Current reading material:
Audiobook - The Confidence Gap
E-book - The Man in the High Castle
Physical book - Books of Blood Vol 1 -3
Marvel Comics Series:
Current issue date: Jan - Mar 2003
X-treme X-men
X-treme X-men Mechanix
Soldier X
X-Statix
Uncanny X-men
Exiles
Current TV Shows I'm watching:
The Muppets (on winter hiatus)
The Grinder
@Midnight
Lupin III Series 3
Key & Peele
American Horror Story (will start S4 soon)
Phineas & Ferb
Podcasts I'm listening to fairly regularly:
Nerdist
Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast
Penn's Sunday School
Jay & Miles X-plain the X-men
Serial
Video Games I'm playing:
Disney Tsum Tsum
Rock Band 4 (They finally let me import RB1 songs this week, still waiting on RB2 and Green Day)
Suikoden
Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Stuff I finished since last time:
Final Fantasy 14 - More accurately I gave up trying to play it. It may be a nice game but I'm just not interested in paying a monthly fee for an MMO.
American Horror Story season 3 - Jessica Lange is a good actress, but I'm not as interested in her sex life or desire to stay young and beautiful as the writers of this show are. But I liked all the younger witches in the season and the flip flop nature of their loyalties and who is betraying whom.
Serial season 1 - Similar to Making a Murderer, it's an interesting look into our criminal justice system and the mistakes that can be made. It also really rang home for me that "a jury of your peers" is basically impossible to find, particularly since most of us really, really hate jury duty. This one does not take a side as strongly as Making a Murderer did, which just helps to highlight how difficult it can be to truly know the truth in these situations.
The Introvert Advantage - A good book for people on either side of the introvert/extrovert spectrum who want to know more about introverted nature and what it does and doesn't mean. Also contains a lot of good coping tips for us introverts who are forced to do more extroverted things at our jobs or social occasions. It's certainly not one size fits all, but I found some good stuff in there.
Fit in 50 Days - I would only recommend this book if you are doing no fitness work at all, and if you have enough money to introduce a gym membership or lots of home equipment into your budget. As someone who already tracks what I eat (at least semi-regularly, I'll admit I slip sometimes) and exercises regularly, what I mostly gained from this is that it's also important to stretch and maintain your balance on top of cardio and strength training, to help prevent those times when you go reaching for something on a high shelf or bend over to get something and you pull something and end up in pain for a week. Not that you'll never ever have those instances again, but well roundedness will help prevent it. He tries to remain vague on exactly what fitness routines to do as he knows they cannot possibly be one size fits all, but he still seems to expect you to have a whole lot of free time and money to do all these things. He's also super judgmental of overweight people or people enjoying a good snack.
The Wonder Years - I watched this show regularly growing up, and I was happy to see that most of it holds up really well. It was also really cute to see so many younger stars make an appearance on the show before they went on to bigger things. The show manages to touch on some really universal things about growing up while also providing some nostalgia for the then adults when it aired. The fact that my dad was only slightly younger than Kevin Arnold would have been back then, and that he and my brother are also Kevins, and that Fred Savage looks almost exactly like my brother, do add up to a certain fondness for this show that others may not have. But I noticed this time that the parents in this remind me a lot of Jak's parents as well, so something tells me that anyone watching this could probably find some kind of parallels, they just did a good job of making them an every-family in any-town. The show loses some momentum when Kevin goes from junior high to high school, losing all the teachers that came before and changing some of the dynamic. When he begins to act like more and more of an idiot when he turns 14, I started to nod and smile, realizing that most boys are in fact little shits around that time. The show is also pretty aware of how asinine he's being, with the narration adding in a level of comedy that highlights his obliviousness. But three seasons of him being a jerk get a little tiring, and the Kevin/Winnie romance dwindles into nothing more than the two of them sitting in a car at lookout point and him grumbling that she won't put out. It's no big surprise that the show didn't get renewed after the bland sixth season. That said, there's no denying this show was influential to what came after, particularly in other nostalgia based shows like That 70's Show and Freaks and Geeks. Definitely recommended for those who want to revisit it or even those who have never seen it before.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Monday, January 11, 2016
Current media 1-11-16
I'm still reading all the same books as last time, scroll down if you missed that. I also haven't had a chance to read too many comics this past week.
Shows I finished since last time:
Ultimate Spider-Man - While I didn't like this season as much as the previous seasons, I enjoy that this series continues throwing in more and more Marvel heroes. I enjoyed most of the "Web Warriors" introduced, though the multipart ender Contest of Champions was really boring to me. The biggest thing I enjoyed out of it was suddenly realizing that the guy voicing The Collector was doing the same voice he did for Xan in the first Baldur's Gate video game, so when he got super pessimistic I started quoting appropriate Xan lines every time after he said something.
Making a Murderer - this became a minor obsession for last week. A very well done documentary that slowly unfolds the information in a way that allows you to react to it, and therefore forces you to question your own snap judgments about people. It's infuriating from the perspective of seeing how our justice system is and how little we can do to change it, but also really essential viewing. Reminded me very much of the Paradise Lost docs, and I can only hope there's some kind of happy ending for these guys too eventually.
Movies I watched:
The Dwarves of Auschwitz - Found this short (45 mins) documentary while scrolling through Netflix. It's hosted by Warwick Davis and covers a set of 7 brothers and sisters who were saved from death at the camp because of their dwarfism and the fact that they were performers. It contains an interview with the youngest sister, and her smile is so warm and joyful that it helps temper the more shocking images you see from the Holocaust. Recommended.
Ant-Man - I held off on watching this one because of Edgar Wright's departure, and at least for me, that departure was still sorely felt. There were comedic moments in the film that came off really bland and uninteresting, which at least to me felt very much because they were written by him but handed to a director who either didn't have as much skill at comedic timing, or listened to Marvel who told him to tone it down. It also makes me question why Rudd was even used for the part, as he barely gets to use his humor. This film really should have been closer to Guardians of the Galaxy in tone and embracing the absurdity of the nature of Ant-Man's powers, and instead it just became a by the numbers Marvel movie. It wasn't bad, I certainly don't think my time was wasted, and I enjoyed Hope as much as everyone else seems to, it just felt like it could have been so much better.
It's probably also worth noting that I'm experiencing a bit of superhero movie fatigue that seems to be resulting in me returning to how I felt about comics in the 90s - Excited for X-men and only vaguely interested in everything else.
All other TV shows besides the above I'm still watching, though I'm now about halfway through American Horror Story season 3.
I just finished listening to the latest episode of Masters of Carpentry, and I added Serial to my podcast subscription list because people are making comparisons to it and Making a Murderer.
I didn't play Final Fantasy 14 like I wanted to, but I did record a commentary track over Jak's playing of Pony Island. I didn't like the game very much, but you'll have to watch to hear how. We enjoyed the process so you may see more of those videos popping up in the future.
Shows I finished since last time:
Ultimate Spider-Man - While I didn't like this season as much as the previous seasons, I enjoy that this series continues throwing in more and more Marvel heroes. I enjoyed most of the "Web Warriors" introduced, though the multipart ender Contest of Champions was really boring to me. The biggest thing I enjoyed out of it was suddenly realizing that the guy voicing The Collector was doing the same voice he did for Xan in the first Baldur's Gate video game, so when he got super pessimistic I started quoting appropriate Xan lines every time after he said something.
Making a Murderer - this became a minor obsession for last week. A very well done documentary that slowly unfolds the information in a way that allows you to react to it, and therefore forces you to question your own snap judgments about people. It's infuriating from the perspective of seeing how our justice system is and how little we can do to change it, but also really essential viewing. Reminded me very much of the Paradise Lost docs, and I can only hope there's some kind of happy ending for these guys too eventually.
Movies I watched:
The Dwarves of Auschwitz - Found this short (45 mins) documentary while scrolling through Netflix. It's hosted by Warwick Davis and covers a set of 7 brothers and sisters who were saved from death at the camp because of their dwarfism and the fact that they were performers. It contains an interview with the youngest sister, and her smile is so warm and joyful that it helps temper the more shocking images you see from the Holocaust. Recommended.
Ant-Man - I held off on watching this one because of Edgar Wright's departure, and at least for me, that departure was still sorely felt. There were comedic moments in the film that came off really bland and uninteresting, which at least to me felt very much because they were written by him but handed to a director who either didn't have as much skill at comedic timing, or listened to Marvel who told him to tone it down. It also makes me question why Rudd was even used for the part, as he barely gets to use his humor. This film really should have been closer to Guardians of the Galaxy in tone and embracing the absurdity of the nature of Ant-Man's powers, and instead it just became a by the numbers Marvel movie. It wasn't bad, I certainly don't think my time was wasted, and I enjoyed Hope as much as everyone else seems to, it just felt like it could have been so much better.
It's probably also worth noting that I'm experiencing a bit of superhero movie fatigue that seems to be resulting in me returning to how I felt about comics in the 90s - Excited for X-men and only vaguely interested in everything else.
All other TV shows besides the above I'm still watching, though I'm now about halfway through American Horror Story season 3.
I just finished listening to the latest episode of Masters of Carpentry, and I added Serial to my podcast subscription list because people are making comparisons to it and Making a Murderer.
I didn't play Final Fantasy 14 like I wanted to, but I did record a commentary track over Jak's playing of Pony Island. I didn't like the game very much, but you'll have to watch to hear how. We enjoyed the process so you may see more of those videos popping up in the future.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Current media 1-6-2016
With the beginning of the new year I'm in this spirit of wanting to organize and plan but not having anything in particular to plan for at the moment. So in the absence of planning, let's do lists!
Current reading material:
Audiobook (generally listened to while exercising, sometimes in the car) - The Introvert's Advantage: How Quiet People Can Thrive in an Extrovert World
E-book (read at work primarily, where it's much easier to carry my kindle around) - The Man in the High Castle
Physical book (kept on my end table, where I read a little before bed) - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Technically a Book (but designed so that you read about one page a day) - Fit in 50 Days: Creating Habits That Will Keep You Lean for Life
Marvel Comics Series:
Current issue date: January 2003
X-treme X-men
X-treme X-men Mechanix
Soldier X
X-Statix
Uncanny X-men
Exiles
Current TV Shows I'm watching:
The Muppets (on winter hiatus)
The Grinder
The Wonder Years (in the midst of season five)
@Midnight
Lupin III Series 3
Key & Peele
American Horror Story (finished S1, decided to skip S2 because it was too intense/cruel, will try S3 soon)
Ultimate Spider-man
Phineas & Ferb
Making a Murderer (started last night, currently in the middle of episode 2)
Last movie I saw in the theater:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Next movie I see in the theater:
Probably Deadpool, unless I'm forgetting something else coming out before then
I can't remember the last movie I watched at home, though I've got plenty sitting in my Netflix/Amazon queues waiting for me.
Podcasts I'm listening to fairly regularly:
Nerdist
Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast
Penn's Sunday School
Jay & Miles X-plain the X-men
Video Games I'm playing:
Disney Tsum Tsum (this addiction does not seem to ever end)
Rock Band 4
Peggle 2
King's Quest
Final Fantasy 14 (sort of. I created a character and keep saying I'm going to come back before my free trial ends but haven't yet and I've only got about two weeks of that left now. I'm hoping to play this weekend.)
With any luck I will continue to post whenever I finish things or start something new, but you know how these start of the year project ideas tend to go.
Current reading material:
Audiobook (generally listened to while exercising, sometimes in the car) - The Introvert's Advantage: How Quiet People Can Thrive in an Extrovert World
E-book (read at work primarily, where it's much easier to carry my kindle around) - The Man in the High Castle
Physical book (kept on my end table, where I read a little before bed) - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Technically a Book (but designed so that you read about one page a day) - Fit in 50 Days: Creating Habits That Will Keep You Lean for Life
Marvel Comics Series:
Current issue date: January 2003
X-treme X-men
X-treme X-men Mechanix
Soldier X
X-Statix
Uncanny X-men
Exiles
Current TV Shows I'm watching:
The Muppets (on winter hiatus)
The Grinder
The Wonder Years (in the midst of season five)
@Midnight
Lupin III Series 3
Key & Peele
American Horror Story (finished S1, decided to skip S2 because it was too intense/cruel, will try S3 soon)
Ultimate Spider-man
Phineas & Ferb
Making a Murderer (started last night, currently in the middle of episode 2)
Last movie I saw in the theater:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Next movie I see in the theater:
Probably Deadpool, unless I'm forgetting something else coming out before then
I can't remember the last movie I watched at home, though I've got plenty sitting in my Netflix/Amazon queues waiting for me.
Podcasts I'm listening to fairly regularly:
Nerdist
Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast
Penn's Sunday School
Jay & Miles X-plain the X-men
Video Games I'm playing:
Disney Tsum Tsum (this addiction does not seem to ever end)
Rock Band 4
Peggle 2
King's Quest
Final Fantasy 14 (sort of. I created a character and keep saying I'm going to come back before my free trial ends but haven't yet and I've only got about two weeks of that left now. I'm hoping to play this weekend.)
With any luck I will continue to post whenever I finish things or start something new, but you know how these start of the year project ideas tend to go.
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