What’s Up 2020: Week 34

Week 34 recap is here! Its been a crazy week and we still have one more week or so of Fantasia left! Let’s check it out!

READING

Currently reading: Crackle and Fire

I’ve been working on reading Crackle and Fire lately. Its a first book of a new series called Angela Hardwicke Sci-Fi Mystery. Its pretty fun so far. Its set in this galactic futuristic world. It feels a little like Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee series except with a science fiction world. I’m pretty happy with it so far as a debut. Still have a little bit to go before finishing up. Review is going up soon since its part of a blog tour.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Luna

I haven’t had time to do any gaming this past week. When I do, I’ll be picking up with Luna right afterwards. I don’t see myself getting back into gaming any time in the coming week but its one that I’m looking forward to finish soon.

WATCHING

• Sheep Without A Shepherd (2019, Review)
• The Undertaker’s Home (2020 World Premiere, Review)
• Abracitos (2020 Short)
• The Land Before Time (1988 rewatch, Review)
• Hunted (2020 World Premiere, Review)
• You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020, Review)
• The Oak Room (2020 World Premiere)
• Yummy (2019)
• Downs of the Dead (2019 Short)

Nothing like film festival season to make it feel like my life is consumed with movies. Good thing is that its mostly pretty decent films this past week. I actually had a hard time choosing which movie to highlight between Sheep Without a Shepherd and The Oak Room. I was hoping to get the review for The Oak Room done before this post comes out but still stuck in some final editing so the review is coming out later today. Although, to be fair, You Cannot Kill David Arquette is also an awesome documentary also. With that said, my love for Black Fawn Films in general has me picking The Oak Room which was outstanding in a subtle way and very impressive. Still, three solid viewings. I have to mention that as a short film, Abracitos is really good also. It really got under my skin. Reviews for short films are grouped together in one post on the last day of coverage, which will be early September some time. As for now, enjoy some more Fantasia Festival coverage going up every day!

BINGING

• Super Nova Games 3 (2020)

Currently binging: Great Escape: Season 2, Little Forest, Go Ahead, The Irresistible, Rap Star, The Coming One: SuperBand, Street Dance of China 3, Gagman

Some of the TV is starting to hit is ending bits now with final rounds for some and some variety shows wrapping up as well. Probably a week or two before it reaches its finale. The only TV drama that I’m watching is Go Ahead which has one to two new episodes a day depending on the day of the week. Its a fun show and I look forward to those episodes every day.

I finally finished up Super Nova Games 3 which was a journey and a half. It came to three 10 hour day events or something. Its nice to see some of the new celebrities that I liked getting some success. Its pretty entertaining as background noise. I have this new desire to learn archery though. Odd, right? Its not the first time that I’ve thought about it and definitely one of the more engaging to watch. Although they did add e-sports as one of the categories and highlight two of these Chinese mobile games and also 3v3 Basketball. Pretty fun overall even if it was a little time-consuming.

That’s it for Week 34 recap!
A lot of movies as expected with film festival coverage going on!
One more week to go and things should get back to relative normalcy…I think!

What have you been watching/playing/reading/binging?

What’s Up 2020: Week 32

Week 32 is here! I have an announcement about some changes starting next week although I feel like since I’ve started working on some of the stuff, its going to be hard to not talk about it in this What’s Up! I’ll mention it a little later in this post briefly and talk more about it next week once I have a better idea of what I’ve got planned and manage to get done.

With that said, lets just jump right in!

READING

Currently reading: Crackle and Fire

I’m having a writer’s block with getting book reviews out this year in general so I’m stuck on the previous book’s review. I can’t seem to edit it to something that I’m happy with so that’s why its not out yet. Because of that, I literally just downloaded this book to my e-reader and haven’t really started but its at 1% because I have it opened. Nothing much to say about it right now but I’ll share more later on.

PLAYING

• Gorogoa

Currently playing: Luna

Like I said last week (and the first time it feels like things are going as planned this year), I pushed forward and got in some refreshing gaming time. I apparently needed it more than I had thought that I did. It recharged my brain and broke a bit of the writer’s block. I finished up Gorogoa (not 100% achievement) and it was a rather innovative experience and one that I had a lot of fun playing. It had some mind-boggling bits. Moving the pieces around and creating a new path and such is really cool. Its almost like a step further than similar games like Framed, but actually pieces them together to create another image at times and it always seems to have another trick up its sleeve and needs some strong sense of coordination to put together the screens. Either way, I will be working on a review to go up on Game Warp soon.

WATCHING

• Clapboard Jungle (2020)
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
• On Chesil Beach (2017)
• Detention (2019)

Let’s touch on the announcement I started with. Seeing as its in the watching section, I think most of already guessed the general idea of what it will be. I’ve been approved accredited press for Fantasia 2020 for this year’s virtual edition so I’m going to say that this week’s recap and next week’s is going to be heavily focused on things that I can’t talk about until Fantasia starts.

With that said, we’re moving forward. Can’t talk about two of them yet so automatically my choice goes to the surprisingly good 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. It was a movie that I had on my anticipated list in 2016 (if I remember correctly, or honorable mention or something) but never got around to watching it until its about to leave Netflix so I had no choice. A bit hesitant to watch it since things are bad around the world and I’m not a big fan on these type of movies. However, it was a rather surprising watch that I enjoyed quite a bit.

BINGING

Currently binging: Great Escape 2, Little Forest, The Irresistible, Mr. Honesty, Gagman, Super Nova Games 3, The Coming One: SuperBand, Street Dance of China 3, Rap Star

The world of variety shows is mostly my life right now. Nothing new added to the list. My faves that always catch when it has the live premiere is Great Escape: Season 2 and Rap Star (or Listen Up…they seemed to have changed the name halfway). A ton of fun to watch. Great Escape: Season 2 really stepped up their game and every escape room and story is very entertaining. They just had a zombie-esque style one mixed with sci-fi elements which was rather intense. Rap Star is nearing the end as they just had their top 10 pick and heading in the next few weeks and lost a few contestants that I liked. The other show which is like a competitive game show between old and new generation celebrities called The Irresistible is also rather fun but its only 2 episodes in so still need to see how that goes.

Although two dramas just started that I’ve been waiting for so I am trying to finish up Mr. Honesty so that I can move on to hopefully better things. Its the final few episodes and feels like its a drag and feels like I see the twist they will have. I have too many unfinished series at this point so I just want to tough it out.

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

What’s Up 2020: Week 29

Week 29 has gone by and the first week back at work was subconsciously more stressful than I physically felt. Its been nice to be able to walk around outside more back and forth except its also not so easy since it was also heat wave so wearing a mask was rather uncomfortable but of course, needed. As for the actual week of blogging and doing these little things that we cover here, it was relatively unproductive in terms of everything. I actually didn’t feel the fatigue until the weekend hit and the longer than usual run along with the heat just knocked me out. Its probably why motivation level was low and indecisiveness was high. Either way, let’s check how that’s affected progress (and it did because its been a long time that I had posted so little in a week).

READING

Currently reading: And Then We Vanish: Collected Stories

I’m going to confess right now that there was no reading done AT ALL this past week. I need to wrap up this novel so I’m going to work in some reading time.

PLAYING

• Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions – Temptations DLC

Currently playing: Gorogoa

I’m still working on the two games. Currently, I’m more focused on Glass Masquerade’s second DLC because its just super relaxing and essentially a puzzle. Gorogoa is a lot more thinking involved but I did move forward with that a little. The Temptations DLC was all themed around women in various stories and such set in a somewhat pretty fantasy design.

WATCHING

• 47 Meters Down (2017 rewatch, Review)

Currently watching: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Being tired and watching movies is really not helping. I didn’t feel like progressing with much movie watching so here we are, one movie watched and its a rewatch. What can I say? However, we are having half a mind to watch the Night of the Living Dead franchise and it all started with my husband’s desire to watch the 1968 version of Night of the Living Dead, which not to do with its quality but more my fatigue, that I fell asleep and watched half of it only. Currently finding time to finish it up.

BINGING

• Life is Beautiful (Season 1, 2020)
• Unsolved Mysteries (Season 1, 2020)

Currently binging: Great Escape 2, Love Timing 2, Woof Meow Story, Super Nova Games 3, Little Forest, We Are Blazing, Gagman, We Are Young, Summer Surf Shop, The Coming One: SuperBand, Rap Star, Twogether

I just noticed that its a complete rundown of variety shows right now. My currently binging is all variety shows over the course of a week. Some of them are ending soon though. I think Love Timing 2 and We Are Blazing has their big finale the coming week. I got back into Twogether to try to wrap up the last two episodes and the series so that I can work on a binge (depending if its worth it) since it is a Netflix series afterall. The new thing this time around is Super Nova Games 3. I’m not sure if I’ll finish it since last season, I watched halfway and stopped. I do need to try and find a new series to watch soon although Netflix has some good stuff coming up. And I have my eye on a Tencent Cantonese series called White War but I’m saving up a few more episodes so that I can do an actual binge.

For the highlight of this week, it was pretty much a fight between the two completed series. Life is Beautiful is a Tencent variety show which looks at the everyday lives of these Chinese actor/actress/musicians/TV host. A few of them are people that I quite enjoy so it was a lot of fun. However, I used to love Unsolved Mysteries and watched it with my dad so there’s a whole nostalgia factor going on there. Its Netflix revival is really impressive. I’m halfway through the TV binge so I’ll discuss it more in the coming post.

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

What’s Up 2020: Week 28

Another week has gone by! I do apologize in advance for the lack of the posts the last few days. I’ve been occupied with some other obligations and preparing to go back to the office as work from home phase ends. Real life took over writing. However, last week was pretty efficient and did have some nice progress some way or another.

READING

Currently reading: And Then We Vanish

I’m still working on this book. I took a little break from reading so progress is not a whole lot of difference to last week’s. Its intriguing so far but I’m still way too early to say much more about it.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Gorogoa & Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions

I’m still gaming sporadically as this past weekend also saw some gaming conferences like Devolver Digital and Ubisoft Forward. I got in some Gorogoa in and moved the plot forward a little. Its such a clever game of moving the pieces and getting them to work together properly. Glass Masquerade 2 is my relaxing end of the day or morning game. Its a nice little break. I picked up the 2 DLCs right before the Steam Summer Sale ended which was pretty good since I also wrapped up the main game and will start working on the DLCs soon.

MOVIES

• Doctor Sleep (2019)
• Matilda (1996)
• The Net (1995)
• 3615 Code Pere Noel (1989)
• The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)

Between working on the double features, getting some rentals watched and then preparing for a blogathon entry, my movies watch list looks rather impressive, right? To be fair, I caught up with some older movies like Matilda and The Net that has been on my to-watch list forever. Christmas In July Blogathon over on Drew’s Movie Reviews is happening again this year and I chose to do a double feature piece and its fairly obvious which two titles above were my picks. 3615 Code Pere Noel was a great alternate Christmas movie though but my highlight of the week goes to Doctor Sleep that was such an awesome watch. It gets more and more awesome the more that I think about it and then the more that I think about it, the more I want to read The Shining because I feel like the movie was missing so much of its actual nature that Doctor Sleep dove into, plus, I own the Doctor Sleep novel but haven’t read it because I never read The Shining.

BINGING

• You Are My Destiny (2020)

Currently binging: Little Forest, Viva La Romance 4, Rap Star, Woof Meow Story, We Are Young, Great Escape 2, Yes I Do 2, Love Designer, We Are Blazing, Gagman, Let’s Sacalaca, The Coming One: SuperBand

It seems my currently binging list keeps expanding while the shows ending are just too little. I’ve actually ended up watching mostly variety shows at this point which are all currently airing so its only one episode a week which looks like a lot but in reality, its not all that bad. New to the group is Gagman (a show to find the best comedian/variety show host), Let’s Sacalaca (a show about celebrities running a surf shop) and The Coming One: SuperBand (Season 4 of The Coming One focused on creating a 5 person band).

You are My Destiny finally ended and boy, do I want to talk about this one? Being a remake of a Taiwanese series is hard stuff especially one of the series starring the talent Joe Chen and one that was super popular. I had caught up with the series last year and rewatched it earlier this year and did a TV binge HERE. This remake has its moments and then it also has its fair share of issues. Not quite as successful of a remake as 2018’s Meteor Garden and this one was only 30 episodes instead of MG’s 50 episodes.

Either way, I have a line-up of back log TV binges to do so we’ll get to this one soon. Plus, I’m brainstorming a new little project (like I need another one, right?) but stuck on a title for it so if that comes together, I’ll make an actual announcement and if its in this section, obviously, its TV-related.

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

What’s Up 2020: Week 27

Another week has flown by. We passed the half of the year of 2020 point and head into July which as usual, its pretty much another heat wave.

READING

• The Memories We Bury by H.A. Leuschel (Review)

As I’ve been reading on rush mode for the last little while, I finished up The Memories We Bury and took a few days off to catch up. The review for The Memories We Bury is already up for the blog tour last week. You can go check out the review. H. A. Leuschel has a really nice angle whenever she writes her thrillers especially in crafting her characters.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions, Gorogoa

I’m still working on the Glass Masquerade 2 game. However, I needed a little change in pace so started another puzzle game with a little more story line. Gorogoa has been on my to-play list since its release. I’ve played 2 chapters of the game so far and its been impressive. Its all about moving the pieces around to create doorways and other interactions to move the story forward and move the character to its next area. Its incredibly clever.

WATCHING

• The Meg (2018 rewatch, Review)
• Charlie’s Angels (2019)
• Maniac (1980)

I took it a little easier on the movie watching element. There’s been a bit of backlog and some rentals to review before they fade from my memory. However, in all this, I had the urge to rewatch The Meg. Its still as fun as I remember it being. The movie that I’d like to highlight is one that surprised me and that’s Charlie’s Angels. I wasn’t a big fan of the old one but this one was a lot of fun and in many ways, its very Elizabeth Banks and that works for me. Its not some masterpiece but very entertaining. I’m working on a double feature soon so I’m not going to talk too much about it here.

BINGING

• Go Fridge 6 (Season 6, 2020)
• Produce Camp 2020

Currently binging: Twogether, Wonderful Little Forest, Viva La Romance 4, Rap Star, We Are Blazing, Woof Meow Story, We Are Young, Great Escape 2, Yes I Do 2, You Are My Destiny, Love Designer

Produce Camp 2020 (aka Chuang 2020) had Katy Perry sharing her song, Daisies for their final performance which is pretty awesome. The final episode created the 7 girl group “Bon Bon 303”. There wasn’t a huge change in the rankings in general so it wasn’t exactly surprising. I’m a bit disappointed that more people didn’t vote for one or two of the girls in lower rankings as it would have given the group a unique flare. Right now, it feels very balanced in terms of vocals and dancers but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it will stand out as much (especially in comparison to the former girl group from Tencent Rocket Girls 101).

With that said, two new shows on the list. The first is Season 2 of Mango TV’s Great Escape. Half the team of Season 1 is back (with a few that I wonder whether one or two will be back since they had a message about being in isolation) but the new members are pretty fun and they are using other actors/actresses as NPC in the escape room, which is pretty fun. The other show is Love Designer (which had another name before) and its drama with Dilraba Dilmurat and Johnny Huang. I’m about halfway through and its alright.

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

What’s Up 2020: Week 20

Another week has passed and I’m going to say that Week 20 was a rather low point for myself. The week itself had a few issues that lingered on my mind and made the entire week rather unproductive. Perhaps its mildly the lockdown getting to me but then at least things did round out better on the weekend as the weather got better.

READING

• Double Barrel Horror Vol.3 (Review)

Currently reading: To Wake The Dead (The Dead Dreamer #2)

Reading is definitely back on track as I have managed to get in more time for reading every day. At least its progress from no progress, right? I wrapped up Double Barrel Horror Volume 3 really quickly as I needed to get the blog tour done. I’ve moved onto the last book from the first batch of reading commitments of this year that I had wanted to get done earlier but didn’t end up doing but its better late than ever. To Wake The Dead is the sequel of To Dream is to Die (review) which I read earlier this year in March and was an incredibly enjoyable read.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Need For Speed: No Limits, Color Spots, Happy Color

Mostly mobile games in the progress right now as I haven’t quite been in the mood for starting anything more challenging. Our next Game Warp recording is just around the corner so I need to get cracking on the next game. Its going to be an interesting one to say the least and one that I’m looking forward to. New game that I tried this week is Need For Speed: No Limits which is quite similar to console games like Most Wanted and the newer titles where its campaign and cops chase and different races and moving up the racing world. I still think the thrill of playing on mobile is not quite as good as on console but why  not, right?

WATCHING

• Exists (2014)

Slim pickings when I only watched ONE movie last week, right? Exists is on Shudder currently and is directed by one of the directors of The Blair Witch Project (review). Its still a found footage project with what seems like a fairly low budget (although I haven’t done any research on that yet) but instead of supernatural lores in a forest, its also set in a forest with bigfoot roaming around. While my opinions are rather mixed, it had its charm and I’ll talk about it in an upcoming double feature.

BINGING

• Youth (2018)

Currently binging: The Love Equations, Yes I Do 2, Me to Us, Welcome Back to Sound, Youth With You 2, Produce 2020

As variety shows are flooding my currently binging category, I had to start looking for something that was all released to have a proper binge among my rather subpar week and ended up starting (and finishing) Youth, a 2018 series about flat with 5 university roommates and their trials and tribulations through finding themselves, embracing their relationships as well as resolving their own “ghosts”. Its been one thats been on my list for a little while and it had a decent amount of episodes and I’m a big fan of watching stories about girls and their friendships/sisterhood that builds.

A few of the currently binging is in its final week or two and should wrap up soon. Its a good thing since there are some new series landing and playing right now that I’ve put aside due to the long currently binging list. Its hard to track all the days of new episodes landing sometimes. Two ending soon would be The Love Equations which has one more weekend to go and Youth With You 2 which has two more performances before their big reveal of who makes it into the final 9 girl group. Some optimal group choices has pretty much fallen apart at this point but luckily, some of my faves are still in the running. Its good also because its hard to track all these trainees between Youth With You 2 and Produce 2020 just starting.

That’s it for What’s Up Week 20!
What have you been reading/watching/playing/binging?

What’s Up 2020: Week 17

Another week has gone by! I’ve been swamped in work and will remain this way for the next weeks of recaps (or so). Who knows, right? Either way, I’m still trying my best to work hard on different things.

READING

Currently reading: Undead Ultra

Reading is still suffering the most out of this whole working from home and change in work situation where my workload has increased immensely. I haven’t been able to find time or energy to get around to reading. Hopefully it will change in the coming week as I set some reading into my actual schedule.

PLAYING

• Concrete Genie
• Bounce that Bird (mobile)

Currently playing: Happy Color, Faraway: Galactic Escape, Color Spots

Wrapped up Concrete Genie for Game Warp recording so you can look for that. Concrete Genie was an anticipated game for 2019 and snuck under the radar and honestly, it lived up to most of my expectations. It was something dark and colorful and hopeful all at the same time and was a ton of fun just making funky genies and painting walls.

I’m still working through mobile games that were part of the Google Play Indie Game Festival Finalists for some quick mobile game roundups.

As I renewed the Xbox Game Pass for PC for three more months, the next game to tackle will FINALLY be Ori and the Will of the Wisps once things settle down soon!

WATCHING

• Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
• The Changeling (1980)
• Deadly Detention (2017)
• The Willoughbys (2020 Review)

A little bit more movie watching this week and surprisingly, we even managed to catch a new Netflix movie, which is honestly a rarity and I’m not sure why since I don’t even go to theatres anymore (even when they were open or when they reopen). The list here is one rental, one Shudder movie, one random choice for upcoming double feature setup and the new Netflix movie. It was honestly a battle between The Willoughbys and The Changeling for the recommended movie this week and the Willoughbys won out because it was what I needed and I just had a ton of fun watching it. You can check out the review, which I have already done (I know, I’m surprised also), linked above.

BINGING

• The Untamed (2019)
• The Singer 2020 (2020)

Currently binging: J-Style Trip, Love Equations, Me To Us, Youth With You 2, Welcome Back to Sound

Everything that I’m watching, I absolutely love. Last week, I finished up The Untamed. While I have to say that The Singer 2020 was pretty fun to watch, The Untamed was really great. Its been probably about a week as I type this up and man, I’m still thinking about it a lot. The little subtleties, the story, the character: so much thought and care has been put into the detail because of the source materials direction adapted for the strong censorship in China. I didn’t care too much about Yibo Wang before but I’m starting to see something with him but more than that, I absolutely love Sean Xiao even more. So amazingly talented.

As for currently watching, Love Equations reached its halfway point and its still very enjoyable and really nice to watch just like its sister series before. Me To Us and Youth With You 2 are two really great reality shows to create a band and girl group respectively and so far, its been pretty fun especially when it comes to discussing what each of these things mean and especially the former, talking about the challenges of finding a balance of bringing something new and still being accepted by the market. Very grounded in its concept when creating these bands and performances, in the making for its final band. The new addition here is Welcome Back to Sound on Mango TV. Its rehashing the radio broadcast concept onto an online live podcast where people can call in with their personal questions and send in traditional mail that will be replied by QR code message reply or read out loud. It has three hosts and two to three guests, so its pretty fun as well as some of the stories that are shared is pretty touching.

That’s it for Week 17!
Thinking back, I did manage to put some effort in catching up on certain things!
Now to schedule in reading time! Should be better in the next recap *fingers crossed*!
What have you been reading/watching/binging/playing?

What’s Up 2020: Week 16

Welcome to Week 16 of 2020! Self-isolation has been going on for a month or so. Its been quite an experience. I can’t say that I’ve been able to do a whole lot of things different from usual since work has been quite busy and its all about getting through April. Week 16 was a lot of wanting to do something but not being able to because of work overtime or home things.

READING

Currently reading: Undead Ultra

Still reading Undead Ultra and I can tell you that I’ve moved forward very very little. The time to read wasn’t quite as much as I’d like but I am aiming to finish the book soon. Its not a particularly long novel but I just need to sit down to do it.

PLAYING

• Doors: Awakening

Currently playing: Concrete Genie, Happy Color, Bounce That Bird, Color Spots

I’ve been working on a lot of Game Warp stuff lately. Concrete Genie is our upcoming game of the month so its one that I’ve been playing through in preparation for the next recording. As for the other games, Doors: Awakening is a game very similar to other puzzle games published from Snapbreak and its part of the Google Play Indie Games Festival Finalists along with Bounce That Bird and Color Spots and a whole bunch of free games that I’ve been playing through for a little capsule reviews, something like a Mobile Game Roundup.

WATCHING

• The Game (1997)
• The Farewell (2019)
• Black Mountain Side (2014)
• Berlin Syndrome (2017)

I have a ton of movie reviews lined up to write so all of these are currently in line to be written. This week’s highlight goes to The Farewell which I finally got around to seeing thanks to a cheap rental. Its a great film. The story and characters and whatnot all make for a great watch. Other movies in here are for Movies and Tea recording (you can guess which one yourself). Black Mountain Side is a movie on Shudder which I personally don’t recommend but apparently some people on Letterboxd seem to like it more than I did. While on the other hand, Berlin Syndrome ended up being surprisingly decent and Teresa Palmer acts in her own Australian accent instead of playing an American so that was quite a surprise as well.

BINGING

• Find Yourself (rewatch 2020)
• Too Hot to Handle (Season 1, 2020) Review
• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (Season 1, 2019)

Currently binging: Me to Us, The Singer 2020, The Love Equations, J-Style Trip, Youth With You 2, The Untamed

As usual, with a lot of work, TV is the most abundant thing since I like binge-watching on my spare time the most. Plus, TV means a lot of times that I can multitask and that was exactly what I needed. After some though, I decided to watch Too Hot to Handle and it was something that fit into my current mindset so I even finished up a review so you can read my thoughts there. I did a rewatch for Find Yourself which I’m working on a review right now and then wrapped up Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner which was a decent structure as a documentary series. While I like the Ugly Delicious style of docuseries, I like this one a lot too.

Currently binging is really not that different. The Singer 2020 is about to end as they wrap up the semi-finals and head into the finals in the coming week. J-Style Trip is my filler show since it only has one episode a week and it blends well with Me To Us that updates one episode a week on the weekend. I’m enjoying everything that I’m binging right now actually and its just a matter of choosing which I want to watch and which to watch over the course of the following week although my weekend mornings are watching the premieres on Youtube for The Love Equations so I binge those 4 episodes released over the weekend a lot. That series is so fun. On the other hand, I finally started The Untamed which was a HUGE deal last year and I can see why as I binged 10 episodes in one day and if I kept this pace, it’ll be done in no time, even at 50 episodes total. Lots of great TV to watch and catch up with!

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

What’s Up 2020: Week 15

15 weeks into 2020 and its been quite the unexpected experience as we spend another week at self-isolation. The routine has definitely started coming into place even though it was a crazy shift in terms of work obligations with a huge load of responsibilities dumped on my shoulders so a lot of stress and fatigue and really not much of an Easter holiday to talk about since there wasn’t really any time off. Still, I tried my best to work around it and I’d say, it turned out alright!

READING

• Highland Cove by Dylan J. Morgan (Review)

Currently reading: Undead Ultra

After having not a whole lot of reading during the week, I ended up having to take out 3 hours last minute to read through the entire Highland Cove novel. I don’t read horror a lot in general so it was definitely a change in pace. At the same time, it was a decent horror novel that as it picked up bit by bit, it was quite a fun read overall. However, the review is up so you can just check it out! 😉

Right when I said that I don’t read a lot of horror, the next book is also a horror-ish book and a zombie apocalypse deal. I just started up that one so not a whole lot to say about it yet.

PLAYING

• Demon’s Tilt

Currently playing: Sky: Children of the Light, Happy Colors, Cookies Must Die

Finally hitting the goal that I wanted for Demon’s Tilt, I’m pretty much done with that one although I’m sure as long as I have the Xbox Game Pass that I’ll go back to play pinball games now and again to relax. However, the game that I just started playing is Sky: Children of the Light by thatgamecompany who previously made fantastic games like Flower and Journey. Its on the mobile for free (at least where I’m at) and its really nice and the soundtrack is really good as well. I’m looking forward to finishing that one.

WATCHING

• A.M.I. (2019)
• Albion: The Enchanted Stallion (2016)
• 31 (2016)
• Zombieland (2009 rewatch, Review)
• Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

Its been a horror filled week, right? Most of my movies this week is in the horror genre also although Zombieland is more of a horror comedy. I’ve watched a few movies that has been rather middling at best and then one in particular that was really meh. The most fun definitely goes to revisiting Zombieland. The last time I saw it was in 2013 or something but my husband wanted to refresh his memory so that we could watch the rental for Zombieland: Double Tap which was going to expire soon. Its been a decade since the first movie so I was a little worried about the sequel. Luckily, it was still everything that I expected. Review coming up for that one!

BINGING

• The Great Canadian Baking Show (Season 2, 2018)
• Skate into Love (2020)
• The Circle France (Season 1, 2020)

Currently playing: Youth With You 2, The Love Equations, J-Style Trip, The Singer 2020, Me to Us

I’ve been watching quite a bit of TV and then a lot of it is food-related, which isn’t too good during self-isolation as it makes me want to eat even more. But then, we also have some fun TV binges like The Circle France which released the complete Season 1 in one shot instead of like The Circle US and The Circle Brazil that released it as 3 week events. The Circle’s concept in general is just a great idea and such a fun watch especially as different participants bring a different dynamic to the game. I’ve been absolutely in love with Skate Into Love. Its just one of the top series for me of 2020 so far. I keep wanting to rewatch it and the two main leads are super fun and it has such a positive message about chasing your dreams. Its a positive series and really cute and its what we all need during this time.

Of course, right after that, Tencent just aired their latest addition to a sister series to A Love So Beautiful (review) and Put Your Head On My Shoulder (review) called The Love Equations. They are airing this one really slow with just 4 episodes a week on the weekends but then I guess it makes sense since there is less than 30 episodes. Four episodes in and I already love it so I can’t wait for the new episodes to pop up the next weekend.

That’s it for Week 15 recap!
What have you been reading/watching/playing/binging?

What’s Up 2020: Week 14

Another week has passed by as we jump into week 14 of 2020! The rhythm of working from home and balancing out the to-do list for blog and home stuff is definitely setting itself into place. Everything here is finally more balanced now.

READING

• Blackthorn by Terry Tyler (Review)

Currently reading: Highland Cove

Back on track with reading (kind of) as I finally finish up Blackthorn! Its not a dreading way that I’m saying this because Blackthorn is a really good read. You can check out my review that I’ve linked above. Terry Tyler is a really good author, judging from the two books that I’ve read of hers so far and definitely an author I’d like to read more of as she has some fantastic world building skills.

Of course, its time to move on as I’m reading Highland Cove, a story along the paranormal horror genre. A genre that I honestly haven’t read in a while so it will be a nice change in pace.

PLAYING

Currently playing: Happy Color, Cookies Must Die, Bounce That Bird, Demon’s Tilt

As I try to find some time to stream (which should be coming up), I’ve been working on my next gaming post reviewing some of the games who made the finalists in the Google Play Indie Games Festival for this year. Its quite a feat and probably won’t be done until they announce the winner of the whole thing but you know, its an attempt. With that said, Cookies Must Die and Bounce That Bird are both free games on the list that I’m checking out at the same time.

WATCHING

• Pride and Prejudice (2005 rewatch, Review)
• Hell House LLC 3: Lake of Fire (2019)
• Justice League (2017)

It was a week of taking it easy on the reading as there was just a lot of TV that I wanted to watch and I had a few things that I needed to take care of. With that said, I tend to enjoy rewatching Pride and Prejudice every once in a while as its one of my favorite movies. Its probably the top movie of the week but then, I never choose rewatches to highlight so we’re going with Justice League, a movie that surprisingly was a decent watch since I have been pretty much indifferent to the DC Universe films except for Wonder Woman. This was a fun watch. As for Hell House LLC 3, I’m going to be doing a double feature on both the sequels so I’ll just review it there.

BINGING

• Nailed It! (Season 4, 2020)
• The Great Canadian Baking Show (Season 1, 2017)

Currently binging: Skate into Love, The Singer 2020, Youth Is You 2, The Great Canadian Baking Show (Season 2), J-Style Trip

TV has been a huge focus this week. I’ve been watching a lot of baking shows as you can see. Nailed It Season 4 arrived and well, I watched that over two days. Its still a lot of fun and I should be doing a little review on that since there’s not a whole lot to talk about except maybe a few little things. While I am watching through the 2 seasons of The Great Canadian Baking Show that landed on Netflix and since I have zero actual TV channels at home, I don’t even catch CBC shows so didn’t really know this existed before. Still, its a good show as I start tackling Season 2 already.

Most of everything else has already been in progress but Skate Into Love is wrapping up in the coming week and boy, that series is SO AWESOME! Luckily, when that one ends, there’s another one that I’ve been looking forward to coming out. The good stuff for Chinese dramas are popping up now and its starting to look forward to!

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