Highlights of Ame Watson's Donkey Kong Country stream. I can't help but feel bad for her every time she dies, but it's funny because her reactions are adorable. XD

Big Love, an HBO show centered around a Mormon(?) Polygamous man and his 3 wives and families. It's definitely an intresting watch and although I am only on episode 5 of the 1st season it's already hooked me and fleshed out the characters well.

Saw the newest Simpsons tonight. Just gonna say what Marge and some of the other characters go through in this one is very frustrating, but at least the episode ends with some rich douchebag on the brink of financial ruin and run over by a tank.

Civil War: Less of a commentary on the horrors and cost another civil war would incur and more of an ode to warzone photojournalism. It could feel shockingly realistic at times despite some of the less plausible details of the premise. Surprisingly well produced and more action packed than I expected, too. Give it a watch.

Reminds me I need to finish the DMZ comic series.

Gonna check out the new Bluey tomorrow. It's 28 minutes long instead of the usual 7 minutes, so I imagine there's gonna be one or two big events in this episode.

We're watching Shogun today, I'm really excited about that! Just started Letterkenny yesterday; only a few episodes in, but I'm already loving it.

I used to love James Clavell books when I was a kid/teenager. Although, I haven't checked out the Shogun series yet.

I tend to enjoy TV show adaptations of books. Last Kingdom, Witcher, and Foundation are probably my favourites right now. I'm a giant fan of Asimov, having read through the core books multiple times... the books are not for everyone (particularly the earlier ones), but I still highly recommend them. My preferred read order:

1. There are two entrances into the universe: Foundation and I, Robot. Read those first - I recommend Foundation.
2. Next do Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation to complete the original trilogy.
3. The Galactic Empire trilogy is a good place to go next, stylistically; but if you want a more character driven experience, go with the Robot trilogy: Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn. The Galactic Empire trilogy is optional, except for Pebble in the Sky.
4. The Foundation sequels: Foundation's Edge, then Foundation and Earth.
5. Robots and Empire.
6. The Foundation prequels: Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation.

The reason I suggest reading in this order rather than chronological is because books that take place earlier, like Robots and Empire and the Foundation prequels, are not only better written, and easier to move onto, but they're more impactful knowing what happens in the future - otherwise, certain moments will go from powerful to just another detail. The Foundation prequels, in particular, uncover the whole scheme.

The story begins in the near future (or very recent past, technically, if we had early robots), shows the advancement of the positronic brain, the development of the FTL drive (I, Robot). Then jumps ahead a few thousand years to the early colonization of space, the first 50 planets (The Robot Trilogy). Then jumps again by thousands of years to the rise of the Galactic Empire (The Galactic Empire trilogy). Then jumps ahead thousands more years (maybe more than 10,000 years) to the fall of the Empire (All the Foundation books). Robots and Empire occurs in the timeline, and I don't really want to spoil much of it, but it answers questions from various books (including Pebble in the Sky).


Also, if you're going to read the books, I recommend doing it before the show, because while the show isn't a straight up translation of the books, many of the elements are taken from throughout these books - and some stuff will be spoiled.

Also, if you like Asimov. I'd recommend other books by him:
The novel: The End of Eternity.
The Novella/Novelette: Nightfall
The short story: The Last Question (my favourite short story of all time)
The collection: The Complete Robot Collection (or something similar (but not a substitute for I, Robot when reading the above series, since this will destroy the pacing and gets off the core story).

CSI and every crime drama currently on TV. So my favorite I hate to admit are the three major Chicago shows.

The trailer for Transformers One. I already like the new take on a young Optimus Prime. ^^

Bouncing around re-watches of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Trailer Park Boys, The Simpsons, and Curb Your Enthusiasm (rewatching up to the new, supposedly final, season).

Recently finished Archer.
Also watching that new Fallout series, got a couple of episodes in last week, will probably get another 2-3 in this weekend.
For films, planning to rewatch Citizen Kane and Rear Window since I recently saw the Simpsons versions of both (Rosebud, the Bobo episode, and Bart of Darkness, the one where Bart breaks his leg and doesn’t get to use the pool they bought - and slips into madness).

A couple of notes on these films. Citizen Kane is not a typical film, as it pretty much breaks every “rule”: Exposition, voice overs, no solid act structure (it’s more like chapters), pacing changes, and so on. So I understand people who have trouble processing this one and say they don’t like it - as most people have trained themselves on films that all have very similar structures. If you’re a book reader or an RPG gamer, and are used to experiencing new story structures, this one is highly recommended. The film is a series of interviews by reporters covering the death of the wealthiest man since Kublai Khan, (instead of Charles Montgomery Burns, it’s) Charles Foster Kane, trying to find out what this mysterious “rosebud” is - which was the last word he spoke before his death. The film does a lot of artistic stuff that becomes part of the style of later films - for example: when people are becoming less relevant to the story, they often appear further back in the scenes they’re in - this is related to famous shrinking scene or Mrs Robinson in the Dustin Hoffman film The Graduate - another film the Simpsons covered (Lisa’s Substitute) which took the romantic element out and made it more of a father-daughter relationship, and had Dustin Hoffman play the voice of the older character while Lisa is the younger.

Rear Window, on the other hand, is like a classic pop song with lots of features that make it enjoyable to all sorts of audiences. It’s one of the most widely accessible films of all time, and has enough little alcoves that it’s always interesting on rewatches. It’s more of a Summer movie - much like the Simpsons episode, the film features a brutally hot summer and the main character (played by Jimmy Stewart) has a broken leg and can’t go outside, so he props himself up in the rear window of his New York City apartment, and watches other apartments with his telescope - everyone has their windows wide open (because of the heat, and air conditioners hadn’t been available yet) and all these little stories in the other apartments happen (romances, parties, sadness, and so-on)… and then he spots what he believes might be a murder.

I love both films - I’ve probably seen Rear Window more than 50 times since childhood.