Okay, I haven't been great at blog posting lately, I wrote one and posted it last week, but forgot to mention it, lol. I have been keeping busy with school, film critic screenings, curling and preparing for Elliot to visit next month. There have been some cool things that I have been busy with that I wanted to share.
Number One: I had a hard time getting into Bob's Burgers. Some of my best friends kept telling me to watch it, and that I would love it, especially since I am a huge Simpsons fanatic. One of them taught me something fair. He says to give TV shows six episodes, and if you still don't like it or care enough to spend more time watching it, it's okay to give up. So, I gave Bob's Burgers the six-episode trial, and I ended up falling in love with it. I wanted to at least get familiar with the characters and storytelling before going to see The Bob's Burgers Movie, and I got hooked. There are 12 seasons, and I have been binge watching it, and I finally finished season 12 last night. I was pretty bummed that I don't have any new episodes to watch, and that I have to wait another three to four months before I have a new episode to watch. I also loved the movie. So there's that.
All 12 seasons are on Hulu, so if you have Hulu, and you don't know what to watch, Bob's Burgers is fantastic, and also, the first and second seasons are okay, but season 3 is where it kicks in. It isn't like the Simpsons too much. The Simpsons is about a difunctional family, who loves each other. Bob's Burgers is a family where everyone is eccentric, but there is a lot of love and heart, and the show is able to have that shine through all of the fantastic comedy. It's great. Most of the time, the episodes are rated TV-PG, with a very occasional TV-14 rating. Most of it is language, which the words are usually the same ones I use when I step on one of Elliot's Lego bricks. It just keeps getting better and better with each season. It's great, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Number 2: One of my all-time favorite bands, Coheed and Cambria, have a new album coming out next week, but for the past five albums leading up to this one, they have collector box sets that come with a ton of awesome stuff in them, and the new album also has a box set that I ordered. It was $100, but it comes with great collector stuff in it. So, I have been dying to hear the new album, and lucky me, I got an email from their website telling me that since I bought the $100 box set, I could download the album early to listen to it. The box set comes with the CD for the album as well, but I was able to sit down and listen to it, and I am blown away.
It can be hard requesting music to people. I saw a little comic strip that had two kids listening to a boombox and one of the kids is way into it, and the other kids isn't. The caption said "When you show your friend a song you really like." It made me laugh. Something else that's funny is my mom and I like a lot of the same music, though she jumped on the Country music genre after years of her and me both hating it. She isn't a Coheed and Cambria fan either, but yeah.
To be honest, I think that an initial listen to Coheed and Cambria isn't what gets you hooked. Even for me, they were an acquired taste, but when you listen to their most popular songs, you might be able to learn how to love them a little faster than just replaying albums all of the time. Another thing about them, their music is a soundtrack for a comic book series the lead singer and songwriter writes, so if you are wondering who the heck is a person they are singing about in a song, it's from the comic book series. It's called The Amory Wars. I will sit down and do a more detailed blog about Coheed and Cambria, but for now, they have a new album coming out on Friday, and I am sure it will be all posted on YouTube, or you can listen to clips on the iTunes Store, or if you have a subscription to Apple Music or Amazon Music, you can hear the whole album in its entirety. It's a little more pop music driven over their normal progressive rock style, but it totally works.
Number 3: I have been playing a couple of board games with my nephew and nieces, and more to come with Elliot when he visits next month. We played a game called The Lost Ruins of Anark, and since we played it the first time a few weeks ago, my nephew and nieces always want to play it. I try to talk them into different games sometimes, but we end up playing Lost Ruins of Anark.
I'm a huge board game fan, and The Lost Runis of Anark is a really neat game. I love the underground board games, which some are very easy, and some are ridiculously hard. I also like ones where you can play them by yourself. I'm not talking about 90% of the games you can get at Target, Walmart or the grocery store.
So, The Lost Ruins of Anark is a game where each player is an archeologist, and you are discovering a new hidden temple in a South American jungle. Each turn, you have five cards that allow you to use actions to find treasures, but as you discover areas around the temple, there are monsters guarding the treasures, and you might need to use your cards, or other little treasures you have collected to kill the monster, and then dig in the ruins to find out what treasure you have earned.
The fun thing is, there are tons of cards and treasures, and they are set up randomly, so each game you play is different. The actions are the same, but you never know what tools you will have to use, or what treasures you will find, and most of the time, there are so many treasure or action cards that a lot of them go back into the box when you are done setting up the board to play, so there might not even be actions you take in one game because actions you play in one game aren't going to be available in the next game, even if you end up with the action card you used in one game, it may not allow you to do the same actions because the other action cards might change what you can do with a particular card.
Also, another cool thing about the game is that the board is double-sided, so one side is easier, and the other side of the board is harder. There is even a new expansion pack that has another double-sided board and special characters that allow you to make special actions because of their job and experience. To be honest, I bought the game and the expansion pack on Amazon, and we haven't even taken the plastic wrap off of the expansion because there is so much to do and explore in the game. We haven't even tried the difficult side of the game board.
It sounds difficult with the information I am telling you, but it really isn't difficult to play. A cool thing most board game companies have the instruction booklets in the games themselves, but they also usually have a QR code, you tell you a website that will have video instructions that are very detailed. And they are faster than reading most game rules. If you aren't 100% sure on rules, you can look them up in the booklet, or rewatch the videos. Anyway, I recommend the game. It's a lot of fun, the theme is fun, and it's exciting.
Number 4: I have been watching all of the Disney+ Marvel and Star Wars shows. I thing that Marvel has exploded after the events in Avengers: Endgame. There are so many Marvel shows on Disney+, and to be honest, some of it feels overwhelming. In the past 14 months, we have had Wandavision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If? ,Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel. That's a lot of shows to keep up with, and while we still love going to the movies to see MCU films, the shows on Disney+ have been sort of difficult to keep up with.
I do recommend the show if you enjoy the movies. Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel are two characters I absolutely love in the comics. I think needing you know Ms. Marvel and Falcon and the Winter Soldier are required for the future of the films, and Wandavision was required viewing for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Ms. Marvel is also more tame than the other Marvel shows on Disney+. I love Kamala Khan (Ms.Marvel) in the comic books, and the first two episodes that have aired at the time of this blog post are very faithful to the comics. If you have younger ones that like the MCU, Ms. Marvel is more tame than the others to a point where families can watch it.
I think one reason is because not a lot of people have read the comic books the shows are based on. I have, but I am a comic book geek. My parents are usually into the MCU films, but they haven't watched anything past Wandavision. They started Moon Knight and lasted two episodes. Even Elliot told me that he thinks things are getting crazy and ridiculous, lol, and that's saying something.
I have also enjoyed the Star Wars shows. The only thing I wish could be different is I want to see the shows in a movie theater. I have a good sized TV that I really enjoy, but I want to see Obi-Wan Kenobi in a movie theater. The action is incredible and the CGI is incredible, and I wish I could see it in an IMAX theater with the new Dolby 360 Surround Sound. Of course, we haven't been as bombarded with Star Wars shows as we have the Marvel shows, but it's getting there.
I know people weren't the biggest fans of The Book of Boba Fett, but there are a couple of great episodes that actually seem more like The Madalorian episodes because they have The Mandelorian as the main character in the episodes. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been fantastic.
So, I think I am going to try and make a statement. I hate it when I read an article online that say "Star Wars fans don't like the new trilogy, or Solo: A Star Wars Story." If you don't like all of something, you can't really call yourself a fan. Fan is short for Fanatic, which is basically saying you are obsessed. If you say you love the original trilogy, and you don't like the sequel trilogy, or even if you don't like the prequel trilogy, or the animated shows, guess what? You aren't a fan of Star Wars. If you dislike the Star Wars cannon, you are not a fan. Being a fan of something means that you love everything about it. It's okay not to be a fan of something, but I read more hate towards Star Wars than I do reading about how great Star Wars is. I just really hate what the internet calls "Fanboys".
And Number 5: I am kind of sad. I will be finishing up this season for my curling league at the Utah Olympic Oval on Thursday, at the time of this post, and I am taking the summer league break because Elliot will be here visiting me during most the schedule, and I already have to do work for my film and culture class I am taking at school, and so I don't want to take more time away that I already have to so I can spend time with Elliot. We are going on a couple of trips and plan to play a lot of video games while he is here, so I figured the summer curling league isn't as long as the other three seasons. I have loved curling, and I am so happy I have been curling again. I miss doing plays, but I love curling, and if I were to do a play, I would have to give up curling so that I could be at rehearsals, but I feel that curling is very healthy for me physically, and mentally. I have also made some good friends.
It's just been a blast. If you think curling is boring, you should take the learn to curl class at the Oval on Friday nights. You can make it a date, or a family activity, or just by yourself if you are curious. Trust me, it's a lot of fun to play, and it's very physical and strategic in a way you may not understand, and just doing the learn to curl class teaches you about the ice sheet, the rules, and then leave you with a couple of hours to play a game. It's fun, but it also teaches you about the sport, so next time the Winter Olympics come around, you can watch a match and understand what they are doing.
Well that's about it. I plan to post more blog posts starting in July with Elliot. The first time we went to Moab back in 2020, I promised pictures of our trip and I never did, so I am going to try and actually do it this time. We are going on a horseback riding day trip, and I'm excited to post pictures and videos of that and the rest of the trip, as well as other places and activities we do.
I hope you are doing well, and safe, and healthy, and happy! I still urge you to get vaccinated for the Covid-19 Virus if you haven't already. On Father's Day, I was at my sister's house, and their neighbors have Covid-19, and their dog came out when I was leaving and wanted me to pet him, so I did, but I forgot that even pets can transfer the Covid-19 Virus from one person to another, so I made sure to wash my hands very well.
If you didn't get the vaccine and the boosters, and you chose not to, I respect your decision, but be careful and wear a mask. I even had it briefly in January when I got home from my Disneyland trip. I just felt fatigued. I thought it was just me walking around Disneyland for three straight days, lol, but when I got home, I quarantined for five days, and then I was good. The thing was, I had the vaccines and booster, and I still got it, although my immune system kept the virus at bay, so I didn't have the really bad symptoms people have had with it.
Well, It's that time where it's late, and in the words I say to my dog, It's Nigh Nigh Time! (Said in a little kids voice!) I need some rest so that I can wake up tomorrow and read book, watch some film clips, watch a movie, and take a vocabulary test for school. It sounds like a lot, but it's not that bad, and all of it requires me to just sit around, so I can't complain much. Talk to y'all later!
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