Recent Viewing and Reading

 I've taken a bit of a break from running and playing RPGs. While I sort out how I want to begin my new game, which will be face to face instead of online, and my friend Denis preps for his new online Gamma World game, I haven't had much urge to run my West Marches or Star Wars games. I may not run WM again anyway (as I think I mentioned), but I will get some more SW gaming going once things settle down a bit. Anyway, it's summer vacation time. People have been going on vacations or are just busy with other stuff recently anyway (including me!). 

 I have been doing a lot of reading and viewing the past several weeks. Here's a little run-down of what I've been consuming and how well I liked it. 

Thor: Love and Thunder

I was going to do a proper review post, but it's been almost 2 weeks since I saw it already. So I'll start with that here. T:L&T is much more of a Taika Waititi film than Thor: Ragnarok was, if that makes sense. It's a bit goofier, a bit more rambling, and definitely off-beat. It's not quite as good as Ragnarok was. It's got good action sequences. Funny jokes (although many are forced or silly throw-away gags). Some emotional scenes. I think it falls a bit flat in that it could gotten much more emotional by investing more in Jane's and Gorr's story arcs, which were more interesting than Thor's. Thor is his own comedy relief in this movie, instead of letting Banner/Hulk and Korg take care of that. It's still a fun adventure movie, but I think it sacrificed some of the emotional strength it could have had for interesting but ultimately silly situations. 

That said, I am enjoying the recent trend in the MCU movies to let the directors put their stamp on their films. Eternals felt different. Black Widow felt different. Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness felt different. Shang Chi felt pretty typical, but it was full of cool magical martial arts action. Thor: L&T also felt different. I think that's a good thing for the MCU, even if it doesn't always work out.

The Boys Season 3 (Amazon Prime Video)

I semi binged the season. It continues to entertain, but something about this season felt like going through the motions. Sure, they introduced Soldier Boy and dealt with that plot thread by the end of the season. But almost all of the other continuing plot points were just punted down the line. I'm not sure how many seasons they're planning for this show, but if season 4 continues this trend, I may be done watching it. Unlike a monthly comic book, I don't think it's a good idea to have this sort of TV show go on forever. 

Stranger Things Season 4 (Netflix)

Oh my God! This season rocked. More prominent D&D! Some cool new characters, like Eddie Munson (the DM) and Argyle (the stoner) and Jason (the dickhead jock). Homages to Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, other mid to late 80s horror franchises. Kate Bush and Metallica!!! The Russia side plot was a bit silly, much like the Russians in Indiana side plot of season 3, but other than that it was gold. Looking forward for the series finale in Season 5.

 Ms. Marvel (Disney+)

This should be the future of the MCU! This show was so good. It had heart. It had charm. It had everything you'd want from a bildungsroman hero show. The actors made you feel not just like you were watching real people deal with real situations, they made you really love their (extended to include friends) family. The plot had its "save the world" bit, but it wasn't the primary conflict and wasn't hyped as some sort of DC style "Crisis." Best MCU Disney+ show to date.

Dune (2021)

My older boy, out of nowhere (probably something he saw on YouTube or heard from a friend in one of his Discord groups) suddenly asked me the other day if we could watch this. I missed it when it was in theaters in Korea (because of covid-19 and a full schedule, and because Flynn said he didn't want to see it when I asked him then). Anyway, we watched it together. It was pretty good. It's been quite a few years since I read the novel or seen the Lynch film or the Sci Fi mini-series versions, but it was close enough to what I remembered that I could explain the strange bits to him. I enjoyed it. We're looking forward to part 2 next year (and will see it in the theaters!), but I can't say it blew me away. Flynn loved it, though, saying he enjoyed it more than anything Star Wars. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)

Speaking of Star Wars, this was a pretty cool little show. Yeah, it bent the established canon a bit, but it did its best to try and rectify things that happened in the prequels, the original trilogy, and in this show itself. And it was cool to see both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen together again. And more Darth Vader is never a bad thing. There were a few weird things that didn't quite make sense, but it was definitely a step up from The Book of Boba Fett (which I also enjoyed). Decent quality Star Wars fare, and I really don't see what all the incel/racist types were complaining about. But then they'll complain about just about everything on this list no matter what, so screw them anyway.

Stephen King's The Dark Tower series

I've read this series through several times, and I'm currently re-reading it (in the middle of the final volume). If you've read it all the way to the end, well, what Roland the Gunslinger finds at the top of the Dark Tower pretty much demands that you re-read the series. Ka is a wheel, and it keeps on spinning. The impetus for this re-reading was that I finally picked up a copy of volume I The Gunslinger in hardback. I'd been lucky enough to score a limited 1st Edition hardback of Wizard and Glass back when it came out, and then got first editions of the final three books when they came out as well. A few months back I treated myself to a hardback copy of The Gunslinger (unfortunately not a first edition, it's the revised version, and sans the Whelan illustrations). Then I figured I might as well get hardback copies of The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands. Once I had all these hard copies (including The Wind Through the Keyhole), I figured it was time to read them again. And I'm enjoying it a lot, although I've been dreading a certain scene which I'm approaching quickly. When I finished reading this morning to come to work, the ka-tet were about to assault Algul Siento. This dread of re-reading this coming section of the work has been with me since my re-read of The Waste Lands, and it really puts a new spin on my take on the thing. Anyway, long story short (and without spoilers), this series still has what it takes to move me. 

Daredevil Season 1, Episode 1 (formerly Netflix, now Disney+)

All the former Netflix MCU "Defenders" related shows finally went up on Korean Disney+. They'd been off Netflix (and available to US D+ subscribers) for a while. Anyway, I noticed that they were finally up, so re-watched the first episode the other day to see if I'd want to revisit them. I really enjoyed Charlie Cox's take on Daredevil, and I'm glad they're keeping him (and Vincent D'onofrio as Kingpin) in the MCU. Flynn is interested in finally watching these shows, but Steven is still a bit young.  Maybe. Fururama is also now available on Korean Disney+, and that's a bit more family friendly!