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⭐ 8.5/10 This is the sixth (!?) Red Rising book, and all of them have been solid 8/10s... until now! The back half of this book was phenomenal, with exciting action and dramatic turns, I was completely absorbed in a way I haven't been since the first trilogy. Let me back up. This book also took me 3 months to read. I found the first half a huge slog, and like I mentioned in Dark Age I think I just forgot too much in the long gap between books. I think part of that is the author's fault, since the naming sucks! I get that this is Roman Empire but in space, but that means all these names are hard to distinguish from each other since they all sound Roman! I was thinking again of the genius of George R.R. Martin, or obviously Tolkien, names that sound regional, and in ASOIAF just knowing a last name tells you so much about what they value and what their motivations are. I finished this book and beyond Darrow and Sevro I don't really know what side most people are on. That'...

⭐9/10 First off, thanks to Beans for gifting me this game for my birthday. A kingly gift.  This is the follow-up to Returnal, a game very near and dear to my heart, one of my favorite games of all time despite some obvious flaws. In a lot of ways, Saros solves those flaws, and is also a better game in a lot of ways. It's faster, more frantic, and a little deeper mechanically. It also has more of a story and introduces some characters whereas Returnal is a one-woman show. I loved playing Saros, and yet I can't help but feel that the ways they solved Returnal's issues created more issues of its own.  First I'll start off with the few minor-ish negatives. In terms of presentation, I never connected with this game the same way I did Returnal. I loved the deep-space, dark aesthetic of that one. The minimal story suited it well, and moreover never takes you out of the gameplay. You discover the history as you go along, and it has some pretty great moments of overw...

⭐8.5/10 This was again a nostalgia-bait download that I got on my switch for very cheap that I could play for an hour or two to relive the sights and sounds and then forget about forever. Except again that's not what happened and I poured my mind, body and soul into this game for a good 20 hours, bringing home the Ultra Grand Championship of the Universe.  My goodness, what an absolute gem they were able to create 30 freaking years ago! I played this game for a million hours when we got the CD disc free in a cereal box, and all the tiny little details came flooding back very quickly. A word I hate but keep coming back to is whimsy - there is no better word for this game! It is so damn charming at every corner, every line of dialogue written and recorded with love. You can imagine the developers having a ton of fun making this game. So many classic lines are etched forever into my everyday parlance especially when I'm playing baseball. "He's caught in a pick...

Oops, skipped a month there! I'm putting both months together now, but instead of talking about more books, I'm just picking the best of the best!     David Nicholls has quickly become one of my favourite writers, because every book that he writes is just so lively and funny and human. This one is about Charlie, who is 16 and spending a summer feeling adrift when he meets an intriguing girl, and so in order to spend more time with her he joins a theater camp, despite having no interest in Shakespeare. It's about first love, but it doesn't feel like a YA book because the story is being told by adult Charlie, who has gotten an invite to a reunion for this summer camp, and he's reflecting on his past and this experience through his adult eyes.     This book had a  bit of a slow start, as we just follow this kid who's a big mess as he begrudgingly tries acting and tries to flirt with Fran. But eventually it turns into something really lovely about first love, the me...

⭐9/10 Man, what a shockingly odd and wonderful movie. For the other movies in this series, I've kinda just said that this is your standard good-not-great zombie fare with all the usual genre tropes. That cannot be said of the Bone Temple. The other ones were directed by Danny Boyle and this is the first one that isn't, but rather Nia DeCosta who doesn't exactly have an impressive resume. But this is certainly the bold step that could add to it!  This movie is a direct sequel to 28 Years Later which has a ridiculous ending that I hated.  Spike is saved by the strangest bunch of 90s action figures at the end, an ending that doesn't match the tone of that movie at all, and felt like a silly artistic flourish that was unnecessary and lame. I couldn't believe that this movie actually picks up there and was initially very skeptical. They are so super weird, and the violence to start this movie is abhorrent, about as bad as anything I have ever seen, and i was ...

⭐6/10 As I was scrolling Google images for a thumbnail, it really hit me that there isn't an exciting image in the entire movie. It's a Spielberg movie and it's about aliens, there should be nothing but cool images!  This was my most anticipated movie of the year so I was certainly disappointed. It's a movie about the main characters having possession of world-altering intel - that aliens exist and have visited earth - and they want to share it publicly. It's a cool premise, but this movie kinda devolves into a weird, early 2000s action movie of the good guys running away from evil secret agents in suits with ear pieces.  The first 2 hours are pretty up and down. There's some cool ideas, but it's all a little silly, all the characters are very stupid, many of these problems would be resolved if people just talked to each other, and the sci-fi elements are a bit under baked. The action sequences are underwhelming and there's some truly horrend...

⭐ 7/10 Like 3, I hadn't seen this one since the theatres, and I remember very little of it, so I knew it wouldn't be great. And it's not. This movie brings basically nothing to the table, and almost actively negates what I would consider to be core tenants of these movies. There are a couple good jokes and new characters, but aside from that this movie does nothing for me. It tries to introduce the idea of lost toys, toys that find meaning outside of their owners, but is that what we want? Isn't the whole purpose of these movies that toys are meant to be played with by kids? It feels very 2019, find your own happiness, but toys existing on their own is sad to me, not empowering. Ya, Bo is cool and tough but we also catch a glimpse of the bad guy finding a child, and that's the most meaningful part of the movie! Because that's what all the other movies have been about. So while this isn't a retread its more of just a nothing movie. The one new concept is For...

⭐ 8/10 This show is kind of everything I thought it would be, and that's a show that's quite good but not great. This plays out like a prequel to Boardwalk Empire, another show I thought was high quality but I didn't love. Its a classic tale of a mob family trying to make their way from a small player to the big leagues, much like Boardwalk Empire these guys specialize in gambling. I do love mafia stories, Sopranos and Scorsese stuff, and this felt indebted to everything that came before. One thing it has going for it is the setting. This post WWI Irish family, each with their own demons, trying to become to run their business but also protect their family. I thought the accents and everything were great, a specific period that I think is what draws people to shows like this. It's also a tight 6 episode season which I appreciated, never felt like there was any filler or any teases to be resolved next season. A complete story that had me excited to watch more. All that ...

⭐9/10 Everything I thought might be true of Hatchet really was true of Brian's Winter. I read this one in a weekend and found it much easier to get through, pretty much getting rid of all the issues I had, and telling a much more compelling survival story.  It's a funny book because it retcons the last one, and actually Brian wasn't saved and has to survive a winter. Has that ever been done before? Either way I love the choice as it's so much more interesting than having to contrive a motivation for him to go back or something. And now he gets to level up all his skills, and he's already a cool, tough preteen rather than the whiny baby he was to start the first.  Yeah, this book is awesome. I did this one on audio and the reader is absolutely fantastic and reminded me of sitting in a circle listening to the teacher read, except that the teacher is now a very good reader. There are also musical accompaniments and I'm not sure there's a better audi...

⭐8/10 I am certainly one to be won over by nostalgia and revisit my old favorites even though doing so is mostly just a good way to ruin fond memories. Still, I figured I could get through it in a weekend and it also helps me understand what books for kids are like. I mean, this was my absolute favorite as a kid for a good two years, and I must have read this book a dozen times. I was super encouraged when my nephew told me it was also his very favorite for a time.  But I didn't read it in a weekend because this book was rough to start with. The writing style is dramatic and insufferable for the first chapters and not a lot of fun to read. But it gets better throughout and by the end it was pretty clear why I would have liked it as a kid. You really do learn so much about survival reading something like this, and I remember feeling so smart, like I could have done all this if I was lucky enough to be stranded in the Canadian wilderness.  But alas, a child who reads...

⭐8.5/10 This movie garnered quite a bit of buzz when it came out a few years back. It's based on the true story of a prison inmate serving a long murder sentence, and so he creates a drama program to help rehabilitate inmates.  Probably the most unique characteristic of this movie is that many of the actors in it play themselves, all graduates of the program having been former inmates. Pretty cool!  There's more to the movie, like a subplot about how the main guy, Divine G, is actually innocent (the trial is unresolved in reality but he's been out on parole), and there are themes of healing and all, but to me, I loved what turned out to kinda be an existential exploration about the power of art and the things that make life worth living. Divine G tries to keep positive in prison, but is brought to his limit, and really only has art and this brotherhood to fall back on. It's pretty special stuff and Colman Domingo gives a pretty special performance.  I think ...

⭐ 10/10 I had not seen this one since it came out while I was in high school, and I remember liking it then. The only scene I really remembered was the ending, with the incinerator and the toy handoff, and something about the peril of those moments stuck with me. But there is so much here, perfect ending of a perfect trilogy. A big portion of this movie is a heist movie! I forgot that Buzz speaks in a romantic Spanish for a good chunk of this! So many funny and memorable things I simply had forgotten about, making this more than just a sad farewell. But boy oh boy, is it sad. Early on, seeing Andy's mom look at an empty room before her son leave for college, it nearly broke me, and my son is like 16 years away from leaving home. So much of this movie is applicable for the general heartbreak of saying goodbye. Andy letting go of his toys mirrors his saying goodbye to him. The toys at one point accept death! In the beginning many of them accept going to the attic, which is essential...

⭐ 10/10 The best Toy Story, although that might be because I have seen this movie a million times and know all the words. It's been a long time since I've seen it, and I forgot how incredible it is. Better yet, my boy loved it! The first movie he has ever asked to watch again, and that's huge. I could go scene by scene, but I think the best use of this review is to talk about how impressive it is that the followed up an amazing movie with another amazing movie, one that has more to say! The bad guy here is a collector, who wants toys not for playing with, but to lock up and admire. That's relevant for the collector economy we still have, and spoke to me as an adult who is always worried about the lifespan of the things he owns. Things are meant to be used, toys meant to be played with, its a simple idea but completely timeless. Not only that, but some of the toys want to be collectables, since a child's love doesn't last forever they would rather just live fore...

⭐ 8.5/10 I was ready to write a review about how much better I thought this season was from the last, but I gave that a 9?! Not going to go modify that one, but we must have been in a starved of TV, because I have no good memories of that show. Production value is always there, but I thought Season 1 was a bit claustrophobic, concerned with only the politics of the Red Keep, and the changing cast was confusing and did not lead to me having any empathy for the characters. Also, create a new theme song cowards! Maybe it helps that I was not waiting a week between episodes, but I liked this season! Starts off with one of the more horrific events in the whole series. I didn't have the kids during the first season, but now those beats really land, I could hardly watch the funeral procession after. Speaking of kids, Aemond! Jace! Those boys are amazing, I thought incredible acting. Aemond in particular is so perfectly menacing, a bit of Joffrey but more powerful and adult. Best looking ...

⭐8/10 Back in the Anneverse! I was a little hesitant to get back to it because I didn't love the last one didn't want anything to stain my view of one who has become maybe my second favorite author. However, she wrote this one while she was still young and thus likely still more passionate about writing these stories. To start, I thought this was about to be another classic. The thing about the previous entry (which she wrote 20 years later) is that it's about Anne's kids, and they are all sweet and innocent and boring. This book quickly introduces Montgomery's speciality which is bad kids (and old grouchy lady of whom there are a few)! This book killed me and it was kinda the mark of a real comic genius, always pushing the envelope a little. I'm sure it was quite scandalous in the 20s when little girls were reading about Mary Vance threatening to kill herself if others wouldn't forgive her.  But Mary takes a back seat in the book pretty quickly ...

⭐6/10 I feel pretty conflicted about this one. I have watched a few Sheridan movies, namely Sicario and Hell or High Water, and loved them both, but also had this sense that those movies were teetering on being conservative propoganda. There is always some lip service to speaking meaningfully about big issues, and in those cases I felt they were enough.  It wasn't enough in this one. In this movie, Jeremy Renner discoverers a dead body on an Indian reservation, and so the tough but naïve FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) comes and is supposed to solve the mystery. However, she needs the help of the seasoned, world-weary Renner to do it.  I have a lot of thoughts on this one, but I'll try to limit them. It's a good movie. It looks okay (though not nearly good enough considering the landscapes they have to work with), it deals with some heavy themes, the action is exciting, the music is atmospheric though maybe a little overused, and yeah, it's a classic tale of goo...

⭐10/10 My goodness, what a book. I have said it before, but there are books that inspire me to get writing, and then there are books like this that make me want to give it up altogether. I could never do this! What an impressive example of beautiful prose meeting unfathomable research, brilliant insights with an artful touch.  This is a story about an American missionary family travelling to 1960s Congo to convert a tribal people group that they don't understand. However, it's the overzealous father who drags his family there, but you only get the experience from the POV of his 4 daughters and occasionally his wife. It's definitely a book that focuses on the experiences of women as they process all the hardship and tragedy that unfolds around them.  I will also add that this plotline takes up about 2/3 of the book, and the final third tells the story of the sisters after they leave. I don't think my description sounds super compelling, but this is a brillian...

⭐6/10 Miyazaki WHY!!! I come back so often because I truly want to believe, and I go in with such a full heart and such low expectations. Almost every time I am burned.  This movie is absolutely gorgeous. It is maybe his prettiest movie with beautiful landscapes and cool character designs and cute lil monsters. The music is outstanding, maybe the most recognizable main Ghibli theme, and it is not used sparingly which I actually always love. I wanted to love this movie. It has themes of the evils of industrialization and the horrors and senselessnes of war - everything I want and normally connect with. But this movie again is utter and total nonsense. No two scenes follow logically in any sense in this movie and it drives me crazy because if the story was merely passable I would defend this movie to the death. I get that themes and ideas are hidden and worth exploring, but I need some semblance of a story to follow or I will zone out, and that's exactly what happened....

⭐9.5/10 This is often regarded as the best season of Alone, and after jumping around in a few seasons I think I'm inclined to agree. It's mostly your standard fare, which is always amazing, but also includes the single best contestant to date in terms of what I have seen. Hyper competence is always a joy to watch, and every single thing this guy does works out. In a game that often turns out to be a starvation contest, this guy looked like he was about to survive the winter with food to spare and could have lived indefinitely out there.  So that's pretty well the entire review of the season. There are other things I'll quickly mention, but essentially this is a standard season with the exception of a guy who was amazing at this, and also a fun personality to watch. They are at Great Slave Lake, which is WAY up north, so it was an interesting season though I'd honestly prefer if the locations were a bit more hospitable. Survival is hard enough!  One highl...