August, I watched, I gamed, and I read... a lot!

I read a ton in August, there was a lot to do with work and cleaning and chores so I did a lot of audio books. The wife and I also started exercising together and we listen to audiobooks while we do that so our listening increased as well.

I read 3 non-fiction books this month! That's more than I read in all the 2010's most likely. I've found some interesting, and mildly infuriating, but also a few hopeful. Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream by Megan Greenwell was the most infuriating. It was how private equity has destroyed several parts of companies and peoples lives. The creation of public shareholders and then the alteration of that into private equity has gone the way of excess and I believe is causing the downfall of capitalism into oligarchies. The second book was The Cornfield by Mike Peters, a local cold case murder that was solved 30 years later thanks to DNA. It was crazy the lengths the county and city went to to solve this case only for it to go cold, and by a fluke of preserved but thought lost evidence get solved. It was slightly upsetting as it was very one sided as the man convicted never game statements to the book. Not saying that he was innocent or anything, but it felt like a large missing gap in the story. The final non-fiction book I read was How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur (Mose from The Office and creator of The Good Place). This was a very interesting book about philosophy and morality. I really liked it and thought it was very hopeful.

Bad 8/10

Corn 6/10

Moral 9/10

The wife and I enjoyed two books from the Quinn & Costa series by Allison Brennan, The Third to Die and Tell No Lies. The first was a serial killer hunt and was quite interesting, if resolved with a cute little bow a bit quick by the end. The second was decent enough, but not that engrossing. We then listened to My Sister is Going to Kill Me by Nina Simon, a new release and was very enjoyable for us. It was funny and mysterious and engrossing, even though the first murder didn't occur until more than halfway through the book.

Third 7/10

Lies 5.5/10

Sister 8.5/10

I've gotten the itch to play Dispatch lately, but haven't had the time commitment to be able to focus on it and see where that story goes, so I read a couple books instead. I reread Confessions of a D-List Supervillain by Jim Bernheimer and read Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. Both are good stories with a view about how awful "heroes" can really be. Hench has gotten a lot of social media buzz I guess, but honestly I prefered the indie D-List to it. It was funnier, felt a little more real, and not quite as tied to The Boys.

Hench 8/10

D-List 8.5/10

I also continued Seth Ring's The Exlian Syndrome Series with Dark Dawn. The second book in this LitRPG wasn't quite as good as the first, it felt like much more plot without a ton of meaning behind it, but I'm hopeful that it's setting up the third and beyond. I did enjoy it and like this series more than Dungeon Crawler Carl, but I'm probably in the minority there.

Dark 7/10

The last book I read was the horror/mystery new release, I Didn't Do It by Elle Gonzalez Rose. This was engrossing, and had a good twist. I did like it overall, and if you like teenage slashers with a bit more depth, this is a decent one.

Didn't 8/10

I played just a couple video games this month, I continued playing Combat Master, it fed my periodic FPS needs and as a free to play game was totally worth it. The matched load significantly faster than what it tries to copy, CoD or Battlefield. I also played some Clue and it was awesome! I love this game and using logic and deduction to figure things out. 

Combat 7/10

Clue 9/10

There were definately a few highlights in the movies I watced this month!

I watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day and talk all about it with Marshal and Rish on the Journey Into... podcast, give it a listen! https://www.patreon.com/JourneyInto/posts/comics-cave-10-168257529

Spidey 9/10

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was watched because Brand New Day gave me an itch and only Spidey could reach it. Fantastic movie and I like these Spider-Verse movies more than the live action ones I believe.

9/10

Tied in with my super-villain reading, I also watched Henchmen, it wasn't as good as Megamind, but it made me laugh and the soundtrack was classic rock gold.

Henchmen 6/10

I saw a few little shorts that I thought were Dropout or Viva la Dirt League-esque parodies, but turned out to be from The Jester and it's sequel. I only watched the first one so far and it's a PG-13 rated version of The Terrifier, but I appreciate it for what it is. Not good enough to watch again, but good enough to give it a shot if you're looking for something to watch.

Jester 5/10

Possibly my favorite movie that I've seen this year is The End of Oak Street. It was soooooo good. The special effects may not be at Jurassic Park level, but the terror and emotions are there. I heard it called "Look Behind You, The Movie" and that is hilariously accurate. This was a truly enjoyable movie and I will be buying it. And watching it quite often.

Oak 9/10

We had a family film fest of Tim Curry movies, RIP. They were all great, you can't go wrong with the amazing Mr Curry, espeically in FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Muppet Treasure Island and potentially my favorite movie of all time Clue!

FernGully 6/10

Muppet 9/10

Clue 10/10

Watching FernGully weirdly led us into watching The Last Unicorn, which is a fever dream of a movie and is very good, but man it goes hard into embracing the strange.

Unicorn 8/10

The End of Oak Street, and the gasps we made and heard in the theatre

 

So we took the kids to Elitch Gardens with some of their friends, and went ourselves to go have a nice meal and then see The End of Oak Street. The wife is a huge Dino-holic and this movie was calling to both of us. The big names in the movie are Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway, but the newer actors of Maisy Stella and Christian Convery play their kids and do a fantastic job too. 

The premise of the movie is that the neighborhood the family lives in gets mysteriously transported back to the age of dinosaurs and they have to figure out how to survive, and hopefully escape. The wife said this was the best Jurassic Park feeling movie since the original. It was truly a thrilling movie, and like many you need to suspend disbelief, but if you do there's so much to enjoy.

Give this movie a chance if you have any interest at all. It's one that honestly I could see going back to see again in theatres and that we will be buying for sure once it's release for home consumption. Or at least when it's on sale for a good price as I'm pretty cheap. We honestly need more mid-budget movies like this and if it wasn't for Spidey still dominating, I wonder if it would have been a bigger hit at the box office.

9/10

I say more below, but it's *SPOILER-IFFIC*

SPOILERS!!!!

When Ewan McGregor gets his leg bitten off, there were audible gasps throughout the theatre. To then have him almost immediately get eaten thereafter caused the wife and I to gape at each other and we weren't the only ones to react with shock and awe. It truly changed the rest of the film and meant that anyone could die at any moment. We both talked after and expected someone else to get killed before the ending. Especially from the terrifying snake that was in the house. *shudder* I hated that thing and it freaked me right out. The emotion impact of the death of Greg (Ewan) was felt throughout the rest of the movie and Anne especially shined in that part of her performance. 

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spideys!

I went and saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theatres and finally watched Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. All I can say is that I want more Spider-Man and that's as someone who doesn't exactly have superhero fatigue but maybe just shutting down by there being too much. That changes when it comes to Spidey, and honestly it's worth it. Brand New Day might be the best live action Spider-Man movie out there, and the Spider-Verse movies are the best Spidey movies. There are problems with both, I won't deny it, but they are inconsequential to the overall enjoyment of Spidey. He's truly a fun, emotional, and meaningful hero to watch. 

I know it's easy to bag on a couple of the Spidey movies, but honestly I enjoy them all, even Amazing Spider-Man 2. For your "traditional" comic-book movies, These are up there with the newest Superman for me in the best of the best. The non-traditional are the outstanding films like Dredd, Tintin, Akira, and Hellboy that are a bit out of the normal when you think of comic book films.

Do yourself a favor and watch a Spidey today!

Brand New Day 9/10

Across the Spiderverse 9/10

I'm late for my July reviews. Sorry.

 For some reason I have been procrastinating writing July's reviews. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better going forward. Not sure if anyone is reading this, or really cares, but I do so that's what really matters.

July's video games: I played more games in July than June, and found a new Evergreen that I'll be playing for a while, at least.

I played a little more Tetris Effect: Connected and it's as satisfying as it was on my original GameBoy. Always a great game to enjoy in short or long bursts.

10/10

I also went back to X-Com: Enemy Unknown, which is probably my legitimate favorite and the game I have played and replayed more than any other. I like X-Com 2 in a lot of ways, but the fact that I can play this one without any performance/crashing issues will always make it my constant game. 

10/10

There's a new to me game on Steam Deck called Better With a Friend that is a fun little comfy competitive games that is made by one dude. He drew all the art/animations and provides the sound effects vocally too. It's a bunch of mini-games like checkers and dots and some great trivia and the best of all memory. You have to match animals and it's worth the tiny price to hear his animals sounds alone.

10/10

Finally, because I'm playing almost exclusively on my Steam Deck now I cannot play my old standards of Battlefield (1 and 6) or CoD (Cold War and Vanguard, but all) because of stupid anti-cheat and Linux incompatibility. There is an alternative though. It doesn't have a campaign, which is too bad, but it's free and the wait times in the lobbies are significantly less, so much so that I almost feel like I'm constant playing, instead of constantly waiting like the forementioned games. This new game is called Combat Master, and it's a multiplayer CoD clone with decent enough graphics, virtually no rubberbanding, and best of all solid gun play. So if you have an itch for some military shooters but don't want to give Microsoft or EA money, give this free option a try.

8/10

Reading this month was truly insane. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I finished 16 books!!!! Albeit, three were graphic novels, and several others were probably closer to novellas than novels, one was the final short story in a collection that I've been reading over the past 2 years or so, but still 16!!!!

Most importantly I finally finished The Expanse series! That's right, I finished Leviathan Falls and the final short story of the Memory's Legion collection. This is by far my favorite of any epic saga I've ever read. I will be now playing the video games (one out now, the other coming) and watching the TV Show! I cannot recommend these books enough. It is honestly what I'm going to be comparing everything to at this point.

9/10 LF

9.5/10 ML

I finally broke down and read Sarah Gailey's Spread Me. This book has an erotica tag on it, which is what made me hesitate, but I've now read several of Sarah's stories and they've earned my benefit of the doubt. I will say that there was a sexual component to this book, but honestly, I've read more explicit in some Stephen King books. This book was openly inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing movie, and adds in a spread through close (sexual maybe) physical contact. It is a very good horror story, and if you don't mind a little spice in your reading, it is well worth it. If you don't like the spice, then I recommend Sarah's Upright Women Wanted instead. They're just too good of an author to pass by.

9/10

The three graphic novels I read this month were Werewolf by Night: Unholy Alliance, Be the Bus: The Lost and Profound Wisdom of the Pigeon by Mo Willems, and Falling Skies by Paul Tobin. I was able to get the full series of Falling skies for relatively cheap and this prequel graphic novel was a good deal too so I grabbed it to read before I start the series. It was decent, made me more interested in starting the show and built the universe. What can I say, I read all the X-Com books and had an itch for something similar. Werewolf by Night is a short tale collection and was entertaining enough, even with the Tales From the Crypt-esque feel. Be the Bus was hilarious and enjoyable way to make you think about life in an earnest and comfy way.

7/10 WbN

8/10 BtB

8/10 FS

The wife and I finished four books this month! This Girl's a Killer by Emma C Wells, was a trashy and very repetitive female serial killer going after awful men story that talked about how smart she was while she continuously did idiotic things. Not our favorite, but good enough to finish at least! Heavy are the Stones by JD Barker and Christine Daigle was a religious inspired copycat/partner serial killer book that also failed to grab our attention. The cops bending the rules (BREAKING THE LAW) is not a favorite thing of ours, no matter why the reasoning. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman was the start of a series with a aspiring private eye trying to get her friend off of the murder charge. It was ok, but felt a little plodding. Finally we listened to The List by Carys Jones, which seemed like a mystery/thriller for 90% of the book, then just decided to crush your hope and spirit instead. It was a sad book, although a well written one, the best of the month, but not what we're looking for to listen to before sleeping.

4/10 TGaK

4/10 HatS

5/10 BB

8/10 TL

There were a pair of excellent, but angering/sad/maybe hopeful nonfiction books this month too. Did You Hear What Happened in Salem? The Witch Trials of 1692 by Katie Kennedy was a fantastic telling of the insanity that happened. It was very well done and gave some background that I hadn't heard before. I cannot recommend this book enough to everyone. The other book was the memoirs of Aeham Ahmad, The Pianist from Syria. The story of the man behind the famed photo is so tragic and sad, but has some hope at the end. So much evil in the world, but how music, love and hope and persevere and become more is amazing.

9/10 Salem

8/10 Pianist

As a fan of Rish Outfield and his podcast and blog, I know he's reading and talking about Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy with Abigail Hilton. They did the second book in hte trilogy, Royal Assassin, which I finally got around to. It's a huge tome of a book. And although it's often infuriating and there are characters you will hate with all your being, it's well done and I will eventually read the third book, which is even BIGGER!!! https://rishoutfield.blogspot.com/?_sm_au_=iVVZH2v5nJJ8RZW5

6/10

The last of my reads were 3 "cozies" I read the new The Space Pilot by James Clifton, which started out as a more military version of The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell, but turned into a noir hard boiled, shallow mystery by the end. It was ok, but I was disappointed after such a strong start. The second was Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley is a dead girl comes back to life for revenge thriller that was predictable, but I still liked the ride. Finally I listened to book 6 in the Fred, the Vampire Accountant series, Undeading Bells by Drew Hayes. The Fred books are not life changing literature, but I love them so much. The only complaint I have is that I know the series ends at book nine and I know I'll want more.

5.5/10 Space

6/10 Bitch

8/10 Fred

We'll see how my reads and gaming continues here in August (psst. It's going well, but not as much so far).

June was a month full of reading, but not gaming...

I'm trying to play through the FMV game Bloodshore, but I'm not doing very well at it. I haven't reached one ending yet and I'm told it only takes a couple hours to get there. I just haven't had the time to sit down and play for 30 minutes or more at a time, which is what this game really needs. I did also get Tetris Effect and played that a bit, which lets me pick up and play from time to time. 

As for reading, WHAT A MONTH! Somehow I finished 12 books this month! Albeit a couple were graphic novels, and/or novellas. But even still it was a very successful month. Even the audiobooks the wife and I listen to increased. We're becoming more consistent at listening and coming close to finishing a book a month almost!

First off I read the fifth collection of Catana Comics, Still Smitten. These comics are little slices of relationship love and I don't know how she knows what's going on in our house be they are so relatable for us it's crazy. We love reading these together as it's the perfect combination of heartwarming, funny, and loving.

9/10

The other graphic novel was Eat the Rich by one of my new favorite authors Sarah Gailey. Ah, the pun title master strikes again! They are fantastic at making titles for books that have double meanings, and *SPOILER* have significance to the story. This is a typical person marries into a rich family situation, with bad things to follow. Think the movie Ready or Not.

8/10

I didn't talk much about Sarah's other books, because one of the novella's I read was their fantastic dystopian tale Upright Women Wanted. This Handmaid's Tale meets The Book Of Eli future is a fantastic dystopian western about the power of "librarians." The best news is that the sequel was just announced! This is really a great title and I have another one of Sarah's books sitting next to me now, and a few more on my watchlist. If you like westerns and the fight for equal rights, or are a fan of Cathay Williams this book will be up your alley!

9/10

There were two book club books on my docket this month, Cue the Sun by Emily Nussbaum about the creation and history of Reality TV was the first. This was already on my to be read list and when I saw it was part of the library's book club I had to jump at the chance. I'm trying to read more non-fiction, and that doesn't just mean about traditional things, but about anything really. This was an interesting study of the subject and starts from radio and moves through game shows, older tv shows than you think, to the explosion in the 90's and ends in the 2010's with the election of the felon and his unlikely rise to power. I didn't realize how much reality TV I actually consume and enjoy (it's more than just The Amazing Race)! This helped me to recognize that and the chapter about the incomparable Chuck Barris is worth the price of entry on it's own!

7/10

The Measure by Nikki Erlick was my other book club book. Somehow everyone 22 years old or older receives a box with a string in it. The length of the string ties to the length of their life. Chaos ensued. It was a well told story and felt a little bit like The Dead Zone by Stephen King, and The Box by Richard Matheson. To someone that is familiar with speculative fiction, there's not much to see new here, even with it being well told. It also *SPOILER* wraps up with a cute little bow full of hopeful, if not happy endings, and felt a bit too much. Honestly, this book in a weird way reminds me of Inception. Fresh and new for people who normally don't consume speculative fiction.

6.5/10

I did read another non-fiction book, and it's one of the first self-help books I've ever read, The Practice of Attention: Cultivating Presence in a Distracted World by Cody Cook-Parrott. This was an attempt to learn some strategies for being more present, specifically while with the family. I have a tendency to ADHD out and not be as present as my family deserves. Nothing wrong with trying to improve yourself and getting help while doing that.

7/10

I finally listened to the sequel to Bless Your Heart, Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan. This is a *kinda* cozy horror book about a family of women who are cursed to fight the rising dead and protect their southern town. This takes place right after the end of the first book, and while it was enjoyable to return to the characters, the pacing and plot of this one was a bit off. I just wasn't drawn in as much, but it was enjoyable enough that I'll return to the series if there's a book 3.

6/10

The bittersweetness of reading Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey. This amazing series had another phenomenal edition, but it's getting closer to the end. I cannot recommend this series enough and this book was one of the best. I don't want to spoil anything with these books, but they are legitimately the best fiction books I've ever read on how people actually act and react to things. It feels so real even though its anything but. Just one more book, that I'm currently reading, and one last short story. The only thing good about finishing this book series is that I can then finally watch the show and play the video games!!!!!

9.5/10

The last four books I'm going to combine and write even less about. These were all the books the wife and I listened to. Hermit by S.R. White was an Australian thriller that took place over a day and it felt like it was a month. It was dry and wordy and the concept was great but it just dragged. The Probability of Murder by J.D. Barker and Patrick Logan was a serial killer, maths, figure out the puzzle and secrets book that had some twists, misogynistic cops, but also entertained like the pulps of old. Speaking of pulps, The Lies We Tell by J.D. Barker and Richard Bailey was an utterly ridiculous waking up for a coma and figuring out if you can trust your husband, friends and family tale that spent most of the time with inner monologues and bad dialogue, but we still were amused, even if it was just the outlandish looks we gave each other. Finally was None of this is True by Lisa Jewell. This is a Single White Female/A Simple Favor feeling book about two moms who navigate friendship, death and the truth. It's the best written book of the bunch, but not necessarily the most entertaining.

Hermit 4.5/10

Probability 7.5/10

True 7/10

Lies 6/10