Media
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My Favourite Things: January 2021
The new year came and went and 2021 doesn’t seem to promise to bring much to the table except to extend all the shit that went on in 2021
So without much fanfare, here’s a few things I’ve been into this month:
I. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Started playing this in late 2019 but since it has been that long and I hadn’t really progressed with the story then, I decided to restart the game. I bought it out of a strong sense of Castlevania nostalgia given it’s produced by the same guy who did that series and considered to be its spiritual successor. I also bought it without knowing that the Switch version was riddled with bugs and nigh unplayable at times. It’s a good thing most of that has been patched and the game devs have done an admirable job really into improving the experience. So far, I have not encountered any major problems in my current playthrough.II. Cherry Magic
Despite the entire BL craze that popped up lately, Japan seems to be lagging in terms of churning out live action adaptations. I watched the series upon the recommendation of my friend and I fell in love with it instantly.
III. Schitt’s Creek
More of a leftover from December to be honest, but this was such a fun show to watch.
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Of Gods and Myths: a Review of Blood of Zeus and Hades Game
These past couple of weeks I have immersed myself with reacquainting with my love for Greek mythology. Netflix has just dropped it’s new animated series, Blood of Zeus, made by the same people who did the Castlevania and of course, it had peaked my interest enough to give it a go.
The first season of Blood of Zeus introduces us to Heron, a young demigod, who as you may have guessed is the son of Zeus. Predictably, him being yet another product of Zeus’ infidelity earns the ire of Hera. In turn she unleashes a sort of civil war up in Olympus. Also, there are daemons involved — an inspiration seemingly taken from Castlevania because as far as I can recall, there are no such beings in Greek mythology.
Liberties/reinterpretations from the source material aside, I find the show to be lacking in terms of character development. Heron is too bland of a lead hero and his main source of angst? anger? daddy issues? rings stale. It’s really something we’ve seen before. Barring Hera, hardly any of the other goddesses were given lines and just served to be background characters in the pantheon. There was a brief moment with Apollo in bed with a woman and who I’m guessing to be Hyacinthus, maybe the show could give itself a pat in the back for the blink-or-you’ll-miss-it representation bingo.
For all its faults, I found the soundtrack to be quite decent and the animation for the fight scenes to be great. While it’s on it’s first season, I’m inclined to give the show some leeway for setting up the world and the span of eight episodes feels too rushed of a pace. One think I liked though was how each ending featured storyboards and samples of character design. Really makes you watch through the credits instead of skipping to the next episode.
Blood of Zeus is good enough as a time filler. I feel it has potential for a second season at least and for the characters and their motivations to be more fleshed out.
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And speaking of motivations, well, my current obsession has plenty of it.
Hades is a roguelite dungeon crawler in an isometric view. You take the role of Zagreus, son of Hades, who is trying to escape the Underworld to reach the surface. As you delve deeper into the story, you get to find out the reason why he is doing so. Along the way, you’re helped by the Olympian Gods who grant you temporary power-ups called boons. There are six weapons in the game which can be upgraded permanently.
This is the first time I have played a game of this genre and I thought I would end up being frustrated by having to return at the very start and lose all my progress. As it turns out, I am having quite a lot of fun. Each death means I go back to House of Hades where a lot of plot points get revealed and Zagreus gets to up his relationships with the other characters. It’s not just about escaping but it’s also a dating/counseling sim rolled into one.
If I have to nitpick, I gotta say the dungeon rooms design is pretty limited and does get to be limited. Aside from that I love everything about this game. As of this typing, I managed to get as far as facing final boss for the first time. Maybe after more than a hundred more deaths I’ll finally manage to beat him.
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My Favourite Things: January 2015
So I’m diving straight into Raisa‘s linkup and sharing the things I am enjoying this month. 🙂
Mahou Shounen Anime
The winter 2014/2015 anime season brought about a series I’ve been eagerly anticipating for months and it’s called Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE! (or Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!). Turns out I wasn’t disappointed. It is a parody of the mahou shoujo genre and it’s done with affection and much hilarity. The characterisations appears to be but it’s nice to see a series poke fun at itself, even coming off as self-aware at times. After watching intense shows like the second season of Psycho-Pass, Kiseijuu, and even Sailor Moon Crystal, I feel like I needed something light-hearted for a change and this one just fits the bill perfectly.Ever Bilena Water Resistant Eye Liner
I’m one of those people who doesn’t rely heavily on makeup on a daily basis but leaving the house with the eye liner on is simply a must. I don’t know, it just give me a lot of confidence to get through the world outside. So one time I was randomly browsing Saizen and I chanced upon this product, which happens to be the last one on the shelf. I guess that is what compelled me to buy it in the first place. At first, I was wary about using dirt cheap products (even if Ever Bilena is a well-known local brand afaik) especially on my face and I am glad that I didn’t regret it. The product lives up to its claim and the glorious thing is that it lasts me throughout the day without having to reapply it or that nasty resulting panda eyes that tend to happen. For less than a hundred pesos, I’d say it’s quite a deal.999th Match Wins
Tennis season is back! And once again, my ultimate fave is close to reaching another milestone as he plays the 2015 Brisbane International final later today. I hope it ends up being his 83rd career singles title and that golden 1,000th singles career match win. Lastly, I leave with Roger’s totally adorable reaction after the interviewer reminded him of his 999th one:
http://33.media.tumblr.com/4c29254e0c5130b1380ae514267e5080/tumblr_nhydx5lyk51qa3g9po1_250.gif http://38.media.tumblr.com/04e1edfb7bfad6e9cecd9b3c5f2fbe20/tumblr_nhydx5lyk51qa3g9po2_250.gif
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The Beginnings of a TV Addiction… ?
This year alone marks the fact that I may have started watching more TV shows than the couple of previous years combined. Some, like True Detective, Fargo1, and American Horror Story: Coven are anthologies encompassing only a single season which makes viewing them much easier. Halt and Catch Fire and From Dusk ‘Till Dawn were both recced to me by enthusiastic fans of those shows. Then, there are the likes of The Musketeers and Penny Dreadful that I started because of period costumes! and gorgeous cinematography! and a cast full of hot people! and… okay they do actually have some semblance of an entertaining plot, believe it or not. 😛 I’m also still keeping/catching up with the latest seasons of Game of Thrones2, Orphan Black, The Americans, Vikings, Suits, Graceland, and Teen Wolf. Sheesh. That’s a lot, I realise. I’ve become attached.
The latter half of 2014 also promises a host of new adapted series: Gotham, featuring the pre-Batman younger versions of Bruce Wayne and James Gordon, and The Flash, the spin-off of Arrow which tells of Barry Allen’s origins. Finally, there’s Constantine to complete the trifecta of comic books-based TV adaptations which looks to be more faithful to the Hellblazer series than the movie ever was (Remember Tilda Swinton as the androgynous angel Gabriel? Yeah.) DC may be trying to pull what the Marvel cinematic universe has done film-wise; it remains to be seen whether they’ll be successful or not.
But what I’m most excited about is The Strain which airs in a couple of days from now! I can’t say how many times the vampire virus/apocalypse premise has been done before but with Guillermo del Toro at the helm and with Ramin Djawadi composing the music– well this is basically a match made in heaven for me. 🙂 Here check out the trailer:
So, what upcoming TV shows are you keeping an eye on?
1. Still in the midst of watching this and it’s been great
2. Actually I’m quite close to giving up this one -
Three Fandom-y Things
I know. I know. Nine months since the last update is pretty terrible as far as an attempt to keep a regular blog goes. Anyway, enough of that now. Here’s what been going on with things right now:
Roger Federer’s 9th Wimbledon Final
YES. You’ve read that right. After the clusterfuck of a 2013 tennis season, we’ve reached the stage of yet another Grand Slam final (the 25th one, but who’s counting) of the greatest single sporting event in the world. I’m sorry, World Cup what? I have to admit I was a little scared watching the semifinals — Raonic’s serve could be tricky if Roger’s return isn’t on point or if his serve is below par and well, this late part of a tournament had sort of became an uncharted territory for me. But as the match went on, I started breathing a little easier. It was a systematic dismantling of the big serve which is pretty much the only weapon Raonic had on his arsenal. It wasn’t a dazzling performance like I’ve seen before but it had been a clean match. And a relatively drama free one at that.
Well, after the post-victory haze had gone through my brain it’s time to face the reality that tomorrow it’ll be Novak Djokovic standing in the way of an 8th Wimbledon title, 18th Grand Slam win, 80th overall career titles. (Lots of eights there, see. Roger has a thing for that number. It’s practically written in the stars.) To say that I am beyond nervous would be an understatement. I want this win far too much. Even though Roger leads their head-to-head by a very small margin, Djokovic would always be a dangerous opponent. Anyway, I shall keep my fingers and toes crossed and pray to every god that I know.
Vienna Teng’s Concert in Manila
I’m still buzzing about this news since I found out about it a couple of days ago. In my life (
and due to my general dislike of crowded places), there are only a number of artists that I’d actually spend money and time on to see live. Vienna Teng happens to be one of them. Therefore I was beyond excited when she started a Kickstarter project for an Asia-Pacific tour last year. Fast forward a few months later, and I sort start wondering whatever happened to it. And that’s when she announces the aforementioned tour taking place next month! To make it even better, the venue is very close to where I live and I might potentially meet a friend I’ve known online for a number of years now.August has basically a lot of things in store for the fannish me — Guardians of the Galaxy and Rurouni Kenshin sequel premiers and the start of a new Doctor Who series. I practically want this month to be over and done with!
A Look at 2014 Summer Anime Season
I have been paying less and less attention to the new and upcoming anime series for this last few seasons but this one has a few to offer that has me excited. To start with, there’s Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Crystal, the remake of the classic anime that had me falling in love with anime. Then there’s the second season of my favourite swimming bros, Free! Eternal Summer, and Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus, which brings it back on track with the manga. New to me are Zankyou no Terror, Tokyo Ghoul and Love Stage!! (shounen-ai, can’t resist).
I’d like to include that the Eiga Sai is happening this week and provided the weather and my schedule cooperates, I’ll definitely go and see a couple of films. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki particularly as it’s by the same person behind Summer Wars.
And that’s it for now. Hopefully with even less time between the next update!
