My July Summary
Here is my July 2024 summary. Thank you to everyone who suggested many of the titles below.
PODCASTS
I've been listening to my original list of tech podcasts and not much else. I save these for the commute into the office & back home. I rarely listen at home because I have such a short podcast collection. Nothing new.
BOOKS
I'm still reading Legends & Lattes on my Kindle. Same here, not much reading this month.
MOVIES
Il Mare - This movie is the original Korean version of the old remake movie The Lake House starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. We actually watched that one in the theatre but always wanted to find the original. We finally found it 24 years later and it was very good. Back then it was hard to find international movies and the internet was still young at the time for finding video. Once every time I remembered the movie, I would search online but not until we found the streaming service Viki Rakuten, did we finally find it.
Beverly Hills Cop Axel F - I really enjoyed watching this movie. They did such a great job giving what fans wanted. I mean even the music was on point with the old movies. I don’t like when movies play current pop culture music in movies like it’s just a throwaway given. Music plays a big part in movies. It was nice to see the old cast with a few fresh faces.
Godzilla x Kong : The New Empire - We really enjoyed watching this, my wife preferred this one over Axel F. Not surprised by that as she isn’t in to the same movies as me that hold a nostalgic feel for me. We have been into the Godzilla and Kong movies (and tv shows) for awhile now. The story continued from the last one with the same actors.
Rush - I’m not sure why I haven’t watched this because I’m a big F1 racing fan. It’s the 1970s, a rivalry propels race car drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt to fame and glory — until a horrible accident threatens to end it all. Some big name actors in this movie that I had forgotten but glad I watched it.
TV
The Six Million Dollar Man - This is an old series from the 70s. This is on my media server and enjoy watching a couple of episodes as a break from other series.
Miami Vice - This is also on my server so I watched a couple of episodes while I worked recently.
House of the Dragon - Well, the excitement didn’t last long. Most of the season has been boring with a few scenes of dragon sprinkled here and there. Perhaps they went overboard with the dragons this season. I can’t keep track of them all now and now anyone with the Targaryen blood can be a dragon rider??? The finale is coming up this weekend, so I’m sure it will be ok but not getting excited for it. Supposedly there has been a leak but I’m avoiding reading it this week.
Anna - This story was crazy. A young woman from a poor family one day works for this rich family, steals the identity of their daughter and creates an amazing life for herself that crashes once it catches up to her. Make sure to watch the 8 episode and not the 6 episode version on Prime Video. I had no idea there was an extended version until after I finished the series. Ugh.
Persumed Innocent - This is on AppleTV+ and it was disappointing. Even the twist felt like it was added on in the last 10 minutes to finish up the series. Though I read season two is on the way, so not sure what is going on here. We just got tired of the same old story about a husband that has an affair and the woman gets murdered. He gets charged and we follow along the story of these characters. We already knew what to expect and didn’t really care if he did or didn’t do it. We just couldn’t feel for any of these characters.
The Full-Time Wife Escapist - A story about a Japanese woman who can't find a job but realizes that she is great at being a housekeeper after she takes a job helping a single busy guy. It's sort of a drama comedy type of series with a few laughs. I completed the series this month and really enjoyed it. I didn’t know one of the main characters is a big pop music artist.
Who Killed WCW? - This series was about the rise and fall of WCW in the 90’s. We were a WWF household back then, started watching in the early 80’s with my Father and Uncle, though they stopped watching it soon after. But we as kids kept watching until the 90’s. From what I recall, WCW was getting popular due to the big stars from WWF leaving and signing on. As kids, we were so confused what was going on. We didn’t have internet to quickly look up answers. This series is short but well done with several interviews. If you’re a fan, you will enjoy it.
1122: For A Happy Marriage - This was a bout a couple dealing with their marriage after 7 years. They seem young to be going through what we would consider a mid-life crisis but every culture is different. The wife had a group of younger friends going through similar issues surrounding sex and being a wife. She allows her husband to have a lover because she isn’t into sex. But of course, once it starts affecting their marriage, she wants it to end. It was an interesting series that I quit watching a number of times, but the next day I wondered about what would happen, so I kept going back to watch more.
Marry My Husband - My wife kept suggesting it to me and I finally caved in. I’ve been watching more K and J-dramas lately. It truly is an escape for me from the day to day. I never thought it would, but here I am tired of western television. I didn’t know what to expect but this is a story of a terminally ill cancer patient, is killed by her husband and best friend after she witnesses them having an affair. She wakes up 10 years before the incident and decides to seek revenge with the help of Yu Ji-hyuk, a director at the company where she works. Now, she must reclaim her fate and eliminate the trash from her life. It was trippy at first but it wraps up so nicely. Like every K-drama I’ve watched.
Queen of Tears - Another series suggested by my new Korean co-worker and my wife! They both told me it would be good, just stick with it. As many of these dramas, the story starts off slow, introducing characters and such, but this one had too many characters to follow! I’m glad I stuck with it as I truly enjoyed it and to be honest, I got emotional as it deals with death and close to death situations. I mean not to be morbid, I know, but we all will have to face it one day, our last breath.
Sunny - The life of an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan, is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. As consolation, she's given Sunny, one of a new class of domestic robots made by her husband's electronics company. Ok, after reading that and watching the trailer on AppleTV+, I was in! The music and story is so good, so far. Only a few episodes have aired. I hate when they do this to us, just give us all the episodes! It is mysterious and funny at times, though dark. The clothes, the environments, the robots and tech, is really cool. But not in some futuristic in your face cool, but subtle, like it’s part of the world, working in the background. Looking forward to more episodes.
It’s Okay Not To Be Okay - Desperate to escape from his emotional baggage and the heavy responsibility he’s had all his life, a psychiatric ward worker begins to heal with help from the unexpected – a woman who writes fairy tales but doesn’t believe in them. This is truly a different storytelling drama than what I’m used to. The writer has many children books and each episode refers back to her stories and plays it back in real life. Not too literally, the actors do such a great job. That’s the one thing with these K-dramas, everyone has their story and place, no little bit parts like most western tv shows. Some have more of a story than others, of course. I haven’t finished and only half way through the series but it is really good. My wife watched it twice already.
MANGA
I didn’t read much, but these are still on my list.
Attack On Titan - Started reading this for free on Prime on my Kindle.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - Still reading this one.
Kowloon Generic Romance - Continuing to read this too.
ANIME
My Wife Has No Emotion - Yes, I had no idea what to expect but then realized this guy is in love with his robot! Makes sense now! Or maybe not. I’ve watched a few episodes and it follows the manga very closely that I stopped reading it. I didn’t want to get spoiled and wanted to enjoy this series.
Komi Can’t Communicate - This is a Netflix show about a highschool girl that appears to be popular but doesn’t talk much. She has a fear of social gatherings and has a goal of making many friends with the help of her classmate who offers his assistance. Cute story but it does get repetitive and annoying at times.
Golden Boy - This is a raunchy anime from the 90’s. Boy on his bike taking different jobs and a bit overboard with his love for women. It’s funny because the humour isn’t quite acceptable these days. But it was still nice to see a series from that decade because I never watched anime back then.
Attack on Titan - I started watching this series awhile back when I tried Crunchyroll for free. Now that I signed up again, I've been catching up.
And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online? - This is a show about a highschool guy who plays an online game with a guild that he later finds out are all girls from his school. They befriend each other early in the series and of course love is in the air. I finished the series and quite enjoyed it.
Demon Slayer - Continued to watch several more episodes and close to finishing season one. I just get distracted with other series that grab my attention more. I feel the same way about Attack on Titan, One Piece and other popular anime shows.
VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral After Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream - Where do they come up with these titles?! This is a funny series about a YouTuber becoming popular and pushing her boundaries meeting other YouTubers in real life. She becomes popular after accidentally leaving her mic on while drinking a few bears.
The Elusive Samurai - This is a new series set between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, during the Kenmu Restoration, the story follows the tale of Hojo Tokiyuki, a boy on the run after his family is overthrown by Ashikaga Takauji. I’m sticking with it even if I expected more out of it.
GAMES
I didn't play much this past month but tried a new anime game on the PS5 called Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?”. It was based on a manga from 2015 I recall someone on Mastodon telling me. It’s a fun relaxing game.
MUSIC
The new music I’ve been listening to is the Sunny tv show playlist and found a new artist, Mari Atsumi. She is an older artist but the music is so 60’s and 70’s. The theme song for the show intro is called, Sukiyo Aishite and it’s in my head all day.