Tag Archives: Monthly

What’s Up – April 2025

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BOOKS

  • Hua Mulan – Children’s Illustrated Version

Currently reading: The King of Shanghai

It may have taken a few weeks but we managed to get through the Mulan storybook during bedtime for a last minute finish for April wrap-up. Its a pretty fun little read mostly for myself since it is a little more complex aimed for 6 to 8 year olds but my toddler liked to end the bedtime with this so I went along with it. The illustrations are lovely and its written well. I’ve always been a fan of Mulan probably the whole thing with being one of the first Chinese strong female historical figure adapted to Disney that made it from 1998 to now as a constant fascination with this material.

MOVIES

  • Kung Fu Panda (2008 rewatch)
  • Glorious (2022)
  • Despicable Me (2010 rewatch)
  • Borderlands (2024)
  • In a Violent Nature (2024)
  • Despicable Me 2 (2013 rewatch)
  • Ocean’s Eight (2018 rewatch, Review)
  • Fatal Games (1984)
  • I Saw The TV Glow (2024)
  • The 9th Precinct (2019)
  • The Grinch (2018 rewatch, Review)
  • The Bad Guys (2022 rewatch)
  • Bad Rap (2016)

April’s always a busy work month with lots of extra work time and work deadline stress so a bunch of rewatches and all the new viewings are either for Oh My Horror Challenge as we fell behind and played catch-up throughout Easter weekend, and podcast recording material. I have to say that my rewatch material was most of the fun films this month for the most part although, there were some surprising films.

Glorious is a film with an unique one setting focus which is a public toilet with an all-knowing ancient entity. Its incredibly weird and the comedy doesn’t always land but its made me want to go back to rewatch True Blood because of the main character and the winningest point here is probably J.K. Simmons voice as the all-knowing ancient entity. He has one of the most distinctive voices in the film industry and its such a fantastic job that he does here with the script.

Borderlands is a decent video game remake which hits some of the usual tropes and stars Cate Blanchett in a fairly unexpected role but it sets up the Borderlands world really well and some of the characters are cast and executed well. I saw the TV Glow also was very unique especially with its color palette and the story that it told. It had a lot of reflective thinking about the whole film experience at the end. I’m fairly certain its a divisive film for the most part but its one of those films that when I sit around and think about it, it just gets better and better.

Much like the Ninth Precinct which I went in thinking it would be a total wash but Taiwanese horror comedies have really been surprisingly good. There’s some bad computer graphics but the execution of the ghosts material was really good. Plus it stars Mike He who has this comeback in some interesting films and TV series in the past few years. This definitely was one of the highlights of this month.

With that said, my low-points are definitely In A Violent Nature and Fatal Games. In some ways, I can’t really be that harsh on In A Violent Nature because the title did say that it would be violent and gross. There’s one kill scene in particular that really bothered me a lot. BUT, its not really the violence itself but more the violence gets to ridiculous and illogical places that makes it feel so unnecessary in the final acts. However, I think its important to note that while I’m not a fan of the execution itself, the film does approach the material in an unusual way which is film using the killer’s perspective so a lot of the conversations and interactions are off-screen and that was pretty neat. As for Fatal Games, it had some creative kills for a 80s slasher pick but the acting was incredibly cringey although the killer was slightly unexpected.

TV

  • Perfect Match (五福臨門, 2025 rewatch)
  • Begin Again (燦爛的風和海, 2024)
  • Love Game in Eastern Fantasy (永夜星河, 2024)

Currently watching: The First Shot, Sister Who Makes Waves S6, Game of True Love, Eat Run Love, I’m the Surprise, The Last of Us S2, True Blood S1 (rewatch)

I’m actually surprised that I haven’t watched more TV series this year. Its probably because in the midst of crazy work phase I was rewatching Gilmore Girls yet again and never bothered to log it here again. Either way, I have officially found my next rewatchable series and that’s Perfect Match. This drama is a feel-good vibe and I already talked a bunch about it in last month’s recap so I’m not going to do that again. Regardless, its just so much fun to watch that its a perfect one to rewatch on the side when I’m busy for some lighthearted comedic background noise.

As I try to wrap up Chinese dramas that I started before my work rush started, the first one is a feel-good light-hearted one made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Macau’s China handover which celebrates the city set in a story set in a 2 weeks of four people facing different crossroads in their personal and career and life pressures as they meet a romantic life that changes their life. Its only 18 episodes which is a lovely length and I loved it a lot. It made me want to revisit Macau for the places they highlighted which wasn’t the casinos. Plus it has Sunny Sun and Amy Chen which was my original draw to the series plus they have a Cantonese version which I’d assume doesn’t dub the Cantonese parts and retains the actual audio from the Hong Kong actors like Alex Fong and Carman Chan. Either way, its a wonderful series which does highlights a lot of Macau outside of the usual tourist spots and the filming style is outstanding.

I’ve also been trying to get through some of the Netflix Chinese dramas which I don’t have the streaming service subscription yet and that’s Love Game in Eastern Fantasy. I talked about how much I love Esther Yu in last month’s when I talked about Ski Into Love (also on Netflix) but this one is based on almost all the main leads from a series I loved back in 2021 called Moonlight and this is a bit of a reunion except for the second female lead which changed but fun fact that the Moonlight second female lead and this one’s is actually both on this season’s Sister Who Makes Waves, which I thought was pretty neat. Love Game in Eastern Fantasy is a pretty well-designed fantasy world even though the story drags sometimes. I wished that Bambi Zhu would do a bubbly role instead because in the Sisters variety shows, she’s a much more energetic and positive person than this serious role. I think what it dials down to is that it lacks a little bit of chemistry from everyone. The cast and supporting cast is pretty good though along with the concept of the whole story set in a world controlled by a system in the real modern treating it like the web novel turned into a game so that comes with its whole logical elements of how they choose to wrap up the whole thing which is choosing to skim over it briefly because this one is more about romance. I just wonder if the actual novel explains it better.

GAMES

  • Shady Part of Me

Currently playing: Alice: Madness Returns

I wrapped up Shady Part of Me for Game Warp recording which is available on the majority of podcast spaces. For your convenience, here’s the Spotify link HERE. In a nutshell, Shady Part of Me is a puzzle platformer which plays with dimensions in the form of a character and her shade counterpart as she deals with her own emotions while a third character in the role of a psychiatrist talks like a narrator. Its a pretty fun game with some decent visuals and game mechanics. The story is pretty good for the most part especially with the world building. For some extreme gamers, it might not be the intense platformer experience but it is a dark world in both the literal and figurative way. Its definitely a fun little indie game to discover if puzzle platformers are your thing.

I’ve started up the next game which is one I’ve had on my gaming list for a while and I’m finally getting to it. Let’s just say from the little that I’ve played, its been an impressive experience for Alice: Madness Returns. I’m hoping it keeps up but I’ll probably fill you in on this next month. And yes, I know I’m late to the party on this one.

What’s Up January 2025

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Letterboxd Year in Review 2024

  • 206 Films Logged (includes some TV series)
  • 484 Hours Watched
  • Most Watched Actor: Eddie Murphy
  • Most Watched Director: Denis Villeneuve
  • Highly Rated 2024 Films: The Double (TV series), Abigail, Fortune Feimster: Crushing It

Not my best year but I’m pretty happy with 2024 especially since the year started with some pretty unimpressive film choices but it did get better by the end of the year. It is pretty impressive that my top film of the year held its place since the February viewing. At the same time, the most watched actor being Eddie Murphy has a lot to do with watching the whole Beverly Hills Cop franchise and Most Watched Director like previous years has a lot to do with Movies and Tea choices. As for highly rated 2024 films, I have to say those three choices are on point especially since The Double is an amazing series that I’ve been slowly rewatching and Fortune Feimster: Crushing It was the most enjoyable stand-up comedy for me this year even if I didn’t watch a ton of those.

WHAT’S UP 2024

BOOKS

  • Touching & Talking by Jimmy Liao
  • The Monster Who Ate Darkness by Joyce Dunbar
  • The World Champion of Staying Awake by Sean Taylor
  • Boyfriend (Moo U #1) by Sabrina Bowen

Currently reading: Hidden Love

As I work through some Jimmy Liao purchases and trying to get back into my Kindle backlog with some light reading, the start of 2025 is already more promising. Now, if I could only get back to some reviews, then we’d be even more on track since most of these were pretty fun reads.

Jimmy Liao’s Touching and Talking is a fun take on the world of the imagination and reality when a conversation sparks between them on the observations around as we follow a boy and girl who enters a wall to another dimension and the parallel starts and they return as adults later on. Its a quirky look at life with clever takes.

The true winners of my toddler is the two books illustrated by Jimmy Liao: Joyce Dunbar’s The Monster Who Ate Darkness and Sean Taylor’s The World Champion of Staying Awake. I got them in Chinese edition but my little one loves the story and we read both of those a lot.

Boyfriend was originally a free Kindle book as a first book of the series when I first picked it up. While it falls into some familiar tropes of these type of romance novels, this one has some good bits and a pleasant reading experience. Not sure that I would read more from this verse but it did exceed my expectations.

MOVIES

  • The Knightriders (1981)
  • Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story (2022)
  • Zootopia (2016 rewatch, Review)
  • Longlegs (2024)
  • The Prosecutor (2025, Review)
  • V/H/S 99 (2022)
  • The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
  • Interstellar (2014)
  • Woman of the Hour (2023)
  • Dumbo (1941 rewatch, Review)
  • Far From The Tree (2021 short)
  • Jackpot! (2024 rewatch)

Its been a few years that my January started off so strong both in quantity and quality. I started the year working through my co-host’s 2024 Top 50 which lead to some great watches like Longlegs and Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story. I also participated again to the Oh My Horror Challenge 2025 and landed on V/H/S 99 and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It which I have to say the first lacked the strength of the films before and The Conjuring series seems to be getting better as the series goes along.

There’s also a lot of random picks which were pretty good watches. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was an exhilarating watch, while not quite as good as Fury Road, had some great filmmaking there and yet again shows the diversity of Ana Taylor-Joy’s acting. My husband has been on a cosmic space trend lately so that’s how we ended up watching Interstellar which I thought was a pretty good movie but just a tad long for my liking. I do enjoy seeing Anne Hathaway expanding into other film genres as well although it still doesn’t beat her involvement in Colossal (review). As for my own random choice, I ended up watching Woman of the Hour after seeing a few articles online about the film that peaked my interest and plus, I was also curious about Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut which I honestly think the project as a whole was a decent success both on the directorial level and the plot execution which doesn’t glorify the serial killer angle too much.

TV

  • Binary Love (二进制恋爱, 2022)
  • Squid Game (Season 2, 2024)
  • XO, Kitty (Season 2, 2025)
  • A Dream of Splendor (夢華錄, 2022)

Currently watching: Infinity and Beyond S4, Line Walker S1, Parenthood S1, The Imperial Coroner

As I worked through my WeTV subscription which is coming to an end soon, I caught up with another Sabrina Zhuang series with Binary Love which was fun and lighthearted. Not sure it was as great as some of her later series but it achieved its purpose for this type of series. I also caught up with A Dream of Splendor which is one of Yifei Wang’s Chinese dramas after her involvement in Mulan. She paired up with Chen Xiao which is the first time I’ve seen this actor but I’ve heard that he is pretty good and the series was decent as well. I felt it was a little long as with most series that near the 40 episode mark since most of the time the writing loses its pacing a little. However, these two are well-casted so it works relatively well.

Netflix did have some fun offerings. We wrapped up Squid Game Season 2. I’m working on the review that got cut off halfway due to my crazy work schedule so I won’t dive into it too much. Other than thinking that they split the season in two for no reason, the series is a fun dive back into the world. I also don’t necessarily feel like a second season was warranted but there are some well-written new characters. Of course, we also have XO Kitty’s second season and I of course binged it the on release date and since then have rewatched it a bunch of times. I do think the second season dives more into the Korean culture and a lot more of the coming-of-age element and balances the romance and friendship relatively well. It feels more well-rounded than the first season as it should since the foundation of the show was also set up then. Of course, as I write this very late What’s Up, Season 3 has already been announced and I’m going to be getting that review up soon as well.

GAMES

  • Figment: A Journey Through the Mind
  • Crime O’Clock

Currently playing: Road 96, Spirittea

After a lot of hours and months, I finally finished Crime O’Clock with 100% achievements and it was honestly worth every minute. It was so much fun to play. A hidden object game mixed with a bunch of mystery cases that come together for a bigger plot. They added a lot of side quests with some pop culture icons mixed in with their own imaginative world. Its a well thought-out game.

We also covered Figment: A Journey Through The Mind which we’ve been talking about reviewing for months on Game Warp and finally did that which was a pleasant surprise. The game ended up having a much deeper storyline with a fantastic musical element and while the simplistic combat might be a little lacking for more intense gamers, I thought it jived well with my gaming abilities. I’m excited to eventually try Figment 2.

What’s Up – September 2024

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BOOKS

  • The Birthday Wish Mystery by Faye Couch Reeves
  • Kiss & Goodbye by Jimmy Liao

Currently reading: The Enormous Egg, West Falls Revisited

Reading took a little turn this month as I dug out some of my children novels and read them as bedtime stories to my toddler. It was pretty neat since I also got to revisit those stories I haven’t reread in decades and saw how they held up. The first was The Birthday Wish Mystery which is a fun and silly story and I remembered that I read this one a lot as a child and while the twist now feels a little predictable as an adult, it does have simple deductive skill for young kids.

Second book is a new book I picked up to add to my Jimmy Liao collection. Kiss & Goodbye is a whimsical take on growing up where we forget about the many things that we experience from what someone says or where our pets come from and certain tasks that aren’t done to forgetting that the protagonist is still a child and on the train ride with his dog and a magical suitcase, he starts to remember. I’m fairly certain its about some loss and about children who are forced to grow up quickly but it is done in an abstract way however this is usually how Jimmy Liao approaches his picture books so it still has a pretty strong message once the story slightly pieces together and the bittersweetness in the words come through, it does have a profound meaning.

MOVIES

  • Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987)
  • Security (2017)
  • Hello Babies (2014)
  • Mean Girls (2024)
  • Finding Yingying (2020)
  • Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)
  • Final Destination 3 (2006)
  • Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994)
  • Orca (1977)
  • Annabelle (2014)
  • After The Sunset (2004 rewatch)
  • Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
  • Veronica (2017)
  • The Conjuring 2 (2016)
  • Polytechnique (2009 rewatch)
  • Inferior Decorator (1948 rewatch)
  • What Lies Beneath (2000)
  • The Final Destination (2009)

Between the Oh My Horror Challenge, movies leaving Netflix, watching for the first time the Beverly Hills Cop franchise and moving forward a little more with the Final Destination franchise and The Conjuring universe and a bunch of rewatches, that basically summarizes my entire September month except for the viewing for Mean Girls remake and the documentary Finding Yingying.

With that said, I did find a few gems in the bunch with the top spot taking What Lies Beneath which was a fantastic movie starring the fabulous Michelle Pfeiffer. I enjoyed The Conjuring 2 more than the first one surprisingly. Spanish horror Veronica also had a great execution on a supernatural possession story. The Beverly Hills Cop sequels were also pretty fun. Nothing quite as exceptional as the first film but still managed to be solid entertainment.

Two movies that I really didn’t think much of when I heard of their releases, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Mean Girls actually turned out to be a decent viewing. Nothing super unique but it was a surprisingly good time. For Clifford the Big Red Dog, I think its capturing the nostalgia elements and giving it a great story with acceptable CGI for Clifford. I grew up with Clifford which got its popularity in Canada end of my elementary years so it held a special spot in my heart so it was nice that it wasn’t disappointing. The original Mean Girls is a film that I rewatch quite a bit because I think its a fun one overall. The remake honestly doesn’t do a whole lot different except giving it a 21st century tech upgrade and giving it the musical remake based on its Broadway. It helps that Tina Fey is still keeping this one alive so the heart is still there especially since she managed to bring back some of the original film cast to star here in supporting or cameo roles.

TV

  • Blue Ribbon Baking Championship (Season 1, 2024)
  • Emily in Paris (Season 4, 2024)
  • Governor’s Secret Love (君心藏不住, 2023)

Currently watching: Call Me By Fire S4, Great Escape S6, The Next Singer, Let’s Fall in Love S6, Different Princess

This month’s TV was a little underwhelming. The only Chinese drama I finished was a short drama which was a really dumb thing but it was expected since I’ve only watched one decent short drama this year. It was definitely the low point. Emily Paris’s season 4 was a decent watch but the show is feeling a little repetitive. The characters are fairly interesting but the most exciting part was hinting at the possible continuation in a different location. There’s a lot more to look forward to than the dragging out of Emily’s love life which seems to keep rotating around that one guy. Its still a fun watch but nothing that exceeded my expectations.

The best show was Blue Ribbon Baking Championship. Its not too surprising that I watched the cooking competition show quickly and enjoyed it a lot. Whenever I watch shows about this, it just reminds me that I would really love to go check out state fairs. We have a few here that I believe seem similar but on, what looks like, a smaller scale.

GAMES

  • The Dark Pictures Anthologies: House of Ashes (replay)
  • Rooster (Demo)

As we move along with Game Warp, I’ve also been trying to game a little more as I replayed The Dark Pictures Anthologies: House of Ashes which is by far the best game of the series so far. If it keeps going like this, the next experience, whenever I get to it will be even better. The value of these games are usually in the extensive choice trees that help shape a different experience which I did with this second playthrough as not only was it a single player playthrough but also picked some other choices after the experience of the first playthrough a few years ago. Let’s just say, it only made me love it more.

I also checked out a game that caught my eye during the summer gaming showcases called Rooster which finally added a demo. I still think the premise itself is pretty good using the Chinese zodiac as the central characters and using various mini-games. Its might be simple for some gamers but it is also a fairly relaxing one as well. Seeing as I’ve been in a phase of enjoying these simple and fun gaming experiences, its one that I’m still interested in trying out.

What’s Up – July 2024

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BOOKS

Currently reading: The Duke & I (Bridgertons #1), West Fall Revisited

Not a whole lot of progress in reading but started a new book. It makes no sense but hey, that’s just how it is. July was just really busy so sleep and work took most of the priority when my child went to bed. Either way, more on reading next month….I’m 80% sure of it.

MOVIES

  • Pet Sematary (1989)
  • The Hitcher (1986)
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010 rewatch)
  • Customs Frontline (2024 Review)
  • The Heretics (2017)
  • Before Sunrise (1995 rewatch)
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
  • Bulbbul (2020)
  • Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
  • To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018 rewatch, Review)
  • Maelstrom (2000 rewatch)

I guess being busy does really show this month as my main movie viewing was centered around Oh My Horror Challenge and Movies and Tea podcast along with one screener. Other than that, I finally sat down to finish up Ghostbusters: Afterlife that I started a few weeks ago and is extremely entertaining and followed it with the next film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire which was also a lot of fun.

As Oh My Horror Challenge passes its midway point, I can say that other than getting through some films on my to-watch list, its also been a rather lackluster experience. I had an incredibly traumatic experience watching Pet Sematary, finally finished The Hitcher which I had started at least a decade ago and forgot to go back to finish it, watched an okay Indian horror film Bulbbul (and my first non-Bollywood Indian film). The only film that stood out was Black Fawn Film’s The Heretics which was a tad odd at times but did have a decent execution.

Aside from that, I did end up reviewing a screener for the release of Hong Kong film Customs Frontline which stars Jacky Cheung and Nicholas Tse. Both of them being celebrities that I do love quite a bit. It was an enjoyable film even if there were some issues with it. You can check out the review linked above.

TV

  • Sisters Who Makes Waves (Season 5, 2024)
  • The Man With 1000 Kids (2024)
  • Everyone Loves Me (别对我动心, 2024)
  • Barbecue Showdown (Season 3, 2024)
  • Twinkle Love (Season 4, 2024)
  • I Don’t Want To Be Friends With You (我才不要和你做朋友呢, 2020)
  • The Singer 2024
  • The Double (墨雨云间, 2024)
  • Dancing For The Devil (2024)

Currently watching: The Game of Cubes: New Utopia, Fallout, Wonderland S4, Sweet Home S3, The Princess Royal, Great Escape S6, Singing With Legends S6

Nothing like a stacked TV series phase to really pad out this post. With some Netflix docuseries, a few Chinese variety and music shows as well as a few Chinese dramas, July has been a really fantastic month. The two docuseries The Man With 1000 Kids and Dancing For The Devil are decent watches especially since I’ve never heard of these things before so it was a really interesting topic to delve into. As usual, I’m always there to binge some food competition and this time is Season 3 of Barbecue Showdown which is still a ton of fun to watch.

On the Chinese side of things, I watched two dramas Everyone Loves Me and The Double which are both available on Netflix with The Double being my favorite TV series of 2024 so far and if you haven’t watched Chinese series before, this one is strongly recommended as its a revenge plot which overshadows a lot of the romance plot so the execution is done incredibly well plus the acting is top-notch and fantastic production value. The other series which was also pretty fun as I’m trying to watch through Sabrina Zhuang’s TV series, I Don’t Want To Friends With You was a great watch until the ending that I felt was a little ridiculous and how I truly hate “time travel” plots to end.

This month’s variety shows that ended were all pretty fun. Twinkle Love ended on their final season in a great way, celebrating the TV shows own university cycle duration to mirror its graduation trip theme. This is the first time I’ve completed a Sister Who Makes Waves season and boy, did they introduce some really fun singers and celebrities like French singer Joyce Jonathan. As for The Singer 2024, I’m really loving this whole international collaboration theme as it also introduced Chanté Moore and Faouzia as well as some other singers.

Games

  • The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (replay)

Currently playing: Crime O’Clock

As Game Warp works through some of the Dark Pictures Anthology reviews, I head back to replay them after having played them a few years ago with my friend on his stream. Little Hope is one of those Dark Pictures games that didn’t sit super high when I first played it but with this third revisit, I actually really enjoy a lot of its elements more.

As for Crime O’Clock, its a decent amount of playtime for the game as a whole but the little cases are really short so I hop into it when I have small chunks of desire for gaming so its my long-term game. I don’t think I ever mentioned it but felt that I probably should at this point.

What’s Up- June 2024

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BOOKS

Currently reading: The Duke and I (The Bridgertons #1)

Not a whole lot of change here as reading has taken a bit of backseat this month. Once I get a moment to sit down, I should be getting this one done quickly.

MOVIES

  • Poor Things (2023)
  • The Craft: Legacy (2020)
  • I’ll Take Your Dead (2018)
  • Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
  • Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
  • X (2022)
  • Chocolat (2000 rewatch)
  • Hell Fest (2018)
  • Triangle (2009)
  • Under Paris (2024)
  • Lost in Perfection (2023)
  • A Family Affair (2024)
  • My Neighbor Totoro (rewatch 1988)

As I look back at June’s movies, its been an interesting month with a lot of odd titles. With the ending of the Disney Plus sub, I snuck in the Poor Things watch as the final film to cross off the list and it was a really good watch. I probably didn’t like it as much as a lot of other people but the great performances and the cinematography did stand out for me.

We went through the remaining two Paranormal Activity films currently available on Paramount Plus and I’m guessing the last one should pop up on there at some point since it shows that it is available in Canada although I can’t seem to see it. Other random watches was Hell Fest which was an okay horror film. Considering I thought the film could be worse, it actually was pretty entertaining in some parts. On the other hand, Lost in Perfection was a decent film but I had expected it to be better especially since the twist was similar to something else I had watched recently so didn’t have the surprise element executed properly. While I can’t say that A Family Affair was a bad film, its pretty basic but I do like Nicole Kidman so I gave that a go.

On the other hand, Oh My Horror and Movies and Tea both lead to watch a few fun films. I’ll Take Your Dead by my favorite Canadian indie horror studio Black Fawn Films was really enjoyable. X was also an odd but entertaining film. It had a few predictable moments but the overall concept works well and has me excited to watch Pearl soon. While Triangle and Under Paris was my underwater horror pick for Oh My Horror and the first turned out to be a fun time loop film while Under Paris while having a few pacing issues actually was a fun shark film from France with wonderful cinematography.

My recommendations from this month are: X, I’ll Take Your Dead.

TV

  • Bridgerton Part 2 (Season 3, 2024)
  • Somewhere Only We Know (独家记忆, 2019)

Currently watching: Twinkle Love S4, The Game of Cubes: New Utopia, Sisters Who Make Waves S5, The Singer 2024, Fallout, Wonderland S4, House of the Dragon S1, The Double

I’ll probably get a Bridgerton Season 3 review up at some point but my overall feelings are a bit mixed as there are some elements that work but then if you are there for the romance then especially Part 2, it feels less of that than a more personal journey for Penelope.

Somewhere Only We Know is an okay Chinese drama. I didn’t want to finish it halfway through after it took a pretty serious shift in tone which created a little imbalance. Plus, it felt incredibly slow paced making it feel pretty boring halfway. I do like the female lead though. I saw her previously in Light Chaser Rescue and this was an earlier performance.

I think my currently watching list has a lot more to talk about than either of the two TV series I finished so we’ll be talking more about TV next month when most of those should wrap up. But if you haven’t checked out The Double, its honestly in line for my favorite TV series watch this year and its not even finished releasing on Netflix yet.

GAMES

  • Somerville
  • Summer Game Fest 2024 Demos
    • Lok Digital
    • I Was Lost
    • Lost and Found Co.
    • NODE
    • While Waiting
    • Undusted: Letters From the Past
    • Dungeon Clawler
    • Little Bookshop
    • On Your Tail
    • Spilled!
    • The August Before
    • Soulitaire
    • Urban Jungle

Currently playing: Crime O’Clock, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (replay)

As me and my co-host start getting back into the gaming groove for Game Warp, I managed to finally get it together and stay on top of Summer Game Fest for the most part. While I checked out mostly trailers from the various showcases instead of watching the whole thing, I did manage to spend most of the month checking out the various demos available.

Gaming was probably the most exciting part of June as I finished Somerville and it lived up to all my expectations. At the same time, the demos that I tried has me excited for a lot of upcoming releases. These are the demos that I completed while I have some that I started but didn’t finish so I didn’t include them here. I should probably write up a first impressions post for these games but I’ll do a quick rundown of the ones I’m most excited for:

  • Lost and Found Co.
  • N.O.D.E.
  • While Waiting
  • Little Bookshop
  • On Your Tail
  • Soulitaire

What’s Up – May 2024

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BOOKS

  • V-Card (Sharing Spaces #1)
  • Mr. Rook (Rook’s Island #1)

Currently reading: The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1)

While I haven’t been able to locate my Kindle e-reader, mostly because I just don’t have time to organize a few of my drawers, I have resorted to downloading the app on my phone and synced it up so we’re back in business. As I’ve had a long time from reading my own books, I decided to jump into some easy reading with some sexy romance books that I’ve bought a long time ago. I’ve taken years of breaks from these types of books so no better time than now to jump back in. V-Card was pretty predictable overall while Mr. Rook had an interesting twist.

MOVIES

  • Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
  • Cook Up a Storm (决戰食神, 2017)
  • Goodnight Mommy (2014)
  • Lightyear (2022)
  • May The Devil Take You (Sebelum Iblis Menjemput, 2018)
  • Waitress (2007 rewatch)
  • Monster (2023)
  • Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
  • The Craft (1996)
  • Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
  • Tangled (2010 rewatch)
  • Elemental (2023)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
  • Hunger (2023)
  • Three Ways (2022)
  • Zombeavers (2014)

May was a pretty interesting movie viewing month as I worked through the last month of the discounted Disney Plus subscription and managed to catch up with Pixar films and rewatched a few Disney animated films and even caught one MCU film while also watching a random film choice. Out of the these films, the random film pick Three Ways might have been the most fun as it took a nice execution for this sort of film. I’ve always regarded Tangled as a lesser film but actually, its pretty fun on this rewatch while Elemental has some great ideas but felt a little awkward at some points.

The Oh My Horror picks have been pretty underwhelming and odd to say that least. Its also why the reviews have tapered out as a lack of inspiration hit earlier in the year when just didn’t know how to review some of these titles. You should see most of these reviews (or at least some of them) being reviewed in the Halloween Horror month along with this year’s Paranormal Activity franchise viewings. The standout for these picks probably was 1996’s The Craft which was a more fun viewing than say the somewhat ridiculous Zombeavers which delivered exactly what I was expecting and the incredibly hard to grasp Tetsuo Man which I could appreciate the creativity and imagination but was too weird for me. While the other ones just had some decent execution but lackluster payoffs. You can see my current choices slated up to Week 30 or more on Letterboxd HERE.

As for the other picks, Monster was a fun addition to Netflix with a gimmick of being no dialogue and for the most part it works pretty well until the final act which really took a silly turn of events. I liked Waitress even more the second time watching it and Paranormal Activity franchise continues to be a good time. Cook Up A Storm and Hunger were some great discoveries this month and probably the best film viewing experiences for this month.

TV

  • Run on Time 2024
  • Sparkle Love (心动的瞬间, 2020)
  • The Circle S6
  • Bridgerton (Season 3 Part 1)

Currently watching: Sunrise on the River, Sisters Who Make Waves S5, 3 Body Problem, The Rap of China 2024, Unrequited Love, The Game of Cubes: New Utopia, Singer 2024, Twinkle Love S4

May seems to be the month for the fun variety shows to start so a lot of currently watching being added on which lead to dropping a few of the shows from the previous month for now as well as some TV series. With that said, I did finish a few shows. Run On Time 2024 and The Circle Season 6 were both really fun to watch. The Circle at its sixth season does try to still add twists that do spice things up even if it is starting to look a little momentum but I’m there for Michelle Buteau’s hosting mostly.

As for the TV series, both were okay. I watched Sparkle Love to check out the earlier TV series from Linghe Zhang, an actor that has gained quite a bit of popularity in the last year or two (maybe more but I’ve lost track of time). Its a pretty fun TV series but nothing too special. Bridgerton Season 3 is split into two parts for release. I’m a fan of Bridgerton so gave it a watch on release day and watched all four episodes pretty quickly. I like Penelope Featherington’s character and there’s a little bit of comedy and drama balanced in this one which I think works out okay. They ended it at a decent spot since I’m pretty sure Part 2 is where things start going crazy. There are series that I understand the staggered release but I’m more on the boat of just doing the weekly episode releases than splitting into 2 batches of episodes. Not going to go on that rant here.

GAMES

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Justice For All, Crime O’Clock, Somerville

As I continue to go through my Steam backlog, I’ve moved on to replaying Phoenix Wright: Justice For All as the trilogy package which I honestly think have graphics update (but I never researched it to can’t say for sure). At the same time, I’m also working through another long game with Crime O’Clock. While Game Warp is reviewing Somerville so working through this one as well which is a pretty decent title so far. As all my monthly recap posts are late, when this post goes up, I’m already done but I’ll share my thoughts on it in next month’s recap or you can keep an eye on the Game Warp feed for our podcast discussion.

What’s Up – April 2024

Posted in What's Up by

As the end of May quickly approaches, its hitting me how falling behind is almost impossible to catch up when real life takes a wild turn and adds a lot of extra tasks into the little time I normally have to do my own things. However, here we are in an attempt to catch up with the What’s Up for April 2024 wrap-up!

BOOKS

  • The Berenstain Bears Collection
  • Disney Bedtime Stories Collection

Reading has definitely started again and things are going to look much better next month (since this post is coming so late again) but I added a couple of books to the collection to expand the bedtime reading and this is where we’re at. A little bit of my childhood and a little bit of something new for him. Both were pretty fun to read. Most of The Berenstain Bears Collection stories I had read when I was a child but the Disney Bedtime Stories Collection are completely new with a bunch of stories inspired from the films but designed around bedtime and nighttime themes.

MOVIES

  • Tusk (2014)
  • Ratatouille (2007 rewatch)
  • The Aristocats (1970 rewatch)
  • 101 Dalmatians (1961 rewatch)
  • Mary Poppins Returns (2018 rewatch Review)
  • What Jennifer Did (2024)
  • Zootopia (2016 rewatch Review)
  • Sting (2024 Review)
  • The God of Cookery (1996 rewatch Review)
  • The Night Eats The World (2018)
  • Mary Poppins (1964 rewatch)
  • Impetigore (2019)
  • Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
  • The Sound of Music (1965 rewatch)
  • Inferno (1980)
  • No Exit (2022)

I’m not sure rewatching Disney Animated films is a great use of a discounted Disney Plus subscription but that’s what I’ve decided to do. Mostly, its a mild introduction to a little more screentime for my little one with some cute animal animated films which basically failed as it did not hold his attention at all except for the opening credits and music which tends to be the case with most shows. All for the better I guess as he doesn’t fuss about screen time. However, I did have a great time rewatching Disney films and musicals.

For the most part, April was wildly busy with work hence the falling behind so rewatching films made sense. Other than that, I carved out time for new movies mostly for the Oh My Horror Challenge although I can’t say anything truly stood out. Tusk was really weird and disturbing but had a unrecognizable performance by Johnny Depp while The Night Eats The World took a different angle on the zombie apocalypse and ended up being a little bit of a snoozefest while Impetigore and Inferno both were average with some good and bad elements.

To be fair, my spontaneous watches with Where the Crawdads Sing and No Exit ended up being surprisingly great watches. Much like the screener for spider creature feature Sting also worked on a great many levels. It had some issues but for the most part had a decent angle for a spider creature feature.

TV

  • Is It Cake? (Season 3, 2024)
  • 19th Floor (19层, 2024)
  • Physical:100 (Season 2, 2024)
  • Only For Love (以爱为营, 2023)
  • Hard to Find (难寻, 2024)

Currently watching: Run On Time 2024, Come Sing With Me S5, Amidst the Snowstorm of Love, Sister Who Makes Waves S5, The Circle S6, Sunrise on the River

When I started the year, it really felt like the variety and reality shows had nothing going on but the moment we hit April, it seems things are starting to look up as a bunch of shows that I normally watched had follow-up seasons and as I got back into the MangoTV subscription, I also discovered some great series as well. I do have to say, all the shows listed were pretty fun.

While Is It Cake Season 3 does feel like its starting to lose its steam as there isn’t enough twists to keep it entertaining, it is a show that is more interactive as the audience also gets to try to find which one is cake. I’m a big fan of these sports competition reality shows like Physical:100 so we really love watching it especially as the new obstacles and challenges are pretty fun to watch.

The three series I watched are on MangoTV app. The first was a spontaneous pick mostly because I like the two leads and the plot sounded really fun and not the typical romance stuff and while there were some silly plot points and some of the execution felt like it started to fall apart a little by the end, 19th Floor was a fantastic series and probably really underrated because not a lot of people watch these types of shows. Of course, I also did catch Only For Love which had a lot of talk last year when it aired and while I do like the main leads here, all four of them, this one had a little silliness that worked and sometimes felt like it was going a little over into extra-cringe territory.

The surprise this month is definitely short drama Hard To Find, mostly because short dramas have a bad reputation of being low budget, predictable and super cringey but this one isn’t like that. It does hit the tortured romance plot point really well but both the acting and the world building is done well. It does help that the two main leads are decent casting choices.

GAMES

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Suffice to say that gaming took a hard hit this month as I tried to move along with the first game replay for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for a Game Warp recording and just didn’t have time to wrap up the last episode. This entire trilogy is a replay and not my first time doing it so I’m a big fan. If you haven’t tried out Phoenix Wright, you really should.

What’s Up – March 2024

Posted in My Weekly Adventures, What's Up by

Quick Update on Reality TV Round-Up

The beginning of the year has been pretty crazy. I’m not sure why I expected otherwise as I’m pretty much back into the normal routine of working. With that said, there’s been a lot of delays on the monthly posts which I’m trying to stay on top of but not really getting anything done. While I can’t change a lot of the other posts without it being too bulky, I’ve decided to do the Reality TV Round-Up posts every two months now as I don’t watch as many variety shows or documentaries to have enough to talk about. Its already been the case for the first Reality TV Roundup post this year and it will continue with that.

With that out of the way, let’s get the show on the road with a very late What’s Up for March round-up! And yes, there is no books section because I haven’t really finished anything or started anything new other than cycling through my child’s books and re-reading a lot of them.

MOVIES

  • The Bad Guys (2022)
  • Joy Ride (2023)
  • Nope (2022)
  • Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
  • Ghostbusters (2016)
  • Bring It On: Cheer Or Die (2022)
  • Missing (2023)
  • Slaxx (2020)
  • Tampopo (1985)
  • She Said (2022)
  • Door Mouse (2022)
  • Paranormal Activity (2007)
  • Halloween Ends (2022)
  • Julie & Julia (rewatch 2009, Review)
  • Before Sunrise (1995)
  • Wonka (2023)
  • Pig (2021)
  • Damsel (2024)
  • Before Sunset (2004)
  • John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
  • Chef (2014)
  • Cobweb (2023)
  • Spring (2014)
  • Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

March viewings was primarily dominated by the one month Crave subscription I took for a Movies and Tea viewing. Looking back at March, some of these films feel like a long time away however there were some impressive offerings on Crave with an Awkwafina voice acting fix with The Bad Guys, a slightly awkward but entertaining Joy Ride, an outstanding alien invasion with Nope, a well-executed look at a true story adaptation with She Said, a stylistic offering with Door Mouse, a gripping cyber found footage with Missing, a truffle pig chase road trip with Nicolas Cage in Pig, a great action piece with John Wick: Chapter 4 and a fairly creepy offering with Cobweb and finally catching up with an overnight wandering in Vienna with Before Sunrise. Let’s not forget a musical adventure with Wonka.

Of course, it wasn’t only Crave that had some fun offerings although those titles really did stand out quite a bit. Tampopo was a fun foodie trip into ramen which has definitely become more impressive as I think back to it. Netflix’s new film in March Damsel starring Millie Bobby Brown had some issues but overall was pretty fun as well. However, the surprising find was definitely our first time into Paranormal Activity franchise with the first two films were sufficiently creepy. Those last few have reviews that will come out soon.

TV

  • Asia Super Young (Season 1, 2023)
  • Gilmore Girls (Season 7 rewatch Review)
  • Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2017 rewatch)
  • Closer To You Season 2 (我的刺猬女孩之念念不忘, 2023)
  • Till The End of the Moon (長月燼明, 2023)

Currently watching: Memories Beyond Horizon S2, Run For Time S4, Is It Cake? S3

As my Gilmore Girls rewatch comes to an end in March, I’ve been trying to work in more Youku viewings with the last month of the streaming service subscription and I have to say that I picked two decent TV series to wrap it up. I still have a few more series on my radar from the service that I will probably sub again when the second season of Asia Super Young comes around.

Closer to You Season 2 is a fun series but the change in the female lead does impact the feelings toward it. While she did a great job, the first season definitely had a lot more going for it however for something angled around time travel, it worked for the most part and threw some decent curveballs at the end.

As for Till The End of the Moon, I’ve been a big fan of Leo Luo since last year with Light Chaser Rescue so I’ve been intrigued by his series and he does a great job here, much like Bai Lu which I can understand her popularity. Its a fairly typical fantasy romance drama full of heartache and breakups and tears and it also has kind of a time travel element as well but the chemistry and the execution is really great and it ended up growing on me especially the development of Leo Luo’s character.

GAMES

  • Season: A Letter to the Future (demo)

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Not a whole lot of gaming in general recently as I make a little bit of progress in the Ace Attorney as I edge to the end but not really finding time to actually finish it. A lot of the same expected in April as work takes over more so not a lot of time for gaming. However, I did get around to checking out a demo sitting in my archive since the last Steam Fest and in true forgetful nature, I can’t remember when that was so its probably been at least a month or two. The game is available already so it was just for fun to see whether its worth adding to my wishlist and its pretty fun as it adds in a biking element and definitely a more relaxing sort of game as the character goes through the story finding elements and taking photos to the story. That’s been my type of game lately.

We’re incredibly late with this one so expect the April What’s Up to be in about a week or so.
I need to catch up with the other monthly segments that hasn’t been done the past month.

Adventures & What’s Up December 2023 Year-End Wrap-Up

Posted in Everyday Randomness, Lists, My Weekly Adventures, What's Up by

Welcome to the final post of Adventures & What’s Up. Past years I would usually just split the post but with an 18 month toddler running around, I can only find time to do things in very small naptime and bedtime windows so splitting it seems like an ambitious feat. I haven’t done opening paragraphs for these posts in a while but I felt this one deserved a little “warning”. Sit tight, this is going to be a long one as we dive into some little December Adventures, What’s Up and straight into all kinds of year-end wrap-ups!

ADVENTURES

Toddler Update

Triple V reached his 18 month milestone. This milestone was pretty great because he also achieved a lot including the wonderful teething of his first molar which took a while but also brought on some rough nights. Pair that with his 18 month vaccinations and its been quite a wild ride in emotions. We’re definitely seeing him understand more and repeat a few more words so that he can express himself better. His second Christmas was also a quiet one where we changed up our original Christmas plans especially since our snowstorm hit us early in the month and there wasn’t a lot of snow (even as this post goes up). Its been rainy more than anything. Triple V is starting to find his security toys with an attachment to a plush monkey. Other than the general worry of whether he is eating enough since he’s running around all the time, Triple V seems to be doing alright.

Holidays + Boxing Day Haul (not really)

December was pretty crazy overall. Between kitchen renovations and Christmas set-up, its really been hectic and tiring with a little toddler running all over the place and starting to pull tantrums. I can feel those terrible twos approaching every single day. This month has a snowstorm that knocked out power for a little bit and broke a third of our tree, hangout with my friends and tried out a restaurant and then there’s the holidays which I talked a bit about before. The main star was Triple V who got most of the gifts as we gifted ourselves the kitchen renovations and my mom got all of us something. Triple V came out with something to read, play and clothes.

As for Boxing Day Haul (which I honestly forgot about until I reviewed my last year’s post), there wasn’t a whole lot:

  • Amazon: Diapers and Lotion
  • Steam: The Great Attorney Chronicles, Underground Blossom, Crime O Clock
  • Uniqlo: 2 pairs of pants

WHAT’S UP

Books

  • Mon Amour Pour Toujour
  • Joyeux Noel, mon tout-petit!
  • The Kissing Hand
  • Where The Wild Things Are

Currently reading: Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain

I tried so hard to finish Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain before the new year but I’m about 100 pages away at the second short story included in the novel. The actual story itself is finished though which is pretty fun. As you can see, my reading still consists a lot of reading to my toddler. We picked up a few little books here and there which were fun to read. He’s a big fan of the Caroline Jayne Church illustrations especially for I Love You Through and Through and Ten Tiny Toes which we’ve been reading over and over again and learning body parts, etc.

Movies

  • The Great Mouse Detective (rewatch 1986)
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
  • Onward (2020)
  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel (rewatch 2014)
  • The French Dispatch (2021)
  • Soul (2020)
  • Luca (2021)
  • Ciao Alberto (short 2021)
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
  • Dune (2021)
  • Krampus (2015 rewatch, Review)
  • How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 rewatch, Review)
  • Disney Classic Holiday Stories (2005 rewatch)
  • Gremlins (1984 rewatch)
  • Spontaneous (2020)
  • Sorcerer (1977)
  • Bullet Train (2022)
  • Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)
  • Reptile (2023)

Its been a pretty great month of movie watching even if its been a relatively bad month (make that a year) of writing up reviews. I am thinking up a new structure to keep myself more motivated but honestly, motivation has nothing to do with it. I’ll talk more about that in the upcoming plans in the next few days. If I were to put in recommendations for this month, I would honestly recommend everything except Aguirre, the Wrath of God, because its just not my genre of film. I watched it for a Movies and Tea podcast related episode which should be going up very soon. Reptile was decent but was a little predictable as it seemed to give some hints that gave away what they were trying to build up to for the finale reveal, however it reminded me how great of an actor Benicio del Toro is and how I should really be watching more of his films.

With that said, there were some great films here like Bullet Train which was just the ultimate joyride and probably the most fun I’ve had watching a film this year much like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder which reminded me how this new phase might be an excuse to bring together a bunch of characters and properties but is also a lot of fun, something I haven’t really felt for MCU films for a long time. Then there’s some underrate Pixar films released during the pandemic that I felt was overlooked like Onward and Luca. Finally, we can’t end this year without at least talking a little bit about the new Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny which was a fantastic ride back into Indiana Jones thrills. At the same time, catching up with Spontaneous really puts Brian Duffield on my map as a director to look out for since he is basically 2 for 2 in his directed films (and that’s not even talking about the film he has written that I’m also a fan of).

TV

  • Light Chaser Rescue (追光者, 2022)
  • My Life With The Walter Boys (Season 1, 2023)
  • Here We Meet Again (三分野, 2023)
  • Time Flies and You Are Here (雁归西窗月, 2021)
  • Sweet Home (Season 2, 2023)

Currently watching: Singing With Legends S5, Asia Super Young, A Date With the Future

I’m currently in a mad dash to finish A Date With the Future before my WeTV sub ends in 2 days or something. I wish the TV series was less soapy so it would be more bingeable but I chose to watch it over something else so the completionist in me wants to see if it can redeem itself. In the currently watching though, I’m really enjoying Asia Super Young since I honestly missed these idol competition shows. Its like a one stop shop to see the potential of the young talent in the industry and see what type of international boy group they put together. Its still the beginning so there’s still a lot of time before any opinions are form. I do say that the break its taken over the last 3 years or so has given time for some talented young men to pop up. As usual, Yuehua’s trainees are wiping the floor and rightfully so but there’s always some dark horse that pops up during the season so I’m interested to see what will happen.

With that said, I finished a few series this month trying to catch up on some series. Light Chaser Rescue and Here We Meet Again (yes, I’m a fan of Janice Wu) was really great. The former is exceptional because its more unique but Here We Meet Again has some great chemistry and comedy. Sweet Home Season 2 also landed and the review will go up soon but while I started out slightly disappointed at the beginning 2 episodes or so, it really does find its footing when the scope of the film turns back to what its so good at building, the world and the people. They already have Season 3 greenlit so it does end on a cliffhanger.

Games

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Geometry Dash, Crime O Clock

I’ve been replaying Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on the PC remake in the trilogy and almost done the first game as I’m in the middle of the last case. Its always such a joy to play especially since its been a few years since I’ve revisited it. I guess its a month of revisiting games as I dove back into Geometry Dash also to get some fun music. I actually went back because I remembered seeing that there would be a 2.0 update in November but it didn’t seem to happen yet. The game is still a ton of fun and the music is great so I’m honestly pretty happy about finding the reason to jump back in even if I have 500 games in backlog to play instead of replaying games but I guess that’s how life works. On that same point, I also ended up checking out a demo of Crime O Clock which has a great concept as they add a little story and time mechanics to the hidden objects genre in a clever way.

2023 YEAR- END WRAP-UP

There’s no doubt that 2023 was kind of ridiculous. There’s been a lot of changes in many ways. A great portion is a growing toddler demands a whole new routine every few months, if not more frequent, making it hard to really commit to a lot other than sleeping since I guess I’ve only got myself to blame for setting his sleep schedule so that he constantly wakes up early and rarely sleeps in (sleeping in means until 7am instead of 6 or earlier). I honestly didn’t achieve a whole lot of my goals but a lot of the set-up work is all done and just waiting for the perfect timing to get things moving along. As usual, no blog stats this year but still, the normal breakdown of totals.

Total Films Watched: 158 films
– 33 rewatches
– 9 short films

Total Books Read: 41 books (majority children’s books)

Total TV series: 75 seasons binged (13 rewatches)
The breakdown:
– Hong Kong: 2
– Taiwan: 2
– Documentary: 3
– Korean + Korean Reality: 6
– Chinese Variety Shows: 8
– Mainland China: 14
– American Reality (consider English language): 15
– American/English-Language: 25

Top 10 Film Discoveries
  1. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
  2. Hidden Blade (2023)
  3. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
  4. Perfect Blue (1997)
  5. The Witch Part 1: The Subversion (2018)
  6. Ride On (2023)
  7. The Handmaiden (2016)
  8. No One Will Save You (2023)
  9. Nine to Five (1980)
  10. White Ant (2016)

Top 10 TV Series Discoveries

  1. Copycat Killer (2023)
  2. Love Like the Galaxy (2022)
  3. You Are Desire (2023)
  4. Hidden Love (2023)
  5. The Last of Us (Season 1, 2023)
  6. The Glory (2023)
  7. Light Chaser Rescue (2022)
  8. The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)
  9. Black Knight (Season 1, 2023)
  10. National Treasure: Edge of History (Season 1, 2022)

Top 10 Video Game Discoveries

  1. Jusant
  2. Cocoon
  3. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
  4. Far: Lone Sails
  5. Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
  6. Chinatown Detective Agency
  7. The Gunk
  8. Alt-Frequencies
  9. Venba
  10. Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise

While I should’ve put the video game discoveries over on Game Warp, I feel like it fits the general recap here as well so here we are. Overall, this year was pretty clear-cut for everything as there were a lot of really great films and movies but also a lot of pretty average ones which divided itself well. I’ve been gradually cutting a lot of things out so there are certain decreases and changes over the past year that caused a lot of the shifts. It all dials down to lesser time to do everything. I am slowly getting back to delegating time for reading, gaming, films and TV in the last month or so and that makes it feel promising for the coming year!

A quick look before we wrap up 2023 as I always set some goals at the beginning of the year in my Upcoming Plans post (2024’s is right around the corner):

  1. Goodreads Reading Challenge: 30 books surpassed at 41 books which had a mix of children’s storybooks and novels as well as one or two normal novels. However, part of my goal wasn’t reached as I had wanted to read through Hercule Poirot novels and did not read even one.
  2. Tranquil Dreams Podcast launch: Did not happen! (but…I’m all officially set)
  3. Personal Goals: partially achieved as I did start doing more lengthy walks in the summer and recently did a little bit of bodyweight training. Its pretty sporadic so still work in progress. Streaming did not happen but I’m officially set up again to start that off once I can get some evenings without sporadic toddler wake-ups then it will be ready to go.

I missed New Year’s Eve launch for this post so Happy New Year everyone!
Remember to come back for the Upcoming Plans in a day or two! Have fun!

What’s Up & Adventures – September 2023

Posted in My Weekly Adventures, What's Up by

ADVENTURES

Family Weekend Getaway

For Labor Day weekend, we had a chalet rental to celebrate my in-laws’ marriage anniversary with the whole family. It was a relaxing getaway where we spent some time together but also had equally our own time to hang out as we wished. We had an assortment of dinners and had a big breakfast. There’s not a lot to talk about except that the chalet property itself was spacious and nice. It had a fire pit outside to sit around at night and there was a spa (which I don’t think anyone ended up using) and a lot of entertainment in the basement like pool and babyfoot tables. The house had a decent amount of rooms and there was a little creek running through the property which made the nights calming when falling asleep to the water sounds outside. Its a pretty great location.

Hiking: Sentier de l’Ile Vessot

First REM Experience

REM, the new light rail system officially started working end of July. Since I work from home and don’t normally have a lot of reason to go out, it was only mid-September when my friends from out of town dropping by gave me and Triple V the reason to take it for the first time. Its probably nothing too exciting for most people but our life involves our neighborhood more than anything so its an adventure for us plus Triple V’s world still has quite a bit to discover. Of course, as this post goes up, we’ve already taken it another 3 times after that.

Toddler Update

Triple V passed his 15 months and heading towards his 16 months so it seems right to change the “baby update” to “toddler update”. Good news is that we went back to the doctor for follow-up and after a month of working incredibly hard to increase his food intake and raise his weight, he finally moved back up on the curve. We are still in monitoring stage so we have to go back for another follow-up but we’re already going in the right direction. We are still working on building his confidence to walk. Right now, he is choosing cruising over crawling when he has walls and other furniture to press on and walks much faster holding one hand and randomly will take little steps towards us but can’t qualify as walking quite yet. Its a work in progress. He still starting to pick up some more vocabulary which is pretty fun. Overall, everything is going in the right direction.

Halloween Marathon

Lets face it that the past two years, the Halloween Marathon has been a tad lackluster. I’m working hard this year to keep things up. Its obvious that my motivation to write is not always there but I have a few reviews in progress and some horror that I have lined up including a screener review. It might not be a full month of films or even close to that but check back regularly and I promise there will be something to read at least once or twice a week.

WHAT’S UP

BOOKS

  • City of Ember (City of Ember #1) by Jeanne Duprau

I’m a big fan of the film adaptation of City of Ember. Its a pity that it never caught on to adapt the rest of the series. The world is pretty fun. Maybe one day someone will adapt this into a TV series or something. However, after all these years, I finally got around to reading the source material. There are a lot of details that differ from the adaptation so it made the book have its own unique elements and still maintain a lot of the fun points.

MOVIES

  • Halloween Kills (2021)
  • Barbarian (2022)
  • Open Water (2003)
  • Lang Lang Plays Disney (2023)
  • Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002)
  • The Handmaiden (2016)
  • White Ant (白蟻-欲望謎網, 2016)
  • Judgement (1999 short)
  • Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
  • Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee and Jessica Wongso (2023)

With the Disney Plus deal and last month’s Mubi deal ending this past month, most of my movie watching revolved around those two services. I never really know why I subscribe to Mubi sometimes but this time around, I was adamant to catch up on Park Chan-Wook films and finally finish watching the Vengeance Trilogy and watch the impossible to find elsewhere in English subtitles, The Handmaiden. On top of that, I even managed to watch one of his early shorts Judgement which was a tad odd and right before the sub ended, squeezed in a viewing of Taiwanese drama film White Ant which was a thought-provoking film reflecting on society and perceptions.

Disney Plus’ recommendation would definitely go to Barbarian which is part of the Halloween marathon so I won’t talk too much about it but it genuinely shocked me and I haven’t had that feeling in a while from a horror film. That alone is worth a mention.

Suffice to say, I was gearing up for the Halloween marathon last month intentionally or not so you should be seeing a few of these reviews going up soon-ish.

TV

  • The Uncanny Counter 2: Counterpunch (2023, Review)
  • Painkiller (2023)
  • Great Escape S5 (2023)
  • You Are Desire (白日梦我, 2023)
  • Please Classmate (拜托了班长 rewatch, 2021)
  • Copycat Killer (模仿犯, 2023)
  • Love Like The Galaxy (Part 1 星汉灿烂 & Part 2 月升沧海， 2022）
  • The Next 舞台 2023

Currently binging: Call Me By Fire S3, Wonderland Junior S2, The Longest Promise, Let’s Fall In Love S5

What a strong month in TV series. I want to talk about almost every single one. Painkiller was a really frustrating viewing experience because of the material they were basing it on which was simultaneously, a heartbreaking watch. Taiwanese Netflix crime series Copycat Killer continues on the trend of offering great material to the service packaged with a strong execution, cinematography and compelling characters and a few of them familiar faces from Light the Night. Mango TV’s You Are Desire is a great youth coming of age/romance series which takes a rather different approach to the genre which I think makes it more underrated especially since the male lead’s had all three series air almost back to back. I also caught up with one of Tencent/WeTV’s most popular series last year Love Like The Galaxy which was definitely well-deserved since it is promoted as a ancient China romance but in reality, it spends a lot of time with building up the world and the politics and the romance is more of a subplot for the first part and kicks in more by the end and has a more believable flow of events.

A series of great Chinese dramas is sparking the desire to find time to start up my podcast as soon as possible so I can talk about these series.

GAMES

Currently playing: Forza Horizon 5

Gaming has honestly been put on hold as I was busy with a few things this month. I had wanted to play Beacon Pines before it left Game Pass but unfortunately, my schedule didn’t really allow for it. Right at the end of the month, I realized that I finally had enough space for Forza Horizon 5 so I just started up the game but like most of these games, its a long battle to get through the world map. I am planning on working on my backlog and cancelling Game Pass soon so I’m going to work on some of the titles I’ve been meaning to play. Probably more updates next month. Unless I get dragged into the Forza Horizon 5 rabbit hole, then maybe it will be a lot of the same. Who knows?