Tag Archives: 2023

What’s Up – January 2024

Posted in My Weekly Adventures, What's Up by

Letterboxd Year in Review 2023

Film Logged: 168 (there’s 10 TV series logged in here)
Hours Watched: 485 Hours
Most Watched Actor: Bill Murray
Most Watched Director: Wes Anderson
Top Rated 2023 Films: Hidden Love (TV series), Once Upon a Studio, Sly
Most Watched Week of 2023: 11 Films on Week 45 (Nov 6-12)
Most Watched Day of 2023: Monday
Most Watched Theme: Emotional and captivating fantasy storytelling
Most Watched Nanogenre: Horror, Twist, Death

Honestly, I’m pretty impressed with how Letterboxd has gotten pretty detailed with the other statistics other than the most watched actor and director which, due to Movies and Tea, its usually pretty easy to guess who those two will be and I guessed this year’s with no hesitation.

WHAT’S UP

Books

  • Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain

Currently reading: Boy: Tales of Childhood, The Book and the Sword

I can’t even remember when I started the book but it has to about 3 months to finish Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain. If you’ve only seen any of the adaptations, I’d say to try to look this book up because it is such a treat. The version I had included two short stories originally published in 1961: Blade-dance of the Two Lovers and White Horse Neighs in the Western Wind which were also pretty fun to read as well. Its not quite as well structured and executed as Fox Volant but Blade-dance had some fun ensemble of characters while White Horse dragged a little but had some interesting twists. I will eventually get the actual review up once I catch up with all the writing that’s fallen behind in 2024.

Movies

  • Saltburn (2023 Review)
  • Asteroid City (2023)
  • Body Parts (1991 Review)
  • The Flying Swordsman (2022 Review)
  • Puppet Master (1989 Review)
  • I Did It My Way (2023 Review)
  • Miss Shampoo (2023)
  • Prisoners (2013)
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
  • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
  • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
  • The Neon Demon (2016 Review)
  • Enola Holmes (2020 rewatch, Review)
  • Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002 rewatch)
  • The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
  • Wolf Pack (狼群, 2022 Review)

I’ve worked really hard to keep up with movie reviews this month and I think it really shows some promise (even though this post is coming out incredibly delayed from usual). January was a great month for movie-watching. Not sure the actual movie quality was really good but I did get around to catching up with the rest of the film series for Hunger Games before it left Netflix and joined the Oh My Horror Challenge so its boosted up the film count and helped explore some interesting horror genres/subgenres.

My recommendations this month aren’t too plentiful but Asteroid City, Prisoners and Wolf Pack from my first time watches are definitely the stand-outs. While Puppet Master, Body Parts and Miss Shampoo had their fun parts, the first two also had some really weird moments that I’m not sure I’m totally behind and the last one is solely because I’m not a fan of the comedy style so some of the jokes really didn’t land well for me and while it was meant to be cringe-y over the top romance, some of it just felt really uncomfortable.

TV

  • Dead Ringer (叠影狙击, 2023)
  • Mountains and Oceans (你是我眼中的山川和海洋, 2019)
  • Closer To You (我的刺猬女孩, 2020)
  • Queer Eye (Season 7, 2023 Review)
  • Queer Eye (Season 6, 2022 rewatch)
  • Queer Eye (Season 8, 2024)
  • Gilmore Girls (Season 1 rewatch, Review)
  • Gilmore Girls (Season 2 rewatch, Review)

Currently watching: Asia Super Young, Singing With Legends S5, Justice in the Dark, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre

While TV series kind of took a backseat at the beginning of the month and it was somewhat of a deliberate choice since I wanted to get back to writing movie reviews. The focus this month other than another Gilmore Girls run because its the best overtime companion was the new season Queer Eye and working through some of the Youku subscription which has some fun stuff and more Hong Kong series even if I just watched Dead Ringer which was relatively decent if not a little predictable and some weird acting but ruined it with a very lazy ending and then went through the Sabrina Zhuang series with Mountains and Oceans which I had some mixed feelings about throughout but it had a silent attack on me and caught me off-guard a few times and turned out to be pretty good but not quite as good as Closer To You which probably isn’t as good as a similar time travel series premise like Shining For One Thing but its a lot more fun.

Games

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Gaming really took stumble in January which usually happens because I’m just really busy with work. It doesn’t change even if I’m part-time because the workload just diminished in proportion for the most part. I did work through a a little bit more of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney but I’m at the episode 5 which is also the last and hardest one of the game. I’ve always had issues with this episode and with my crappy memory and its been probably the longest stretch between replays for this game, I basically remember the plot but can’t remember how to solve a lot of the stuff so its a new experience overall.

I apologize for the delay for this post but February wrap-up should be coming up relatively on time!
I have a few other posts to catch up on before we get there but I’m working on it!

What have you been watching/reading/playing?

Music Obsessions – January 2024

Posted in Music Obsessions by

I know, I know, its not January anymore and its even time to get the February 2024 out but its been a bit of a roller coaster to start the year and somehow the monthly segments are falling behind. With that said, its tradition here (or at least as long as I’ve been using Spotify for music) to use the January segment to share my Spotify Wrapped. Full transparency that it was only at the end of the year that I got into a deal for Spotify Premium so for the most part, these songs was by random and I didn’t skip over. Still, I can’t say I disagree on why these landed on the list since they are frequently played when I use Spotify.

Taiwanese artists focus starts next post which should be coming up once I get around to all the delayed posts.

Lets start with some fun Spotify stats:

  • Top Genres: Movie Tunes, Mandopop, Cantopop, Show Tunes, Chinese Hip Hop
  • Listened for 10, 204 minutes with 164 minutes on June 21st (makes sense since I was doing a long drive on vacation)
  • Listened to 475 artists
  • Top Artist: Max LL (Thanks to using the Spiritfarer soundtrack to wind down with my toddler before bedtime)
  • Top Podcast: I Am All In With Scott Patterson (its the only podcast I listened to….)
  • Style: Vampire aka listening to emotional, atmospheric music more than most
  • And now for the countdown of the Top 5 songs…

5. 舊日回憶的山丘 (OT:Time Capsule No Oka)- Joey Yung

Released in 2002 from album Something About You, one of the earlier albums from Joey Yung, its one of the songs that has tuck with me over the years which I like a lot but I honestly think doesn’t get enough love. I don’t even remember when I heard it, probably from one of her concert compilations. During research for this, I actually realized that its original is Time Capsule No Oka by Maki Yano.

You can check out my Music Obsessions focus on Joey Yung HERE.

4. You’re Welcome – Dwayne Johnson

While we’re not big Moana fans at home other than my toddler’s attachment to the plush Pu’a, the pig in Moana, my husband’s a big fan of You’re Welcome so we always listen to the whole thing whenever it randomly pops up. I’m guessing that’s why its on the list. It is a fun time. Probably should revisit Moana at some point.

3. Love, Maybe – MeloMance

This is the surprise of the list considering K-pop didn’t even make it on my top genres but somehow I listened to this one a whole lot. I honestly didn’t but Spotify seemed to like it and I listened to it a lot after I finished watching Business Proposal. I do like MeloMance and making a note to look up more of their songs.

2. School Song (from “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical”)

Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical almost made it on my Top 10 Film Discoveries of 2023. It was one that I watched a lot last January when it first landed on Netflix. I loved the songs a ton and even searched up the actual musical versions. The film is really fun and all the dance choereography was so on point. It was honestly a toss up between School Song or Revolting Children making the list here since I listened to those two songs a lot at the beginning of the year.

1. 快樂王子 Happy Prince- Pong Nan 藍奕邦

Talking about underrated artists, Pong Nan is the one that I honestly don’t hear a whole lot of people talk about but I really like his songs. His music is really unique and the lyrics are well-written. It tells an emotion and/or a story really well. I love three of his songs Knowing Oneself, June and this song, Happy Prince, a whole lot. While I’m not so current on his newer music, these songs are my go-to. I’m actually a little surprised that its my top song. I honestly thought one of the Max LL songs would make it but its a pleasant surprise.

Youtube Music 2023 Recap

Since I’m late to the party for the January recap, I wanted to share the Youtube 2023 Recap as well for some more fun music! It feels like the first year Youtube’s done something like this for individual users and these one are pretty interesting picks. A lot of these ones have to do with either appeal to my toddler or performances that I loved.

My toddler loves Tengger’s voice. I’m not sure why. Its why he loves when I put on anything with his voice. This cover is so unique though. One of the faves of last year for sure and I always listen to when I’m having a bad day.

That’s it for January 2024 recap!
Sorry for the delay! Feburary recap will be coming very soon!
I’m still having an internal debate as to what artist to start.

Upcoming Plans 2023!!

Posted in Everyday Randomness, My Weekly Adventures by

Happy New Year everyone!

2023 is here. Honestly 2022 went by way too fast even if its probably the year that I slept the least, got my first hospital operation ( since wisdom teeth extraction is also considered an operation), birthed a little baby boy Triple V and my life milestones are celebrating his developmental milestones. In the midst of that, I managed to cover a couple of film festivals and took a few review opportunities as well.

For a general overview of 2022, you can find it HERE!

As we look forward to 2023, we’re looking at mostly the same but perhaps a little more goal-oriented (or an attempt to be). Maybe it will help with my indecisiveness when there’s just too many choices!

Let’s get right to it!

BOOKS

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2023: 15 books

Setting a rather ambitious goal of 15 books this year but above is all the books I do want to get through this year. I still have a ton of unread books that I physically own but I’m going to start with that. It will also have some children’s books in the mix since I’m reading a lot to the little one. Not that he understands anything as I write this up but hoping to get him used to the sounds and such to hopefully help his development.

Also, I’ve been thinking about reading all the Hercule Poirot books by Agatha Christie so I’m planning on trying to get that kicked off. I’m going to read them in order of release.

MOVIES

Not too many changes to movies this year. Much like previous years you can expect Double Features and single reviews on new releases, mostly those that I am more enthused about. My main source of entertainment remains Netflix and Shudder and sometimes Amazon Prime so I’m working mostly off those avenues. Not too sure whether I will getting on for the bigger festival coverages but I’m going to guess it will be a year or two more before I get back into it (if I’m still doing this by then). Marathons should remain the same with February Romance, October Horror and December Holidays. These suffered quite a bit this year but I’m hoping to shorten the length but get some decent reviews out. Still working on getting some themed months but hopefully this year will be it.

Also, seeing as my co-host for Ultimate Decades Blogathon announced last year his hiatus or possible permanent departure from blogging, this will not be happening.

My main focus has shifted a lot on Movies and Tea Podcast. Its a great time to record and Elwood and I have a lot of fun as we move through more directors and have some pretty good ideas for upcoming seasons.

TV & Tranquil Dreams Podcast

If you were here last year (and amazingly have stayed after my hiatus and slow content), I already talked about this. Only difference is that I actually put a lot of set up work on this in the past 2 months so its almost ready to get going. I just need some small polish to get things ready to relaunch.

For those who weren’t here, TV binge will focus on everything other than Chinese Language Series. I’ve already started doing that in 2022 and even changed a little bit how I approached the TV binges in general. All the Chinese Language Series will be moved to the podcast when it launches. I’m actually working on some series from the past few years that I haven’t had a chance to write about but I really love. Chinese Language Series means anything from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. Maybe the random Singapore ones if it catches my eye. The main focus will be on the bigger North American streaming platforms like what is acquired by Netflix but will also look at notable ones from Chinese International streaming apps.

Last year I did also talk about the Sunday Lists being moved to the podcast also. Its still in my plans but I’m going to get it relaunched first before going further with this. I love the segment a ton so I do hope that I get around to working it back into the blog one way or another.

Monthly Segments

Monthly Segments remain the same with Music Obsessions happening the first weekend of the month and Adventures & What’s Up as a month-end wrap-up.

Retiring Photography Segment, Housekeeping and Where It Goes

I mentioned on the Adventures post for December 2022 that I had retired all the photography posts on the blog. With that said, I do still want to get back to photography. I’m mostly using my phone lately but still, it should be fun. I’ve always wanted to do the 365 challenge so I’m going to attempt to do it this year over on Avenue of Daydreams which was constructed for all things creative so photography is moving over there and honestly just continuing since I did weekly photo posts before I took a hiatus.

PERSONAL GOALS

WORK OUT REGULARLY: I’ve given myself a good deal of time to recover from the operation and while taking care and amusing my 6 month old is a lot of exercise, I do want to start doing some actual working out. I’m looking at getting in some yoga, bodyweights and light weights just to see how it goes. It will be a slow progression but I’m rather heavy right now and I’m starting to worry that its not doing any favors for my knees. Plus, we plan to get back to hiking in the summer carrying the little one on our backs so I do want to start training a bit more endurance in preparation for it.

STREAMING: Last year I set this goal and did not do it at all. Its still on my mind to get this launched. I have a lot of games to play on back catalogue and why not try to build something in the process. This will probably happen after I get into a rhythm after the podcast launch.

FINAL NOTE

Last year I talked about slowing down and to be honest, its pretty clear that I’m not picking up blogging any time soon. My baby is taking a lot of my time during the day and in the evenings, between making sure the house isn’t a complete mess and trying to move up my sleeping schedule, its been really hard to focus on writing a lot. I basically write posts for the things that inspire me the most at the moment. Anything that lands in the average doesn’t get prioritized. You can always follow me on Letterboxd to see what I’ve watched and the ratings, if you like. I only use it for my diary to track the movies I’ve watched throughout the year.

To be fair, I’m shifting more towards my co-host projects so while I’ve mentioned Movies and Tea Podcast. I am going to also put more effort into Game Warp to try to get more reviews out and gaming done. It will go hand in hand with the streaming plans.

2023 has some ambitious plans but I’m hoping to get through it!
Wishing you all a fantastic 2023!