Some days the crazy train rides with more passengers than usual.
Last week was a bit rough for me as some on Twitter will know as my treadmill needed servicing. I’m one of those obsessive types (no, really?) and I probably do about three hours a day spread out on the machine. So not getting my usual ten miles a day means adrenaline levels are all over the map and I get pretty edgy. I did end up with more time on the computer though, hence some very article laden days that happened.
We got in a slew of new titles last week, both in manga and anime form, and you can see to the right some of what we ended up with from our friends at Viz Media. I really, really hated sending that My Neighbor Totoro book out to the review team as I wanted it, but man, time is not my friend these days with everything going on. I’m blazing through the second half of Future Diary and then have fully uncharted territory with the second half of Fam the Silver Wing. Then we’re on to the latest Hakuoki season – on Blu-ray – as well as the allure of the full Goddanar series on DVD. I haven’t seen that show since the singles so I’m really curious to see how I feel about it in full series form.
This week has started to see the end of some shows in simulcast form, though only one for me so far with Majestic Prince. Good riddance on that one. I figure if I can do two seasons of Cardfight Vanguard from the start, I can do two seasons of a show like this. On the plus side, this week also started the first new simulcast of the season for me with Diabolik Lovers which I wasn’t sure what it would be like based off of the pre-sell on it. It’s turning into a series that I really feel very unsure that I should be enjoying it.
The weather here hit beautiful numbers this weekend, which meant trying to get ahead of the fun of fall as we’ve got copious amounts of trees here. Thankfully, I’ve got a couple of kids, so that means forced labor. One of the things I conceded to was with the new shed I had gotten this summer, I would allow Amethyst to do it up like a TARDIS to some degree. But only if she actually does the painting. First coating is done and more to deal with later in the season.
Amethyst is working through the idea of potentially some day taking over the site for me. Not that I’ve encouraged it, I learned years ago that it’s best if kids find their own way with a little guidance. Not that I’m adverse to it. At thirteen, she’s definitely deep in genre things, having plowed through the first four season of Hetalia in a weekend and very keen on exploring more with the high school anime club. Since she’s a huge Supernatural fan and a bigger Doctor Who fan, she may be doing some video commentary fun to provide the fangirl experience on some shows in the future. In the mean time, I’m working her through the grunt side of the business. Today she learned how to sorta, pick and package materials for the reviewers that are being sent out on Monday. Doing all of that and then the shipment side was fun since it exposed her to a side of the site she wasn’t too familiar with.
Fandom side material has been light for me this weekend simply because the kids occupy a lot of time when they’re with me, though we do get to do some of it. While my quiet time has been working through a season two marathon of Longmire, I introduced them to the first Rush Hour movie. I initially showed them some Jackie Chan a few weeks back after they were exposed to Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies. That mean hauling out Supercop 2, which is frankly just pure awesome. They loved that, shoddy HK DVD and all, so I opted to move out of that arena for a bit and go with this. It worked doubly well since it’s in English (we usually watch everything with subtitles or captions anyway – the kids learned to read young and fast because of this) but also because they saw a huge favorite of mine a few weeks back with The Fifth Element so they were prepared for the Chris Tucker Experience. We also took in some of Star Trek Into Darkness in 3D, which is my second 3D experience on the new TV, and it’s pretty intense. Review coming this week. Amethyst has also been reading Game of Thrones, so we started to watch more of the first season Blu-ray set and marathoned episodes three through five today. That’s been a blast to watch for me as I near the end of book three as I see so many more things that were over my head being mentioned. Plus, subtitles are a huge help here.
Reading time has been minimal, but those on my Goodreads list and Twitter know that I made it through more of Methuselah’s Children, which has me once again lamenting the fact that it has yet to be made into an HBO series. I really wish I was a TV series producer so I could forge such a product. The book, and Time Enough For Love (and parts of To Sail Beyond the Sunset) would make for an engaging series that could even just be called The Notebooks of Lazarus Long. And in the meantime, I’d get some Peter F. Hamilton books made into TV series as well.
September has been truly awful for movies. Since about March, I’ve been averaging about seven movies a month at the theater thanks to Movie Pass. But September has had only one movie so far with Riddick, which was fun, but I was hoping for more. I try to hit at least three a month to make the card worthwhile, but I’ve accrued more than enough to know it’s paid for itself well. Still, I do have two more movies this month before it closes out for the most part. This coming weekend has Don Jon, with three of my favorite subjects. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlet Johannson and porn. Win, win and win. And to go in the other direction completely, I’ve also got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. I really loved the first one, doubt this one will be as good, but even half as good as the first will make it worthwhile. I need to acquire the first one in 3D if they released it in that form. Such a fun movie.
And let the week begin!
