Adventures & What’s Up – May 2023

ADVENTURES

Baby Update

As we approach Triple V’s first birthday next month, its truly amazing how fast time flies considering as I write this, I’m monetarily done with my maternity leave even though I did take an extra month to sort out some 12 month appointments next month. Triple V’s been growing height-wise quite a bit but not so much weight wise, something that we will probably need to mention at the next follow-up. With weather being better, we’ve been outside a little more and he’s touched the curious green stuff on the ground that he seems to like. He is crawling around like a champ and using everything to climb to standing position to touch whatever he can (including a few orchid tumbles which I wasn’t particularly a huge fan of cleaning) reminding us everyday of something else to babyproof that has slipped out minds. He loves crawling after me wherever I go and we’ve been starting to play around with fluctuating his routine a little here and there and seeing how much we can push the times for certain things. He can eat all by himself except when its something that requires a spoon. Its pretty great to think about how it was just last year we were waiting for him to arrive and in a blink of an eye, he’s already almost walking.

First Mother’s Day

Triple V was born right in time for Father’s Day and this month was his first Mother’s Day or well, my first Mother’s Day. I can’t say I feel very different from usual since my daily routine didn’t change much so we went and made a big deal by buying flowers for the grandmothers instead. We had a big feast with my mom, marking a little lobster tasting for Triple V and we ordered in food with my in-laws.

Gardening Update

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Much like the past years, the week of Victoria Day means a greenhouse visit and gardening. We decided to pick the hottest week to work on the garden. We’ve swapped things around quite a bit this year with the vegetable patch moving the green peppers, cucumbers changing places but two assortment of tomatoes going in ground instead of in containers. The containers now have eggplants, 4 other peppers (orange, red, sweet red, yellow) and all the zucchinis. We’re still working through the flowers as I’m still finding little time here and there to clean up the flower patch.

WHAT’S UP

Books

• The BFG
• The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
• Esio Trot
• The Magic Finger
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Billy and the Minpins
• The Twits

Full steam ahead with bedtime reading of Roald Dahl book collection. So far, there’s a few that actually feel pretty familiar, some of them feel like tongue twisters and some are just a fun ride. I will be putting up some kind of review for them eventually. I’m not sure why but The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me was probably one of the most fun to read.

Movies

• Nightmare Alley (2019 rewatch)
• Veronica Mars (2014 rewatch, Review)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
• Black Widow (2021)
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
• Love and Leashes (2022 rewatch, Review)
• Too Cool To Kill (2022)
• On The Rocks (2020)
• Herstory (2018)

There was a nice selection. A few for Movies and Tea production, some are rewatches, some Disney Plus and then some screeners which you will be seeing the reviews pop up very soon. If there are some definite recommendations, it would probably be surprisingly the Marvel films since both films were pretty fun but Black Widow was a great back story. The screeners also delivered some great stories, Too Cool to Kill was a good comedy for the most part and Herstory was an eye-opening look at comfort women from Korean in Japan in WWII who are fighting for compensation and apology from the Japanese government.

TV

• Sex/Life (Season 2, 2023)
• Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Mini-Series, 2023 Review)
• Veronica Mars (2019)
• Queer Eye (Season 7, 2023)
• Business Proposal (2022 Review)
• XO, Kitty (Season 1, 2023)
• Beef (Season 1, 2023)
• How To Build A Sex Room (Season 1, 2022)
• Black Knight (Season 1, 2023)

Currently binging: Who’s The Murderer S8, Light the Wild, 1899, Youth Pi Plan, Barbecue Showdown S2, Wonderland S3

As I look back at this year, I have so many TV binges in the works right now. Netflix came back pretty strong this month and released a bunch of stuff that I was interested in. If you noticed that the Reality TV roundup was missing last month, the main reason is that it will be grouped into this month’s since that will have a lot more to talk about. I actually had fun with a lot of these series, making Sex/Life Season 2 the one that I wasn’t a huge fan of, which isn’t shocking considering I didn’t really like the first season a lot either. XO, Kitty was not horrible but it was disappointing since it didn’t seem to do the character of Kitty justice or the promise of the whole South Korean exploration. As for 1899, we started it up on the dub version which affected my interest but I later realized there is an original audio version which I will probably restart in this version.

If I had to choose highlights of the month, It would probably be Queer Eye and Black Knight.

Games

Currently playing: G30, Coffee Talk Episode 2: Butterfly and Hibiscus

I’m about halfway through Coffee Talk Episode 2 right now and its still such a joy to play and an incredibly relaxing experience. I finally decided that I’d go with an annual plan for Google Play Pass since I do enjoy gaming on the phone a little here and there and there’s still some game that I wanted to check out. With that said, it brings us to G30 which is a puzzle game which is pretty entertaining so far. I’m not sure how many levels there are to the game but it does feel like it will end at some point

That’s it for this Adventures and What’s Up for May 2023!
What have you been up to?

TV Binge: Business Proposal (2022)

Business Proposal (2022)

Creators: Seon-ho Park, Sul-hee Han, Bo-hui Hong

Cast: Hyo-seop Ahn, Se-jeong Kim, Min-kyu Kim, In-ah Seor, Duck-hwa Lee

In disguise as her friend, Ha-ri shows up to a blind date to scare him away. But plans go awry when he turns out to be her CEO – and makes a proposal. – IMDB

Despite the fact that I’m incredibly behind on most Chinese drama reviews, something everyone should know here is that I’ve pretty much been swimming in the world of Asian dramas specifically about romance or romantic comedy. Lately, its been a bit of a break to just take a breather and wait for something better to come along. I’m not going to lie that Korean romance dramas are not my first choice since I never got into that hype. However, when my friend recommended Business Proposal, it did sound like a fun time.

The foundation for the story of Business Proposal is quite simple and straight forward. It doesn’t deal with anything different from the basic romantic comedy-drama series. Fake relationships, rich boss-type perfectionist male lead, simple normal female lead: its all been there done that. In fact, there’s quite a big hype of this type of thing (fake relationships/marriages) in the past few years. However, where Business Proposal does stand out is in its comedy. Its story grabs right away with the over the top blind date experience right from the get-go. Nothing goes quite as planned and despite all this, the entire attempt to hide her identity as his employee makes for some even funnier moments. Of course, there’s also a question of how different can someone look with and without the makeup and fancy clothes that can make them unrecognizable apparently.

Running at a 12 episodes, its one of the great elements of Netflix series that keeps things concise and well-paced. Despite that, Business Proposal’s usual plot does still at times make the flow feel slow and predictable but the overall pacing and progression of events is relatively good. The series runs on a parallel focusing mostly on Ha-ri and Tae-moo’s relationship as the focal point with the secondary relationship between Ha-ri’s best friend, Young-seo who was supposed to be paired with Tae-moo but ends up being attracted to Tae-moo’s secretary, Sung-hoon. Between them and the lies that are trying to stay hidden for Ha-ri and then Tae-moo’s grandfather’s constant desire for the marriage to be sealed regardless of the girl as well as the company politics and work colleagues itself, the show already has a lot of elements to work around.

Looking at the casting choices, everyone feels well-casted. While Korean series has been on a new level of hype because of various past successes, the faces do tend to be revolve a lot of new ones rather than a lot of repeat views. However, Ha-ri is played by Se-jeong Kim, who was previously in Uncanny Counter (review) in a different style of role but also was fairly comedic in a different way. It was nice to see how she was able to fit into this romantic comedy role. Ha-ri’s character is the equivalent of a Cinderella-type role which in Asian dramas in general just means that its always lots of barriers to marry rich. It is fun that she does choose to make that comparison with an over-dramatized tv series that is playing throughout the series to add that extra bit of humor that makes fun of these types of soapy dramas. Tae-moo, played by Hyo-seop Ahn is a pretty generic male role. He is a good-looking guy and there’s a good contrast from pre-romance discovery to post-romance. The other familiar face here is Secretary Cha, played by Min-kyu Kim who plays as the secondary male lead and was previously in The Battle of Jangsari (review). In some ways, his role, much like the secondary female lead, Young-seo played by In-ah Seor are much more vibrant roles, especially the latter.

Overall, Business Proposal doesn’t change a lot of the formulaic story. The best way to compare it would probably be to Chinese dramas like Love O2O which featured a relationship that had a supportive male lead despite the challenges that would hit especially after the relationship commenced, it was a level of trust that wasn’t easily waivered which is usually one of the frustrating elements of other shows. Faking relationships is a rather over-used back story at this point but there is a fresh and fun take here that makes this one well worth a watch. Plus, Se-jeong Kim in the female lead is truly an extra fun time.

TV Binge: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Mini-Series, 2023)

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023)

Creator: Shonda Rhimes

Cast: India Amarteifio, Adjoa Andoh, Michelle Fairley, Ruth Gemmell, Corey Mylchreest, Golda Rosheuvel, Arsema Thomas, Sam Clemmett, Freddie Dennis, Hugh Sachs, Julie Andrews (voice), Tunji Kasim

Betrothed against her will to King George, young Charlotte arrives in London on her wedding day and faces scrutiny from the monarch’s cunning mother. – IMDB

Queen Charlotte is a spin-off mini-series for the Bridgerton TV series which is adapted from the book series by Julia Quinn. While the main series focused on the ton of the society and the romances of the Bridgerton children, Queen Charlotte is a prequel and bridge to the next season about how Queen Charlotte and the palace became the way it is as well a glimpse of the origin story of Lady Danbury and the connection to Violet Bridgerton. It even adds a side story of the Queen’s secretary Brimsley and his little romance with the King’s man, Reynolds.

Its a great angle to take because the world of Bridgerton is not only fascinating for the steamy and attractive romances that the two Bridgerton children that we’ve witnessed so far but one of the things that I personally love are the characters of Lady Danbury and Queen Charlotte who are incredibly dynamic characters in their mature years in the present and now their origin story helps craft their characters further, not only giving some substance to the inner workings of the characters of the palace, answering those questions about why King George is the way he is and what his affliction is but also how Queen Charlotte has taken over with much of the ruling and responsibilities of the palace while also sharing how Lady Danbury got her title and her respect in the society. There’s some secrets and scandals along the way but intertwined it also reminds us that the present world is more than the Bridgerton children and the Palace also has its own issues with a much welcome Lady Whistledown narrating that bit as well.

Running at six episodes, Queen Charlotte is well-paced and in the heart of period films, provides wonderful outfits and hairstyles. Queen Charlotte herself sporting some of the truly beautiful ones as they are much less extravagant in her younger years but in the present, still having some creative ones in the mix. While this Bridgerton story is primarily drama and romance, there is a good deal of comedy in there. The present day scenes focus around Queen Charlotte trying to get her fifteen kids to finally settle down and give her another royal heir when Princess Charlotte unfortunately dies. The conversations she has in her encounters with her offsprings are done in a serious manner but harness a lot of comedic elements. Its probably one of the more entertaining parts of the mini-series especially when paired with Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton’s blooming friendship as Violet starts having new desires in her life that she isn’t quite sure what to do about.

The cast is relatively well selected. Queen Charlotte played by India Amarteifio in her younger days and still Golda Rosheuvel in the present day is a wonderful fit for the character. There is a true development in the character of a princess from Germany who ends up marrying to another country and trying to find her footing especially with a husband that sells her a beautiful relationship at the start but ends up leaving her alone. What happens to her soon crafts the Queen she chooses to become in order to hold up the responsibilities of the palace but still protect her husband when his delusions set in. From the start to the finish, its mostly about her merge into the status of Queen but also how she gained her respect and how her friendship with Lady Danbury solidifies. The young Lady Danbury also has a similar origin story but on a less fortunate spectrum and played very well by Arsema Thomas who essentially has her story show that she is the one that chooses to be alone because of her past.

Looking at the male cast, its sad to say that the romance of this one is rather well done and unique but King George’s character, despite his ailments is not quite as immersive. Its probably just the writing bit more female-centric that his character progresses in struggle and therapy for most of the series. Corey Mylchreest is a handsome and charming choice for the role. However, its definitely the Queen’s secretary Brimsley that truly stands out played rather well by Sam Clemmett. Brimsley may be the subordinate of the Queen but despite the initial rejection, he does remain very loyal and honest to her.

Overall, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a decent mini-series. There does seem like a little bit of a perpetuity issue when looking at the present day since this Queen Charlotte isn’t what it seems but then, it feels like its deliberate to give her a different side because this time, most affairs of dealt with behind the palace doors as family matters which makes her re-evaluate herself as a mother. The series itself is rather binge-worthy but the whole series truly culminates for the touching final moments in the present which reflects the relationship through the years between her and King George despite how it always seems like she is waiting for her husband to pass away. It gives the audience a little bit extra to consider that maybe those emotions are much more complex. Its a welcome fun entry to bridge the wait until Season 3 of the series itself.

What’s Up & Adventures – April 2023

Its time for this month’s What’s Up & Adventures! Yet again, not a whole lot of adventures per se as its all pretty normal life stuff and I’m even talking normal as per the pre-pandemic life like actually going to a restaurant to hang out with friends without masks the entire time. Its a big step for me since I’ve been pretty much keeping things fairly protective especially with a baby at home. Our biggest adventure as a family which I’m not going to write an entire section about: our first power outage. I mean a legit one where it took 8 hours to get back the electricity and we all had to bundle up at home to stay warm.

ADVENTURES

Baby Update

Triple V has gone through some big developments this month. Over the course of the month, he’s been still practicing how to work and after a lot of guidance and motivation, he has started to crawl recently. He’s also able to eat his own finger foods and starting to get curious about how the spoon works whenever we use it for the puree. The baby gates have finally been unboxed. As of very recent like this morning, he’s also starting to learn to go down the stairs on his own with his butt. The crib has finally been dropped to the lowest level since he’s been able to stand up on his own in there and being a tall baby also stands pretty tall over the edge. We’re at the 10 1/2 months now and its been lots of first times and memories. Its also great that we had our first playdate after a few stroll dates with my best friend and her baby.

Brunch With Friends

After trying to get together repeatedly since last fall until now, the gettogether with my friends finally happened. My husband relieved me of the baby duties for a few hours so that I could go out for a brunch. It was a lot of fun to go out although after 10 months of being 24/7 with my baby, it did feel a little weird to be out. With that said, the restaurant’s service was rather poor although I think that it had to do mostly with lack of staff which is an issue with most restaurants nowadays. However, the chat was my friends were great as we caught up with everything between brunch and some window shopping and bubble tea at Real Fruit where I got a Jasmine Green Tea Light Sugar with grass jelly and mango jelly. Its the first time I’ve had Real Fruit Bubble Tea. Their Jasmine Green Tea is pretty good and I’m glad that I got light sugar since the mango jelly was surprisingly sweet so it balanced out the drink.

Building Blocks Puzzles

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While I probably should be writing and reading more, I find that building blocks really help clear the mind with the sheer concentration it takes to dig through these tiny pieces and put this together. With that said, they are looking gorgeous on top of my bookshelf so I decided to grab the set of the zodiac and take my time to put them together.

WHAT’S UP

Books

• My Illustrated Classics Collection

Currently reading: The BFG

I’m still spending most of my time reading books to my little man. While I’m sure he doesn’t quite understand any of it and just likes it as a means of soothing him to sleep, I’m starting to go through some books that I’ve bought for when he gets older and using this time to read through them and see when is suitable for him. We just started the Roald Dahl boxset (bought from Costco) and going through them all. I’ve read a few of them when I was a kid but its good to revisit as well as check out the ones I haven’t read before. Book reviews should be popping back soon.

Movies

• The Witch Part 2: The Other One (2022 Review)
• Monster Hunter (2020 rewatch, Review)
• A Short Story (2022 short)
• Saint Maud (2019)
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018)
• The Menu (2022)
• Ride On (龙马精神, 2023 Review)
• Saludos Amigos (1942)
• Fresh (2022)
• Anita: Director’s Cut (2022)
• Disenchanted (2022)

Due to upcoming Movies and Tea season preparation, I ended up getting a month of Disney Plus so a lot of films this time are from there as I try to make the most of the month (with not a whole of success) but still managing to catch some decent titles. As I work through the titles I haven’t seen from animated films and watched Saludos Amigos which was pretty average with one or two more charming shorts, I also caught mostly Searchlight films catching some newer films like The Menu and Fresh. I’m working on those reviews so they should be posted in a few days. Disney Plus also acquired Anita but the Director’s Cut version, a film that I’ve been meaning to watch so I settled for this version and still trying to figure out where to find the theatrical version and see where the differences are. Much like the end of my MUBI subscription made me finally be able to catch Long Day’s Journey Into Night which I’ve heard great things when I was chatting up with other reviewers back when I was doing press during film festivals.

TV

• Veronica Mars (Season 2 rewatch, Review)
• A Love So Beautiful (rewatch, Review)
• Come Sing With Me我想和你唱 (Season 4)
• Veronica Mars (Season 3 rewatch, Review)

Currently watching: Light The Wild, Who’s The Murderer S8

As you can see, everything got affected. I decided to rewatch A Love So Beautiful before it left Netflix, a series that still holds up and is a lot of fun. Of course, you can still catch the Korean version of it which I have yet to watch. I’m mostly focusing on rewatching Veronica Mars with my husband who is watching it for the first time. We caught up to everything for the original series so that we can experience the first watch of the “Season 4”. I’m basically trying to catch up and finish all the stuff I’ve started so first up is Chinese variety show, Who’s The Murderer Season 8.

Games

Currently playing: Coffee Talk Episode 2

I had tons of intentions of what to play this past month but a few things occupied my evenings so only recently I’ve been able to start playing Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly. While its not for everyone, I loved Coffee Talk (review) since it was such a fun little experience set in an alternate Seattle and the only thing to do was just making coffee for the clients who dropped by for a chat and share their stories. The second Coffee Talk happens after the first one and I just started so just met two new characters. So far, its still really fun and I’m looking forward to mixing and discovering some new drink mixes.

That’s it for this month’s Adventures/Updates and What’s Up!
What have you been up to?

Reality TV Roundup – March 2023

March Reality TV Roundup had a little update. I never thought about including documentaries into the round-up and thought it would be a great addition seeing as it adds a little more seriousness as well. Plus, I do watch a good few documentaries nowadays that I don’t particularly want to do a full review so this is a perfect outlet.

NEXT IN FASHION (SEASON 2)

Hosts: Tan France, Gigi Hadid

As I wait for the next season of Queer Eye to pop up, I’m basically waiting for anything with the Fab Five. Tan France is truly a fantastic human being and so much fun to watch. The first season of Next in Fashion was a ton of fun. Probably due to the pandemic, things are a lot more centralized to USA and less international like the first season was. Is It a good or bad thing? Probably depends on what you plan to get out of it.

For those unfamiliar with Next In Fashion, its a fashion competition to find the designer who is most “next in fashion”. A bunch of carefully chosen up and coming designers have to go through a variety of themed challenges with different special judges to decide who is the winner of the challenge and the worst that has to leave. The structure of the competition is definitely a familiar one and it works pretty well.

Hosted by Tan France and Gigi Hadid this time around, switched up from Alexa Chung in the first season, its still a lot of fun that gets injected into the show with the duo’s dynamic. Gigi Hadid being a renowned model delivers a lot of her knowledge in regards to fashion and has a fun edge. While I’m not a connoisseur of fashion or models, Gigi Hadid did such a great job as the guest narrator for two episodes on Never Have I Ever that it made me see her in a new light which sees that fun side translated over here. It matches the energy for Tan France which has really grown over the years in comparison to the first season of Queer Eye. He has a unique and broad view and knowledge of fashion that makes him so suitable as the host and judge.

Looking at the designers chosen in season two, as mentioned before, its mostly focused in the USA which isn’t a problem to be fair. The first season was more international and the style was much more avant-garde. This time, despite the designers being based in US, there’s a lot more diversity in the level of design from skill sets to creativity and it ranges from casual wear to more creative and colorful unique pieces. While its a competition, in the end, shows like these is such a wonderful platform to show off these different designers which are trying to change the world with their clothes empowering different types of people with their designs.

Overall, Next In Fashion Season 2 is a fun competition show if you can appreciate fashion. This season is much more approachable than the first one since there are more “casual” styles rather than funky stuff that normal people probably wouldn’t wear everyday.

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (2023)

March 8th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar. 239 people went missing, a global investigation into this greatest mystery Despite reports, countless theories, and searches for evidence, nothing. What Are We Missing? – IMDB

Other than knowing about the actual event happening in broad details, I’ve never really followed the whole MH370 disappearance in a lot of depth. Its why the documentary for MH370 seemed like an interesting topic of choice. There is no actual resolve for the disappearance but spread over these few episodes, this Netflix documentary limited series dives into not only the facts but also a lot of theories because what else could you have other than theories when the truth will probably never be found and the plane wasn’t ever retrieved except for the alleged pieces washed ashore.

For the first part of the documentary when it was just laying out the facts and what happened, the documentary held up rather well. Even the beginning investigative bits and light theories about possibilities based on the facts were still relatively interesting to watch since it gave something to think about.

Where the documentary falls apart and becomes slightly frustrating to watch is the few farfetched theories that start being pitched which eventually does get minorly debunked based on the details. To be fair, this whole situation’s takeaway is that the lack of information gives space for a “he said she said” situation where its all about who can deliver a convincing enough story for you to believe where one side believes that its a huge plot between one country or another.

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared started off rather strong with an interesting topic at hand but eventually truly unravels when their interviewees start using their research to expand too far from where its supposed to be.

Cheat (Season 1, 2023)

Host: Danny Dyer & Ellie Taylor

Equal parts brains and blagging, this quiz show expects and encourages contestants to cheat their way to a cash prize. The one rule? Don’t get caught.- IMDB

Recent Netflix British quiz show Cheat hosted by Danny Dyer and Ellie Taylor is very similar to past Netflix quiz show called Bullshit. While the details aren’t the same, the concept is very similar where the game is not completely about how smart you are but rather its about spotting who is cheating the most. The good part of this show is that it doesn’t reward cheating so even if its a valid option and encourages it to keep the game entertaining but the end result of the pot doesn’t reward it completely.

Game shows like this are rather entertaining on two folds. If you are like me, I watch this for the trivia element. Yes, I’m a nerd and I like to know that I at least know some general knowledge. On the other hand, the entertaining element comes from the contestants and how quippy they are especially when exchanging banter amongst themselves or the hosts which becomes all the more fun when the audience actually sees how much they cheated and the contestants don’t.

While Danny Dyer and Ellie Taylor’s comedian work isn’t known to myself, they work well as the game hosts. Ellie Taylor does a great job with reading the questions and guiding the actual game portion whereas Danny Dyer is more of the person who comments and interacts with the contestants, dropping random jokes here and there to keep the mood light. They are fairly entertaining overall.

Cheat is a pretty simple concept for a game show and because of that, the entertainment element is there for sure. Its always a toss-up for people to win because of cheating which sometimes ends up a bit based on luck and might not always seem to end up sending the pot to someone worthy. Its always my biggest issues with these shows but these shows aren’t exactly about how much you know, just how well you can pretend to know something.

Adventures & What’s Up – March 2023

ADVENTURES

BABY UPDATE

Triple V is 9.5 months old now. This month did see a lot of fun times and some rough ones. Teething being a big one since he got his upper front teeth which felt like it took eons to actually erupt so the fussing and sleeplessness was pretty sporadic. He also is obsessed with walking about with support and sits with really good balance and has become much more creative in his mobility to pivot, army crawl and roll himself to wherever he needs to go. Plus, baby babble is in full power when he feels like it. The weather warming up also means daily strolls as long as the weather is decent. The exercise is doing good for both me and him. We did just have the 9 months follow-up, it was a pretty good time as he sticks to the higher percentiles in height but a more moderate one for his weight. Apparently, he’s still sticking to his curve so all’s good.

HYDROPONIC & INDOOR PLANTS

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37

With the end of March means my birthday just swung by and I hit the lovely 37 years old. Honestly, I stopped counting a while back. Especially with a baby nowadays, my days all just kind of blend together in some kind of routine of feeding, changing diapers and play time. Not exactly the most exciting birthday since I started it bright and early at the clinic for Triple V’s routine check-up and treated myself to some lovely delivery of soup noodles. I do feel the age a lot but then it might just be the postpartum weight still sticking around that makes me feel not quite as active. Luckily the weather is getting warmer so we do have plans to get back to hiking when the trails open up and doing more daily walks, who knows, maybe I’ll even get some weights going to build up some muscle mass although carrying a 20lbs baby everyday is quite the exercise. Probably should look into some yoga instead.

WHAT’S UP

Books

• Stephanie’s Ponytail
• Paper Bag Princess
• The Adventures of the Get Along Gang

Currently reading: My Illustrated Classics Collection

With the sporadic sleep schedule for a little while in March, my reading included mostly nighttime reading for Triple V. I didn’t bother to write the rereads since we cycle through his books on regular basis but just shared the ones that I hadn’t read or revisited until the past month. We are reading through a book I picked up during Boxing Day called My Illustrated Classics Collection and we’re going through some of the abridged classics like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and The Wind in the Willows. Its a pretty fun read for myself since Triple V doesn’t really know what I’m reading, he just likes the reading to mellow him out for bedtime.

Movies

• The Witch: Part 1 The Subversion (2018)
• Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
• Scream 4 (2011 rewatch, Review)
• Scream (2022)
• White Snake (2019 rewatch, Review)
• Green Snake (2021)
• Enola Holmes 2 (2022 rewatch, Review)
• It Comes At Night (2017)
• I See You (2019)

Suffice to say that I have a lot of writing to catch up on. Lacking movie review writing inspiration can do that to a person. Luckily, it seems to be coming back a little more since I pivoted to working on game reviews which you can check out below.

I do have a really fun themed month coming up that will clear out some of these titles which is another reason why they haven’t been released yet. I might do a few of these rough guidelines to just do a certain number of a certain theme of films since writing everyday isn’t exactly feasible right now. I do choose sleep over writing nowadays.

Highlights of this month definitely goes to The Witch Part 1: The Subversion which was a pretty crazy ride of a film and Scream (2022 aka Scream 5). I’d say even Green Snake is a fun animated film. I See You also was pretty well executed which helped with delivering a shocking reveal.

TV

• Gilmore Girls (Season 5 rewatch, Review)
• Next in Fashion (Season 2, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 6 rewatch, Review)
• MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (Limited Series 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 7 rewatch, Review)
• The Last Of Us (Season 1, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life (Limited Series Rewatch, 2016)
• Cheat (Season 1, 2023)
• The Glory (Season 1, 2023 Review)
• Veronica Mars (Season 1 rewatch, Review)

Currently binging: Come Sing With Me S4, The Forbidden Flower, Infinity and Beyond: Bao Dao Ji,

Seeing as I’ve already mentioned my lack of writing inspiration, I continued on to rewatch the rest of Gilmore Girls. I can’t say it helped with the writing but it did make me very relaxed and happy. Its just so much fun to watch and I always notice something different, plus I’m listening slowly through Scott Patterson’s podcast I’m All In which talks about a lot of the little details about the show and its production which makes it all the more intriguing.

Its a no brainer than Gilmore Girls will always be a recommendation from me, I did finish some fun shows. The Last of Us is a pretty good video game adaptation. The few success ones that happen probably. I did think the ending of the season was a tad abrupt but it did leave some space to ponder I suppose. Review for that is in the works as we speak. I did want to get it done before this post went up but obviously that didn’t happen. What did happen was that I did get The Glory’s review out and also a big recommendation. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first few episodes and thought it was a little too heavy handed but it justifies itself really well the further the story dives. You can check out my pretty extensive review with probably some mild spoilers but mostly spoiler-free. I’ve also moved on to rewatching Veronica Mars from the beginning and that’s because the out of date person that I am didn’t realize that there was a revival season in 2019 so we’re working ourselves back there, plus I wanted to see whether it still held up which it definitely does.

Games

• Far: Lone Sails
• Paradise Killer (incomplete)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (incomplete)
• Chinatown Detective Agency (Review)

Currently playing: Norco

As mentioned above, other than TV, I did try to put some time into gaming. I played Far: Lone Sails which is a lovely little game. I won’t talk too much about it here but we recorded the discussion over on Game Warp. It will come out eventually. You can follow out podcast or the blog and you will be able to listen to it when it comes out, if you’re interested.

I did give Paradise Killer and Guardians of the Galaxy a test run before it left Game Pass. Both of them were pretty fun. I had a little health scare issue in the middle of that so the first person gave me some motion sickness for Paradise Killer. Love the game but I just had to stop and by the time I was feeling better, the game had already left Game Pass so I have my eyes peeled on a discounted copy probably after I get through some of the game backlog. I’ve started a few games that need to be finished as well so, not really a top priority. I do think the concept is pretty fresh and fun.

I did get the review for Chinatown Detective Agency out which I’d recommend to Carmen Sandiego fans like myself. Its a tad buggy which is its main flaw because everything else is pretty well executed. You can check out the in-depth review over on Game Warp.

I just started up Norco even if I should be finishing The Gunk but you know, the awards shows just went by and I wanted to check out Norco which I feel like I’ve only heard a lot of good things. As this post goes up late, the next batch of games leaving Game Pass is already here so I’m going to be wrapping up Life is Strange: True Colors before it leaves mid-April!

That’s it for this Adventures/Updates and What’s Up for the past month!
What have you been up to?

TV Binge: The Glory (2022)

The Glory (Season 1, 2022)

Director: Gil Ho Ahn

Cast: Hye-Kyo Song, Do-Hyun Lee, Ji-Yeon Lim, Sung-Hoon Park, Hye-ran Yeom, Sung-il Jung, Kim Hieora, Joo-Young Cha, Gun-woo Kim, Sang-Im Park

A woman lives for absolute revenge against her childhood bullies who destroyed her life. – IMDB

Revenge is a dish best served cold. The director and writers for The Glory really took this saying and crafted an entire 18 year revenge plan put in motion. The 16 episode series takes you on a two part journey since it was released in staggered 8 episode chunks. The first part is the motive for the revenge and the set-up for her revenge plan and the second part sees her revenge plan in motion as she breaks down her bullies one at a time. In case you don’t know the story and the IMDB synopsis isn’t quite detailed, a woman who was physically (and mentally) bullied by a group of rich kids and their not well off but wanting to be rich friends when they were in high school decides to come back with an elaborate revenge plan to reveal them for their wrongdoings and destroy their status. With the help of some friends she meets along the way, she sets these plans into motion to mostly psychologically disturb them.

The Glory is an intense narrative. It comes with the territory when the intense level of bullying that happens in the first part is revealed. The first part keeps a strong sense of hatred as the main character Dong-eun still has these moments haunt her from her youth. I’m not going to say what the bullying is to avoid spoilers. The story itself focuses on the injustice of the situation because of the group’s status in society that creates a situation where Dong-eun is unfairly treated and betrayed. The first part acts as a stepping stone to truly understand why she is targeting these people as they either hurt her or treated the situation unfairly, all contributing to her plan not only including the five bullies but also a few people. In many ways, as we see her past, the characters in the present also prove to be even worse than they were, making them even more abhorrent.

To be fair, the first 8 episodes lays the motive and hatred on very thick and in some ways, it feels almost too much but when the last 8 episodes come in and the revenge plan unfurls, all the build-up in the first part makes a lot of sense because it makes it easier to fully embrace how she manipulates each of these situations, setting herself up through meeting certain people or verbally creating fear and controlling the situation then actually dealing the harm herself. Its a clever plan that might be morally wrong but its a strong message that if she was heard when she was experiencing this, perhaps it wouldn’t have turned out like this. There’s a few decent twists throughout the series as well, with one of the biggest ones probably in its finale.

While the writing itself is done pretty well, the true shining elements of this series is the cast. Dong-eun is played by Hye-Kyo Song which probably credits for the start of the Korean series popularity internationally with Autumn in My Heart (at least to my knowledge), a role that is very different from this one. This one digs much deeper into a vengeful psyche and she’s able to create a lot of friction especially facing her main counterpart, the leader of the high school bullies Yeon-Jin who is casted incredibly accurate with Ji-Yeon Lim who truly captures the condescending and self-centered elite when faced with the much less fortunate like Dong-Eun and believes that there is nothing wrong with treating them that way. She is the ringleader which sparks the fire for her little group of bullies which not only physically but mentally traumatizes their victims (yes, its not only Dong-Eun) to fulfill their constant need to prove what they can do. She has these little facial cues which reveals how her character is feeling even if she doesn’t say it.

The group itself also has its own diversity in characters. The whole group being rather well-casted to fit their own profile uniquely to fit into the revenge plan and ends up all finding their own fates in the end with a slight guidance in the revenge plan by all digging their own grave. The other shining characters has to be Dong-Eun’s amateur detective Hyeon-nam, played by Hey-ran Yeom who was also in The Uncanny Counter (review) who has a rather sad backstory but is the comedic and heartwarming relief that balances out all the negativity much like Dong-Eun’s love interest aka “executioner” who is a plastic surgeon with his own set of inner turmoil Yeo-Jeong played by Do-Hyun Lee previously seen in Sweet Home (review) who adds that little element of comfort in this whole plan but he also ends up playing the hidden sly character that helps her out of situations.

Overall, The Glory is well-deserving of its hype. The story itself highlights a lot of societal issues that stem from the basic foundation of the mentality that divides the elites and anyone below them which transfers from its generation. Bullying becomes a means to make them feel powerful and in control. The execution of the TV series is pretty clever since sometimes, the guilty only need a little nudge to drive themselves into their own doom when their dirty laundry is laid out for everyone to see and they need to desperately seek a path of redemption.

As an ending note, while The Glory does set up the stage for a potential second season if they do want to do it, I’m not really sure it needs to have one. The characters are great but when the stage shifts to the revenge plan for this other character, it might not quite have the same effect. Who knows, right? I say that but if a second season were to happen, I’d probably still watch it just to see these characters again.

Reality TV Roundup – February 2023

The Mole ( Season 1, 2022)

Host: Alex Wagner

It follows twelve players as they work together in challenges to add money to a pot that only one of them will win. – IMDB

While I haven’t seen the original The Mole, Netflix picking up this show is a completely new thing for me. The Mole feels like familiar games that have found popularity like Werewolf (not sure if that’s the actual name) or Among Us. Deception is a wonderful game especially when the audience gets to watch all the angles and try to figure out who is the mole along with the players. Of course, the showrunners are doing the deception here since the editing is what creates even more intrigue a lot of times. I went into The Mole thinking it would be another guilty pleasure sort of watch, it actually turned out to be more than that.

What makes The Mole stand out from the other shows is that it has team missions. Everyone wants to cast doubt on themselves or someone depending on their strategy so it all comes down to who is trying to mess up the game the most. The team missions go through a lot of different places and settings from the beginning at the jungle to prison break to bank heist. The scenarios make big changes and the variety along with each of the players’ know-how is factored in. At the same time, the show also throws certain curveballs to give certain players a chance to make certain decisions that will affect the pot to reveal whether its a positive or negative choice. It all makes the elimination at the end of day feel more intriguing. However, the intrigue does set a lot more near the end since its fairly predictable who will be eliminated in the beginning episodes.

The Mole has some compelling settings but with many shows like this, the players are a mixed bag with a variety of personalities and different strategies. Nothing is quite exciting than seeing how one player can mess up the plan for everyone out of selfishness for example. Human nature to the test is just such a fun thing to watch. However, as fun as all this is, the host Alex Wagner is really great. She’s the consistent compelling element that makes The Mole very enjoyable. I’m not sure how Netflix does it but they’ve been getting some great hosts for these money-winning shows with Nicole Byers, Michelle Buteau and now Alex Wagner.

28 Days Haunted (Season 1, 2022)

Three teams spend 28 days in some of the most haunted locations in the United States for an experiment based on the theories of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. – IMDB

I’m not really a Mythbusters and ghost hunting watching sort of person. Chinese believe in ghosts too much to want to watch this whole question about whether ghosts exist so this is a completely random selection from the husband. On top of that, I never watched The Conjuring and haven’t really dove into what Ed and Lorraine Warren has solved on this front so I’m going to take their word that this experiment is based on their theories. Its an interesting one for sure especially when trapping mediums and paranormal teams in three different haunted locations.

What makes this reality show good mostly is the locations they choose and having the different team and their dynamic really come through. Some of them is the location that shines through, some is the team itself that makes it more intriguing. For the most part, the biggest question here is whether you do believe these things are actually happening or whether its all staged.

At the end of the day, 28 Days Haunted is an intriguing show. For most of it, it feels creepy and intriguing. Sure, the whole idea of mediums and such is a little odd since they all have different approaches. It is kind of a 101 course on ghost hunting and the technology and techniques behind it. While the season did feel rather convincing, what broke it and felt staged was the last shot and it broke the whole concept.

Physical:100 (Season 1, 2023)

One hundred contestants in top physical shape compete in a series of grueling challenges to claim the honor – and cash reward – as the last one standing. – IMDB

Being big fans of Ultimate Beastmaster (review) and very sad that its never been renewed for more seasons, Physical:100 is a good placeholder. Its not quite the same but it does achieve other things. Yes, there is negative news regarding a participant who hasn’t been specified the last I saw but it doesn’t take away that this show does break a lot of preconceived image of Asian bodies because these participants both male and female are seriously ripped, big, well-built. Plus, it highlights a lot of their athletes from national to Olympics level.

With shows like this, its always the structure of the competition and the challenges that makes or breaks the show. Physical:100 uses 5 challenge plus a pre-challenge to eliminate its contestants to a final 5. With that said, the elimination goes pretty fast. Looking at the challenges, it definitely has a preference over strength and endurance as a whole. Some challenges favor one over the other which also gives the smaller built players a little more leeway to play with strategy.

In terms of challenges, there are quite a variety starting from an endurance strength hanging from a structure raised to the ceiling as a pre-challenge and follows with 1 on 1 matches to recuperate a ball within a time limit to eventually team challenges which prove to be more fun to watch from moving sand to the best challenge of the show which involves pulling a wooden ship to an sloped destination.

While some of the challenges feels a little skewed to a certain build, Physical:100 is a pretty fun show to watch if you like this sort of thing. It can get a little confusing to match a face to the name but as the numbers go down, there’s no doubt that there are a few frontrunners that take more spotlight than the rest.

Perfect Match (Season 1, 2023)

Host: Nick Lachey

Couples who prove their compatibility gain the power to make or break other matches in this strategic and seductive dating competition. – IMDB

The newest social matchmaking reality show by Netflix is Perfect Match which seems like a bankable idea as it takes all a bunch of normal single people turned famous through their various reality shows and puts them all in one location to find their perfect match. Of course, maybe its just another way for Nick Lachey to have more work seeing as he now hosts three of these matchmaking shows making him the person that is the most familiar with the majority of these people. Being an avid viewer of The Circle (review) and Too Hot to Handle (and catching The Mole before watching this show), I also was rather familiar with the majority of these people as well. Still, its not the depth of these shows that are make them popular, lets just be honest there. If you weren’t into those reality shows to begin with, this probably offers nothing at all.

Perfect Match delivers exactly what you’d expect from this group despite whichever show they might be coming from. There’s a lot of switching partners and a lot of dramatic reactions and arguments over the silliest things. Its really hard to be completely invested into the show at times because its obvious what this whole thing is trying to do and much like the other matchmaking shows, the chances of success do feel very low so the only bit to enjoy is the conflicts and arguments which reveal some unimpressive character traits. Still, as I said before, we’re not here for the depth of the show and its just some mindless entertainment.

There’s really not a whole lot to say about Perfect Match. Its not a particularly great show but really just feels like a show that Netflix thought up to bank on these people that they’ve made famous by putting them together in a Panama resort. They don’t even earn anything other than a trip for the winning couple. Judging from some other resources online, it doesn’t even seem like any of the couples ended up together making this an even more meaningless show.

Reality TV Roundup – January 2023

For those who have seen the recent Adventure and What’s Up, you already know what this is all about.

As I sit here uninspired of what to watch and not sure what I want to write about next as a result rewatching Gilmore Girls for probably something like the fifth time. I decided to start up a new monthly segment for the great amount of reality and variety TV shows that I watch. With that said, I did use to review them but as time went by, it just didn’t hold up for a post of its own especially when we look at say the many seasons of The Circle or Nailed It for example.

I’m starting this a tad late and I like to start things at beginning of the year preferably so we’re releasing this January one right now. If this segments interest you, I plan on releasing it on the second weekend of the month (since the first weekend, I usually release Music Obsessions).

Let’s get the January 2023 recap on the way!

Pressure Cooker (Season 1, 2023)

Follows eleven chefs who will cook and cohabit with one another as they compete to become the ultimate chef’s chef and win $100,000. – IMDB

Netflix releases a lot of cooking reality competition shows in a year and I’m pretty much always at the front row seat be it, cooking, baking or drinks, you can count me in. At one point, I wanted to do a ranking of best to worst of these shows since they throw a ridiculous amount of prize money in it and while most of them are entertaining, some are pretty silly at best.

Pressure Cooker is a different type of competition. Its almost like Netflix mashed the concept of The Circle with a cooking show where friends and alliances actually do come into play as these cooks live together and wake up everyday with a new mission and chefs with the least votes are eliminated. The key point being that the voting is done by the chefs themselves so everyone has their own standards, integrity and strategy to try to make it to the end.

This style of competition is fun since it mixes a social element with the actual skilled cooking element. Competitions like this are good and bad. On the great side, its seeing all the drama since the audience sees everything from the scheming and strategy to how each cook will approach it. On the other hand, for someone like myself who enjoys a good honest cooking competition, sometimes its frustrating that the friendships end up making a good chef leave before its their time. There’s a good balance between the two here and its not the craziest idea that Netflix has played around with so it does work in the realm and seeing as I am a fan of shows like The Circle and catch almost all of the cooking competitions on Netflix right away, Pressure Cooker is one that I’d probably love to see a second season even if the concept itself at first felt a little unfair but I guess life’s not fair and the entertainment level with the different themes of each competition and the structure is pretty well-structured.

Wonderland Junior (Season 1, 2022)

12 young artists stay together in the seaside Wonderland to meet unknown challenges and create a trendy life together. By working hard to win the opportunity to be seen by the audience, they show their talented selves. – MyDramaList

Wonderland Junior is a spin-off variety show of the parent show Wonderland which features a group of bigger celebrities in all fields of entertainment from musicians to models to TV hosts to actors etc. Wonderland Junior probably is a bankable one since it reuses the location resource that they have already but uses it to boost popularity for some young faces to help show off their talent. Its a little less sophisticated than the parent show but rightfully so since it has the framework of the first but adds in the element of youthfulness.

This one works more as a continuous few days that the group is there as they work together on different tasks from performances to themed fashion shows and little games to earn more of the island currency. The person that gets out with the most will end up winning an opportunity to be a main guest in another Tencent variety show. The show itself is unknown but I’m sure when the winner of this show pops up there, it will be clear what it is.

There’s not a whole lot to say about Wonderland Junior. The group of younger talented people is good. They are a fun bunch and these shows are always feel-good experiences and that’s really what makes it so fun to watch.

The Circle (Season 5, 2023)

Host: Michelle Buteau

Players start off isolated in an apartment, and with their online interactions as their only means of any communication. The players use a social media platform called “The Circle”. – IMDB

I’ve watch The Circle USA since the very first season and I’m always there the first day the season drops. I even have a review of Season 1 HERE back when it aired in 2020. Its hard to imagine that the pandemic made this show ever so viable and its only the beginning of 2023 and its already done with Season 5.

Every season they put a few twists here and there to make it feel a little different from its prior seasons. I can’t remember too far away but the show’s introduced Joker and Circle Hack and Doppelganger profiles and the Spice Girls. This season, its focused on the singles because we all know that Netflix is seriously banking on this matchmaking showbiz, plus most people who pop up on The Circle never really admit that they are taken since being single usually gives them a bigger possibility to flirt and get other players on their side.

I’m not going to talk too much about Season 5 of The Circle since its a little been there done that at this point. The Circle Season 5 delivers exactly what you are looking for. The themed Singles doesn’t really add too much difference to the experience. I do like that right off the bat, they throw a curveball very early on that ends up playing out throughout the whole season. The players they gather are also much more diverse in background.

The Circle is a personal guilty pleasure. While I don’t like that shows like this has ridiculously huge banks for winning, it delivers on the entertaining content (if you’re into this stuff of course). But lets just get this straight, 50% of the reason I watch this is because Michelle Buteau is the host and commentator. The stuff she says is just off the charts hilarious.

Bake Squad (Season 2, 2023)

Expert bakers elevate desserts with next-level ideas and epic execution. Now the battle is on to win over clients in need of very special sweets. – IMDB

I honestly don’t know if Bake Squad is that popular but I personally love the concept of it. Bake Squad is a show that gives back to the people in the community. Where Queer Eye does makeovers to deserving people to make them feel good about themselves, Bake Squad helps someone’s special event have the best surprise extravagant dessert that they deserve from some wonderfully talented young bakers. The first season of Bake Squad delivered some great desserts and designs and the second season actually felt like they went beyond that for some designs that went even more risky and bigger in challenges and scale.

Bake Squad is honestly just a feel-good competition. The main goal of the competition between the four bakers is to win the chance for their creation to be shown at someone’s celebration whatever or whoever its celebrating. Its not about winning prize money or for themselves, although I’m sure being on TV does boost their popularity and gets known by the public more, but the show feels like it has such a pure intention of just bringing some big and creative ideas to add to someone’s meaningful celebration.

The world needs more shows like Bake Squad that delivers on doing tasks for someone else and not scheming to win money. Its been a few hard years with the pandemic and shows like this remind us that in a world where things have gotten really out of balance, there’s still some people out there doing good in their own ways, even if its making something like desserts. Obviously these aren’t the everyday desserts and in many ways, its wild for the most part for example, building a chocolate Dinosaur Egg in the first season and then upping that and building a 1:1 chocolate piano.

Honestly, out of all the shows in this round-up, I’m hoping that Bake Squad gets many more seasons.

Adventures & What’s Up – February 2023

ADVENTURES UPDATES

As you can see, February was not a whole lot going on. I had a few personal things that happened which I don’t plan to discuss. Things like dentist appointments and financial planning, fun grown-up things, right? I do have a big dental work coming up which will cost a bit of money so yay, I guess. Anyways, positive vibes here only even if I’m so tired, I don’t even have the energy to write as much as I used to. I will address all that in this segment and some little changes.

Baby Update

Triple V is growing and learning new things every day. February had a lot of things from figuring out how to drink from a sippy cup with a valve to starting to move towards drinking independently from a sippy cup for his snacks and meals. We’re working towards getting rid of the actual baby bottles so he can drink on his own. He’s still figuring out how to tilt the bottle when its the sippy cup without a valve. Work in progress, right? He also finally started baby babble and is continuing his teething journey. At the same time, we’re in the lovely 8 month sleep regression as of recently so its just waking up and doing some babbles or trying to get himself on all fours sometimes. Nighttime baby monitor sometimes can be pretty cute and funny despite feeling so tired. We are currently starting up a second cold thanks to some wonderful cold weather that we got but definitely not as worse as what we caught at the beginning of the year.

New Monthly Segment

While I’m not writing a lot lately, I’ve been still watching a lot of random stuff and its starting to dawn on me that I’m going to temporary need to change things a little around here to keep up a decent production. Although January and February lull is usually fairly normal around here, its been incredibly low and I’m not too happy about it since this is an outlet for myself that I really do love. With that said, I think the best course of action are monthly segments, they have a rounding up effect for the things I’ve seen but don’t really feel I have enough for an entire post dedicated to that one thing and lately, its about anything that I can put in the background and take care of my child or just relax after his bedtime or when its time with the husband, nothing too violent. All that basically leads to a lot of reality/competition/variety TV.

The new segment for each month is going to be a Reality TV Roundup which will include all the stuff I watch which involves real people in whatever context it may be and focusing mostly on Netflix and Chinese shows. Obviously, I’m starting a tad late so you will see the January roundup very soon and then after that it will be released on some time during the second weekend of each month. Music Obsessions releases the first weekend so we’ll spread it out a little.

Not sure who it will interest but I think it’ll be a nice change of pace for myself and will be a lot of fun.

Valentine’s Marathon, Upcoming Podcast Release and the forgotten Blogiversary

My brain’s apparently gone to mush and there’s been a lot of things that I simply forgot. The first being that January 17th was my blogiversary and I didn’t even mention it last month because like I said, I forgot. It just slipped my mind. The original plan was to get the all-new podcast up for then but plans have changed and I need a little more times in lieu of this wonderful baby phase I mentioned above to the next month, preferably before my birthday as a little gift to myself for starting up an individual podcast project.

Another thing I mentioned was Valentine’s Marathon and while I had a pretty good plan down, I just didn’t really feel like watching romantic films and ended up watching one Taiwan romance drama instead. BUT, I will talk about that more in the next section!

WHAT’S UP

BOOKS

• Mr. Happy
• Thomas’ Snowsuit
• The Lost Dinosaur Bone
• Just Some Lost Treasure
• Mortimer
• The Berenstain Bears’ Trouble at School
• Something Good
• Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
• Angela’s Airplane
• Mickey Mouse and the Best Neighbor Contest
• The Berenstain Bears and the Slumber Party
• 101 Dalmatians
• Donald and His Friends

Currently reading: Broken Darkness

Suffice to say that my main reading has been with Triple V and traverses a lot of books from when I was a kid with the Mr. Men series, Robert Munsch, Lil Critters and Berenstain Bears along with some Disney books. A lot of great memories as I read them to him since he doesn’t really understand any of it but he is starting to get interested in what I say when I’m talking and my facial expressions and actions.

For myself, I am working through Broken Darkness which is a reading commitment that I need to get done. I had wanted to get it done for end of this month but best plans and all, right?

MOVIES

• Lady Vengeance (2005 rewatch, Review)
• Dr. Jason Leong: Ride With Caution (2023)
• F9 (2021)
• A Trip To The Moon (1902)
• Hidden Blade (2023, Review)
• Decision To Leave (2022)
• Great White (2021 rewatch, Review)

Probably one of the lowest output in movie watching in a long time and involved a lot of rewatches but everything was pretty good and a lot of fun, other than Great White which dropped half of its stars from my first time watch rating. Hidden Blade drove a lot of traffic on Twitter and the blog which makes me happy since it was a screener and the movie is really good on all elements. I’ve always wanted to watch A Trip To The Moon and caught that before it left MUBI (which I have until early April). Dr. Jason Leong’s new standout comedy is a real hoot. It was so much fun and had a lot of good laughs. F9 and Decision to Leave’s review is in the making but both stand on very different levels: one is just entertaining and the other probably deserves a second viewing to really grasp all the small nuances and details that Park Chan-wook likes to do.

Definitely thinking about an Asian month soon since I have a lot of films on MUBI, Netflix and Shudder to get through. I’m probably going to try and make that happy.

TV

• Drunken to Love You (Netflix: Love You 醉後决定愛上你, 2011)
• Lockwood & co. (Season 1, 2023 Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 1 rewatch, Review)
• The Mole (Season 1, 2022)
• 28 Days Haunted (Season 1, 2022)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 2 rewatch, Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 3 rewatch, Review)
• Physical: 100 (Season 1, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 4 rewatch, Review)
• Perfect Match (Season 1, 2023)

Currently binging: Who’s The Murderer S8, Memories Beyond Horizon S1, Night in The Greater Bay S2, The Last of Us

A lot of TV watching on my front as well as I dive once again for probably the fifth time into Gilmore Girls. Its my stress-free and fun TV binge. Between this and a lot of reality TV, this is where I am. Of course, I did get in a romance dose with a 2011 Taiwan romance drama that I had never seen. There was almost a decade that I didn’t watch a lot of Asian anything and now its about catching up to what I can get my hands on when I see it around. I did manage to binge Lockwood & Co. which I enjoyed immensely and can’t wait for hopefully a Season 2 seeing as it kind of ends on a cliffhanger but I do also plan on getting to reading the books. Seeing as I already announced the Reality TV Roundup segment, I’m going to leave the whole chat about the reality TV on the backburner plus a bunch of these are mostly silly stuff, the only one that I enjoyed a ton was The Mole although 28 Days Haunted was pretty decent even if the last one of the season overturned all the effort of making it not staged. Either way, more on that later on.

GAMES

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• Boxes (Demo)
• Planet of Lana (Demo)
• Blue Wednesday (Demo)
• Mika and the Witch’s Mountain (Demo)
• Bionic Bay (Demo)
• I Am Future (Demo)
• Alt-Frequencies
• Far: Changing Tides

Currently playing: The Gunk, Disney Dreamlight Valley

Steam Next Fest happened so I caught up with a few demos. Some of them were really great especially Planet of Lana which was exceptional and definitely right up my alley. The other one would be Mika and the Witch’s Mountain which I also ended up backing on Kickstarter because it looked so great. Plus a game inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service seems like something I would have thought existed already but finally someone’s doing something about it. I’ve been pretty much working through the Google Play Pass games since I have it for 3 months on a 90% discount so its pretty sweet. As much as people think mobile games are dumb, there’s some pretty good ones and one of them is Alt-Frequencies. I’m working on a review for Game Warp but I am thinking of checking out their previous game which I own but haven’t played yet. I’m moving through Game Pass with a similar mentality except chasing after games before they leave the service. This month of course was Far: Changing Tides which I describe as Journey but operating a ship. Its pretty great as well, we have a recording lined up for Game Warp so you can look forward to that if you follow the podcast.

A few games currently playing but I’m probably going to put them aside for the next batch of games leaving. Yes, I said batch. Not sure where I’ll find the time but I’m definitely going to try my best to finish Paradise Killer and give Guardians of the Galaxy a whirl to see whether I want to work on that one as well.

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