 2, so we’ll see how far we go as the seasons are short, I’m trying to lump them together into one TV Binge post.

That’s it for What’s Up Week 49!
2019 is coming to a close in only a few weeks!

Have you been upping the holiday themed things?
What have you been reading/playing/watching/binging?

Boxing Day & Steam Winter Sale Haul!

It feels like forever since I last wrote an actual post (although that isn’t true). Mostly, its probably because the last few days were so busy and tiring that its just kind of a blur. Regardless, I opted for a calm and easy post today! I have to admit that this year’s Boxing Day sales weren’t really impressive. I didn’t really end up buying a whole lot and other than weather causing a lot of traffic to get from one place to the next, the actual shopping time wasn’t a whole lot.

Aside from what I bought on Boxing Day here, I ended up getting paper towels, Oreos and surge protector power bar. Weird enough, as I get older, it seems to be a lot of picking up these household and food items. At the same time, around December 23rd or 24th (I think), the Steam Winter Sale started. Seeing as gaming is being a huge part of my life now and I’m having tons of fun, I took the liberty to pick up a few games. I won’t go into too much detail but I’ll list it under so you all can tell me your thoughts and whether you’ve played it!

Let’s go!

Movies

• Creed
• Kung Fu Panda 3
• Jurassic World
• In the Heart of the Sea
• The Age of Adaline

The wild card addition was The Age of Adaline that I’ve been wanting to watch but never remember to keep an eye out for it. Luckily, it was a good price so I added it to the pile. Compared to previous years, this is a very small movie haul. But then, I’ve been focusing on Netflix a lot and trying to minimize too many physical movies to be more space efficient.

Gloves

I wasn’t intending to get these gloves. Actually, the line-up at Adidas outlet store was so long (almost the length of the store) that I had time to browse the center display blocked by the two lines to see these gloves, which are actually a good alternative on mild winter days instead of my cute mittens.

Books

• Nocturnal Animals by Austin Wright
• iT by Stephen King
• The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
• The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore

Some of you might know (because I mentioned once or twice this year) that in the goal to save money, I promised myself to not by any books for the entire year as of last Boxing Day (which was my last book purchase). I did pretty well because I didn’t buy any physical books and only bought on super cheap one to wrap up a book that I had started but was recently condensed from a trilogy to just one book and in the heart of wrapping up the book (and the review will go up soon), I ended up buying it. Physical book shopping at a physical store is about the most amazing feeling ever especially after a year of not doing it and having to give up books that I wanted to get and only window shopping. Regardless, the next year might have a similar goal because I still have a lot of unread books, both physical and ebook. Still, The Fate of Ten was my award to myself which wasn’t on sale but I really want to continue the Lorien Legacy series. And who knew that iT was so freakin’ huge.

Steam Winter Sale

• Contrast
• The Stanley Parable
• Duck Tales Remastered
• Amnesia: Memories
• The Room
• World of Goo
• Bundle: Deponia/Edna & Harvey:Harvey’s New Eyes/The Night of the Rabbit/Memoria/The Whispered World:Special Edition
• Braid
• Bundle: The Longest Journey/Dreamfall:The Longest Journey

This is a lot more games than I anticipated but to be fair, the bundles were significantly cheaper so while I wanted The Whispered World, the bundle did also have Edna & Harvey that I’ve had my eye on as well. Same goes for something that I was browsing for The Longest Journey so figured I’d pick up the sequel also. Duck Tales Remastered was more of an impulsive buy because I didn’t know it was remastered and that whole all-new cast singing the theme song really has me hyped up. The Room, Braid, Contrast, Stanley Parable and World of Goo was all intentional buys.

This wraps up the haul!
Did you go out to Boxing Day? Any good deals that you picked up?

Mini Black Friday Haul!

Retail therapy probably couldn’t come at a better time, am I right?

With NaNoWriMo being in its final few days (last Friday), there is nothing more than incredible stress going on right now. It is a little crazy that Black Friday sales went on even before. Not so weird for Amazon because its always been Black Friday week but other stores are also doing that. Its a little unbelievable. Or maybe its a statements about the spending power of the society in general. A little too deep for a shopping haul chat? Yeah..maybe.

I do most of my Black Friday (and Boxing Day) sale online when I can, mostly because I fear one day, I’m going to get killed. Luckily, I go on a very relaxed after work event instead of say, the literal doorcrasher crowds and even so, Canada doesn’t seem to go as crazy. Not sure why. Regardless, this year, I had one goal in mind as just one big expense and its why this year is not so much buying smaller items than I usually would. Plus, I’m trying to declutter my house so I have stagnated buying books, have bought very little new physical movies (mostly everything is via Netflix or renting from Play Store) and video games are more through Playstation Store and Steam.

Amazon

Although first in line here, I’m actually still waiting for one more item from my order to arrive. The first two items came in and its a new card game for party night with friends. I’ve always wanted to try out Exploding Kittens so I’m pretty excited for the next hangout. Compared to previous years, and if you know me, even though I said I wouldn’t get movies this year, I actually ended up getting two movies. There’s this one up there called Hidden that I’ve been wanting to get and waiting for the price to go down. The next is Pitch Perfect 2 which I’m waiting to arrive.

Steam Sale

Add on an extra purchase of the full version of Geometry Dash and The Black Watchmen: Season 2 and Mother Russia DLC.

Does that mean these will be on Game Warp soon? Not necessarily. Eventually would probably be more like it.  I just haven’t been able to play PC games until recently so I’m taking advantage of that. Plus, I’m by the computer more than having to move down to the Playstation to stream, I sometimes like the recording on PC part of life. I’ve had my eyes on these few games for a while. Plus, they were on the most cost efficient end.

Right before the Steam sale ended, I decided to cave in and get Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition also. Seeing as I had caved for one, I did think about just getting the close runner-up, Seasons After Fall, which are from the same developers but decided against it. If I had more money, SuperHot might be on there as well. Regardless, I’m happy with these choices and can’t wait to give them a go.

Dynamite Clothing

I’m not sure about everyone else but I have the hardest time to find pants. At this point, most of my pants, especially for work are almost about to just rip apart. It is a serious constant fear I have so whenever there’s a sale, I try to get a pair. The reason for this post going up later is also because I was waiting for the order to arrive and kind of take a picture of it. It fits really well. I wasn’t expecting it to be high waist but I don’t really mind. To fill up the order to get free shipping, I got a discounted candle. Why Dynamite is selling all this funky stuff is above me but hey, it smells pretty awesome!

Google Play

Playstation Store

Aside from these games, thanks to a sponsorship from my husband, he also picked up Mad Max and Assassin’s Creed Unity (I think). I believe he also picked up the physical copy of Battlefield 1 which I’m sure I’ll give it a go because I was uber busy when we had the beta and only he got the chance to give it a go and I only looked at the captured footage on Twitch.

 NCIX
(before Black Friday)

The big purchase for this time is a new video/graphics card. I’m not so technical that I know all this. Regardless, I had some awesome friends that helped me out on deciding to get this and seeing if my computer was compatibility and could support it. It’s been a huge restriction on my part, growing in Game Warp, to not also have access to PC games as a lot of cool indie games are first distributed on Steam. It isn’t anything special or like super high class gamer gear but for what I’m doing now, its a good step forward.

Aside from these, it was just some more Christmas decor and batteries for said decorations, which will as usual be in a separate post during Holiday month! That is something to look forward to soon. Shopping and NaNoWriMo wrap-up  along with the general chores is what has been keeping me busy. I am slowly progressing on the holiday decorations.