What’s Up 2019: Week 37

As the weather cools down, summer is coming to an end and festival seasons are also slowing down. Still stuck with a cold, its been an all around odd week but still fairly productive. Week 37 is here and with a good dose of reading, playing, watching (and rewatching continues) and of course, my favorite, binging!

Let’s check it out!

READING

• The Moonlight Pegasus (Review)

Currently reading: Since September (43%)

Its been great getting back into reading which also helps that I’ve been finding some nice reads. After blitz reading through The Moonlight Pegasus which was quite a fun book, I just forward to Since September which is a psychological thriller-esque novella. Novellas are really nice to break between books and Since September, although I’m not even 50% done has been pretty nice. The endgame is quite obvious but I feel like its slightly deliberate and I kind of appreciate it for how its all set up.

PLAYING

• Injustice: Gods Among Us

Currently playing: still in debate…

I finally got back to wrapping up the Injustice: Gods Among Us. Well, “finishing” since its not all done because I’m not that skilled but I have a pretty good idea of whats a part of the game and how it all feels on top of the story mode (which I had finished previously). I’m going to be working on a review for it to get things moving again over at Game Warp. If I can even get one or two reviews done in a month along with the monthly mobile games roundup, I’m going to be pretty happy. Goals, right? Let’s see how it all goes.

WATCHING

• Letters to Juliet – rewatch (Review)
• The Beguiled (2017)
• How It Ends (2018) (Review)

As we move along with Movies and Tea, The Beguiled tops my movies of this past week. I guess that says a lot about how the podcast recording at least on my point of view will turn out. Still, thats coming up soon. I’ve been rewatching movies that make me feel good, mostly because its keeping me more positive. Going back to watch Letters to Juliet, I’m starting to realize that while I still enjoy these little romantic comedies, I’m starting to see a lot of the flaws in it more but meh, its still enjoyable enough. At the same time, How It Ends review has already gone up. Its not great but you can see my thoughts in the written review instead. It also rings the bell that I’m running out of films for the double features..yikes!

BINGING

• The King’s Avatar (2019)

Currently binging: Dream Space 2, Super Vocal 2, The Mist (Season 1), When I Grow Up

The King’s Avatar has sadly finished! Its bingeworthy and all around really fun to watch. It has zero romance and all about professional e-sports and tournaments and about a renowned e-sports player who has to start over and builds his own team while training some unexpected underdogs to get back into the professional leagues. Its motivating and fun and just inspirational. To be honest, its a breath of fresh air because it really puts the spotlight on the little conflicts in this career and this world as well as moving between reality and giving some great animation for all the fighting and battling sequences involved in their matches. Its a series to get away and truly embodies why gaming is great (even for myself who isn’t really huge on e-sports). I’m hoping that they find a way to move into a Season 2, although if they do, I’m fairly certain, they will start pulling in more dramatic elements like family and romance.

On the other hand, while Dream Space 2, Super Vocal 2 and a new variety reality show called When I Grow Up is going on right now, the husband decided to start up the TV series, The Mist which is currently available on Netflix. We’re about 6 episodes in (out of 10) and to keep things simple, I’m not too impressed so lets just say, at this current point, I’m not surprised it got cancelled. Either way, we’ll be working on wrapping it up over the weekend probably.

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

What’s Up 2019 – Week 35

READING

• Twisted Pines by Lane Baker

Currently reading: The Moonlight Pegasus

It sure feels good to be back to doing some reading especially when I took the long weekend to sit back and just do that for a little while. It also helps that Twisted Pines got pretty intriguing. YA and Sci Fi seem to be the combo that is my main 2019 genre grouping. Its pretty good so far but I will be moving away from it gradually especially as I started reading The Moonlight Pegasus to do some turbo reading and get a review out for the upcoming blog tour.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Injustice: Gods Among Us has been in the backlog for a long time, lining up to be played. This weekend, I needed to get back to gaming and decided on an early Sunday morning to start it up. I’m done the story mode but just taking a few sittings more to explore what other modes and stuff are available before probably getting back to some game reviews over on Game Warp.  We are slowly getting things back in operation over there.

WATCHING

• Aquaman (2018)
• The Bling Ring (2013)
• IT: Chapter One (2017) rewatch (Review)

Not a ton of movie watching going on still but we are gradually catching up with the DC movies, luckily they don’t seem to rely too much on any order or else Aquaman would have been a much less enjoyable bit. I’ll talk about my issue with DC films soon when I review Aquaman but there were some okay moments and Jason Momoa as Aquaman is decent. I can’t say that Aquaman is my favorite watch out of the movies this week but its the newer selection and not a rewatch. IT: Chapter 2 is around the corner and we’re going to be seeing it opening weekend if everything pans out so with Chapter 1 hitting Netflix, we decided to give it a watch to refresh our memories a little and it still holds up pretty well. As for The Bling Ring, its for Movies and Tea’s current season and the podcast should be up in a few weeks so I won’t talk too much about it.

BINGING

• The Coming One 3 (2019)
• Hyperdrive (Season 1, 2019) REVIEW

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

I’ve already shared a ton of love for Hyperdrive right now. Its a great competition series and so much fun to binge. Fast cars, adrenaline and obstacles plus some fun competitors to know more about. It was a blast. You can check out the review linked above.

I’ve pretty much wrapped up most of my Chinese reality/variety shows now and only have Super Vocal 2 still high on my radar while I forgot about Dream Space 2 which might say a little about how I feel about the participants of that show. I’ll get back to it soon since its still not even halfway through. For currently watching though, strongly urge you all to check out The King’s Avatar currently updated 10 episodes weekly on Netflix because its a lot of fun especially for gamers as its a TV series about professional e-sports and such. Its the rare story that doesn’t have a love story and completely about teams and gaming and the pursuit of success and of course, friendship.

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

What’s Up 2019 – Week 34

Another week has passed by. As always with weekends away, its a bit slower. If you missed yesterday’s post on Fan Expo Canada, we headed down there and met up with a fellow blogging friend. First time there and not as media so it was relaxing and just did a ton of stuff that I enjoyed although would have wanted to check out all the South Building stuff but didn’t have time. Either way, things moved along a little but some things that happened over the weekend that I was away in Toronto obviously didn’t end up wrapping up.

READING

• Wild Dark Times by  Austin Case (Review)

Currently reading: Twisted Pines by Lane Baker (9% done)

Wrapped up Wild Dark Times last week right in time for the blog tour. The review is up already and linked above so I won’t talk too much about it but it was a really fun read and lived up to the premise when I read the synopsis and decided to check it out. That’s always a plus. I like books that play up on real things and add the urban fantasy element to it and shows off the author’s creativity. However, I started up Twisted Pines now. Thanks to the author Lane Baker reaching out to me years after his previous one that I also reviewed HERE. I literally just started up the book and its a converted version so its tough on the Kindle so might switch back to reading on the PC to make life a little easier for my eyes sake.

PLAYING

NOTHING! I played nothing this week. I was away and didn’t play anything on my phone. During the week, I was getting the weekend chores done before leaving for the weekend away so took up most of the evening time. Nothing is all I got here.

WATCHING

• A Home With A View (2018)
• Split (2016)
• The Fanatic (2019, Advanced screening)

Less about how I’m recommending this film but rather the fact that I saw the advanced screening for The Fanatic at Fan Expo despite some issues that occurred but was eventually fixed and we did get to see the rest of the movie. Most of the movies that I saw this week was middle of the way. Probably I’d recommend A Home With A View the most because Split was alright but not great and The Fanatic was alright and not great for probably the same reasons where the actor showcased did a good job but it thought it was being more clever than it actually did in execution. It sounds mean but they really aren’t bad films and I’ll talk about it more in the upcoming reviews.

BINGING

• We Grew Up (Season 1, 2019)
• Heart Signal (Season 2, 2019)

Currently binging: Super Vocal (Season 2), The King’s Avatar, Hyperdrive, The Coming One 3

I wrapped up the finale for both of the Tencent reality shows that I was watching last week as they aired their last episode. Both of them were pretty good. I’ll do a big post comparison on the concept for the romance/relationship thing for Heart Signal and other shows that I’ve seen before because I think its a good one to talk about and a nice little concept and they each have pros and cons. The show that just pulled at my heartstrings even though I’m not a parent is We Grew Up. I was a bit conflicted with the concept of a reality show focused on some really young kids learning to be independent despite them making all kinds of safety precautions that’s also apparent in the show. However, in the end, it does highlight a lot about the whole growing up in China and just in general parenting and young kids and how they adapt. Its pretty neat and honestly, there are some heartbreaking moments between the siblings but at the same time, there are also some funny moments as kids will have.

As for the currently binging stuff, I’m absolutely enamored with The King’s Avatar currently updated weekly on Netflix. My husband and I are watching Hyperdrive together and well, Super Vocal 2 is the competition show on my radar that I’ve generally caught up with to their latest episode.

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