As the weather gets increasingly chillier, at least from where I am, many of us are opting to stay inside and curl up with a good video game, book, or show. While the end of 2021 isn’t quite here yet, here are some of what I’m hoping to have finished before the year is out.
Continue reading “November Update: What I’ve Been Playing, Reading, And Watching”As the weather warms up and optimism grows around the U.S. over a successful vaccine rollout, there’s potential in the air that the rest of 2021 can be salvaged. While I am one of the many eager to step out of self-hibernation and into the world once more, the past few months has been good for video games, reading, and watching. Here’s a brief roundup of what has been keeping me entertained until those summer vibes eventually lure me away from the comfort of my own home.
Continue reading “May Update: What I Have Been Playing, Reading, And Watching”In between writing, reading, and gaming I have been watching a few shows and movies on the various streaming services I’m subscribed to. What has dominated my TV screen are shows or movies about teenagers. While I may be past a certain age to be watching this genre I often find some comfort in seeing teenagers discover love for the first time, figuring out their identity, and come of age by the end of the story. Appropriately, two of Netflix’s well received original show and movie have recently finished their run with the streamer—Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Did both of these originals get a proper sendoff?
We may all be so over 2020 that we’re looking to put it out of its misery once and for all, but I’m one of the ones who has turned a crap year into one of opportunity. It has been surprisingly productive for my creative pursuits, finishing some older games that have been sitting in my backlog for far too long, getting a lot of reading done, and watching some movies or shows stuck in my queue for months. Among those shows I’ve tried to finish up is Netflix’s Aggretsuko, however, I recently realized that this show is losing some of its appeal that got me watching in the first place.
Continue reading “Aggretsuko: An Anime I Struggle To Finish”
What has made riding out a global pandemic tolerable these last few months are the various streaming services with thousands of movies and TV shows available to entertain us. If you pay for more than one service, like I do, it has become a growing dilemma to decide what to watch on any given day or week. I’m not usually an indecisive person, but even I have succumbed to endless scrolling or browsing syndrome when I’m in the mood to watch something. After finishing an older TV series on Amazon Prime not too long ago (Downton Abbey), I was in the market for a newer TV series to binge watch. With a passionate recommendation from my sister it eventually led me to dedicating the next few weeks to Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Anime has always been my first love. Ever since Sailor Moon debuted in North America in the 1990s, it became my entry point into the vast and wonderful world of Japanese animation. I discovered Cardcaptor Sakura, Fushigi Yugi, Ayashi no Ceres, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and so much more. Manga followed closely behind, mostly because many of the anime I fell in love with were already based on a manga series. When homework and studying were done during my high school and college years, I couldn’t wait to spend my weekends or vacations from school diving into an anime series I was into. Now with those days long behind me, I find my anime viewing to be dwindling until a great sense of nostalgia (or boredom) nudges me to see what’s currently available on streaming.
If someone were to ask you to describe a show you’re currently watching in a few words or less, depending on what it is, it might be extremely easy or difficult. When I watched the final season of 13 Reasons Why, there were two words that stuck out in my mind—disjointed and hallow. The fourth season of this oftentimes controversial teen drama finally came to an end, and the supposed closure this finale should have offered to the story and characters was terribly lacking, frustrating, and pointless. Warning: Some spoilers ahead about the last season.
Spending most of your time at home will motivate you to finally turn your attention to the activities you have been putting off. These days everyone has run out of excuses for not being able to do whatever it is you have been meaning to do. I’ve been guilty of having a long mental check list of shows, movies, video games, and books I always tell myself I would make time for but never do. When going out and being socially close to other people is temporarily out of the question, your next best option is to focus on home activities. Lately, I’ve been catching up on a number of Netflix shows that have been sitting in my queue for months. Here are some of the shows I’ve been watching when I need a break from the dreary news on TV.
Continue reading “Netflix And Social Distancing: What I Have Been Watching On The Streaming Service”
There are plenty of ways to get into the holiday spirit. Some like to deck their entire home with festive decorations that go beyond putting up the tree. Other people like to jingle jangle their way to December 25th with Christmas music. Or if you really want to get into a holiday season state of mind, Christmas movies might be more your speed.
With a number of new Christmas movies coming out each year, it can be hard to decide which ones to spend an hour or two of your time on. Being a huge romantic at heart, I am a sucker for a sweet and fun romantic Christmas movie. Now that Netflix gives you plenty of options to satiate your desire for sappy Christmas movies, I rank a handful of films the streaming service has in their catalog.
Continue reading “Have A Holly, Jolly Christmas: Ranking Netflix’s Romantic Christmas Films”
Remember the good old days when choosing what to watch on TV was a far simpler decision to make? Since there were only a handful of noteworthy TV shows, it was much easier to stick to one and watch it until the end. Nowadays, you’re lucky if you can finish one.
It’s good to have choices, but when there are far too many to choose from, you wind up deciding it’s better you don’t choose anything at all. This is the current conundrum facing most consumers with the amount of streaming services and various content now available to everyone who has a reliable Internet connection.
Continue reading “Choices, Choices: The Overwhelming Glut Of Online Streaming Services”
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