Stand or Fall is a Chinese romance-drama running 32 45-minute episodes.

Guan Wen (Qin Lan -- The Rational Life, 2021) is a Business Development Director at fashion brand TL when she is forced out by her new boss. She gets a commitment to be hired by a small mall to head their Business Development department. Ding Ning (Wang Yang) is a rising corporate executive of a conglomerate but his boss sees him as a dangerous rival and so has Ding Ning sent to manage the same small mall that Guan Wen will work for. Turns out they were college sweethearts but she broke up with him for obscure reasons.

Ding Ning is forced to hire Guan Wen and makes it hard for her to do her job (Business Development at a mall is getting companies to open stores there and existing companies to renew for more money). But Guan Wen is rather ruthless doing her job (and one reason she was forced out previously is because she's not a good team player) and as she continues to succeed and work with Ding Ning he realizes he's never gotten over her, changes his heart and decides to win her back.

Meanwhile Guan Wen's two best friends also have their own fairly developed subplots.

Jing Zhi Qiu (Alina Zhang) is a former rising actress who quit, got married to Wang Li Ren (Zhang Duo), and is now a housewife and mother. Her first plot is her husband's pretty assistant is trying to romance him and subtly sabotaging their marriage. After that's done Jing Zhi Qiu realizes she's kind of lost her identity and decide to secretly enroll in a celebrity talent contest with her husband finding out.

Chen Xuan Xuan (Liu Yun) is younger than the other two with a long-time boyfriend Lin Hao (Shawn Wei). She's been dedicated to supporting him and outwardly he's the perfect boyfriend but there are enough audience hints that something is up with him and it's more obvious that his aunt and sister are quite greedy. Meanwhile Chen Xuan Xuan opens up a coffee shop (at Guan Wen's mall) and it becomes a success after she recruits graduate student He Yi Fei (Lawrence Wong) who is both handsome and a great barista. He Yi Fei develops feeling for Xuan Xuan though she doesn't notice because of her boyfriend.

The main romance has two good leads and suitably dramatic. The two other subplots are their own stories and complement the main plot (mostly contrasting the relationships of the three women to their men). All three women are independent and strong (Xuan Xuan a bit less so at first but once crisis hits she becomes determined) and the heroines of their own stories.

Overall very nice series and I quite enjoyed it. MyDramaList indicates there will be a second season (the first season has a good standalone ending no plots left dangling).

Knotwords+ is an Apple Arcade word game Zach Gage who's done several excellent word/puzzle games.

Take a crossword puzzle. Remove the clues. Split up the puzzle into two to a dozen or so letter sections, not necessarily in a line. In each section you know the letters to put in. Now fill in the letters and make sure every horizontal and vertical line has a valid word.

As you do these puzzles patterns become second-hand. SP is often in that order unless at the end of a word (SH is similar). Similarly many words in ING or ED (and Knotwords has a propensity of pluralizing words so lots of words ending with S). H and M seemed to be used a lot in two-letter words especially when they're adjacent so you often might see EH as a word with the H making a second word like HO or HI.

Each month there are 60 puzzles, 30 normal and 30 tricky. You have hints which I think start at three. A solved puzzle gives you another hint up to a maximum of 6. Using a hint on a line gives you the dictionary definition of the word in the solved puzzle (note that for the most part you can solve puzzles with any words that fit).

Some puzzles are variations. Themed puzzles have several words that fit the theme (themes like weather, animals, plants, good qualities, bad qualities) and you can't get hints for those words. Twist puzzles have numbers on the left and top sides and the numbers tell you how many vowels are in that whole line. Vowels-start puzzles start out with all vowels set.

Besides the monthly puzzles there are three daily puzzles. They start out easy at the beginning of the week and get fairly large at the end of the week. Similarly the monthly puzzles start out easy and get bigger and a littler harder later on.

I found this to be a fairly addictive game.

Highest 2 Lowest (2025) [/] Music mogul David King (Denzel Washington) wants to buy back control of the label he started but after his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) is kidnapped he might have to use that money to pay the ransom. Complication when it turns out that it's Trey's friend Kyle (Elijah Wright) -- son of his driver/assistant/good friend Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright) -- and now the conundrum is choosing to save his company or a non-relative... Better movie than I expected with a lot of stuff filmed in the streets of New York City.

Jeopardy! World Tour+ (2023) [/] It's an abbreviated form of Jeopardy with three categories each with three questions. You do that twice with the second time the questions are worth double. Then there is Final Jeopardy question. You alternate picking questions and only you can answer -- there is a timer and three choices. You are "playing" against other people who are actually not picking from your board -- they each have their own question board which means the game can just replay their scoring. Jeopardy is not one of the better quiz shows but it works with a good host and personable contestants neither of which this game has.

Star Trek: Countdown (2009) [+] I reviewed this comic book series when it came out and thought it was average. Re-read it and now I think it's pretty good. Star Trek (2009) movie script writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman did the story so this comic book story does seamlessly integrate and leads right into the movie and fills in some gaps that may have been mentioned in the movie but were not elaborated upon. This is the story of how Spock with the help of the TNG characters saved the main universe but let Romulus be destroyed hence leading Nero on his quest for vengeance with an advanced-tech ship.

Big Al's, Milpitas, CA [/] I guess this is a more family friendly version of Dave & Buster's. Restaurant, bar, video games, bowling. Went here after gaming with my friends. Food is about what you'd expect and the games had a selection which kids could play even though they were not kids games.

Can This Love Be Translated? is a South Korean romance series running 12 hour-long episodes.

In a touristy town in Korea translator Joo Jo-jin (Kim Seon-ho, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha - 2021) ends up helping Cha Mu-hee (Go Youn-jung, Alchemy of Souls p2 - 2023) confront a Japanese ramen shop owner who is having an affair with her boyfriend though it turns out Mu-hee was the other woman.

Years pass and now Cha Mu-hee has is filming, starring in a horror film. Joo Jo-jin is in town and thinks about visiting her but Mu-hee gets into an accident and ends up in a coma. A few months later she wakes up having become famous for her role in the film (and because she was in a coma) as the zombie killer (a killer who is a zombie) Do Ra-mi.

With her new-found fame Cha Mu-hee is recruited into a reality romance show shot in multiple countries and her counterpart is Japanese relatively famous actor Hiro Kurosawa (Fukushi Sota) who actually doesn't think much of Mu-hee seeing her as a B-list actor. Naturally with multiple countries and two co-stars who can't talk to each other they need an interpreter and it turns out to be Joo Jo-jin.

There is a slow romance that develops between Jo-jin and Mu-hee but it's kind of mostly on Mu-hee's side because he is very matter of fact yet very private and doesn't say what he actually feels. There's also Hiro Kurosawa as a possible love interest but that never seems credible. Neither is the other love rival, one of the show producers, Shin Ji-seon (Lee E-dam) who is Jo-jin's fiancée but secretly she and Jo-jin have sort of been in love without the other knowing it.

Half way through the series I really like this complication: turns out Mu-hee has a split personality. Do Ra-mi is her assertive and crazy side willing to do the things she's afraid to do. Once Joo Jo-jin finds out he tries to help Do Ra-mi (or is a blackmailed a bit to spend time with her) and meanwhile Mu-hee doesn't remember. It's an interesting twist.

Overall a fairly nice romantic series.

Cypher 007 is a stealth game based on the James Bond 007 and available on Apple Arcade. You control James Bond and you start out in your apartment and immediately attacked. The overarching through-line is that you are trapped in your mind while another consciousness has taken over your body. Re-enact missions from your past as you seek to escape the Mind Trap.

The first chapter is escaping through the London underground. There is a chapter based on Moonraker and one based on The Spy Who Loved Me. Each chapter is 10 missions, though some missions are one big boss combat or otherwise pretty short. There have been no new chapters since release so I don't think any more will be added.

It's an overhead angled perspective game. Move Bond with a thumb (movement is pretty easy) and the other thumb to control actions and items. Guards and cameras move around in set routines until they spot you. Helpfully when you're close you can see their exact viewing area and you can see how objects block their vision (and if you stand up you can see that their active viewing area increases). Guards can also hear you sneaking about or walking/running though in my experience they generally don't notice.

You can avoid guards or take them out. Sneak up behind and choke hold him (which takes time and does make a bit of noise -- many a time I start choking a guard and another guard turns and sees us. You also also have many devices:

• A weapon like a stun gun or even a laser rifle
• A stun grenade
• A watch that can stun people
• Cufflinks that can be used to set up a tripwire trap
• A mini-drone that can be used to scout, pick up objects, or explode to stun a guard

There are other devices, some non-combat like a mirror umbrella that people and cameras can't see behind so you can walk past guards that way. There are also different suits each giving you some bonus -- I like the suit that recharges electrical devices so I don't have to depend on picking up batteries, but the suit that cuts down chokehold times is also a bit nice.

Items can be upgrades using blueprints and parts you find and pick up during a mission.

In general the story is fairly well done with lots of dialogue and the levels make sense as part of the story. Chapter one is mostly underground but other chapters have outdoor areas and houses to roam. Unfortunately not every level I think can be done solely through stealth -- I wanted to not have to use weapons but one boss fight is really tough if you can't quickly take out the hordes of minions.

Once you finish the game you can replay it on hard mode and there is a challenge mode for each level. Hard mode just makes everything a bit harder and if you die you restart the level rather than restarting at a checkpoint in the level. Challenge mode is various things like doing a level very quickly.

It's a fun game even without any additional chapters. Several hours of gameplay just for the first run-through.

Love Untangled (2025) [/] South Korean teen romantic comedy film. Park Se-ri (Shin Eun-soo - Light Shop, 2024) has crazy curly hair that she's never managed properly. To win the heart of the school hunk she needs to straighten her hair and there's a new hair stylist with a magic hair straightening technique from Seoul. And that hair stylist's son is her new strange classmate Han Yoon-seok (Gong Myung). To get that hair treatment she befriends Yoon-seok and helps him out after he's injured. Naturally once she finally gets the straight hair and is ready to confess to the school hunk she starts to realize it's Yoon-seok whom she's attracted to... It's a nice enough movie.

Downwell+ (2023) [/] Rogue-like arcade shooting/jumping game with 2-bit graphics (with some red elements). Controls are left, right, jump/fire. You are going down a well that has platforms to land on and creatures to shoot or stomp. Pick up items and try to make it to the bottom shaft (which leads you to the next level). It's simple but well executed and vaguely nostalgic (though I don't know why).

Crossword Jam+ (2023) [-] Apple Arcade word game. There is a dial with four or more letters. Form words using the letters of the dial without repeating letters. There is also a crossword but your words automatically go into the crossword so the crossword is only for giving you clues for a word (if it's a valid word but not in the crossword that's bonus points). Not a particularly exciting game as the combination of the two (dial and crossword) makes it maybe too easy.

Vampirella vs The Superpowers TPB (2024) [/] Vampirella and sidekick Dyna Might go undercover in Plural 1948 (alternate Earth where the world wars were fought by natural and chemically-enabled supers) to find a drug kingpin dealing in illegal elixirs -- drugs that give people temporary super powers. This is part of the continuity where Vampirella joins The Superpowers Project (composed of public domain Golden Age heroes) which I find a bit confusing as Dynamite is also publishing comics with other versions of Vampirella. I like this story because it is somewhat noir-ish.

F1 Drive to Survive is a Netflix documentary series where each season follows the behind the scenes of a Formula 1 race year. Season 8 is on Apple TV and it covers the 2025 season.

The series is filmed in the year with interviews during the year and then is put together in time to air just before the next F1 season (in F1 one season ends and a couple months later the next season begins). So all the final results are known before they air the Drive to Survive season.

Each episode seems to have a theme. Episode one focused on the six rookie drivers in 2025 (out of a field of 20 drivers). There was one episode about Fernando Alonso who is the oldest driver. The last couple of episodes focused on the three drivers vying for the championship (though it was really one driver and two with a slight chance if the first driver had disaster strike which actually happened in the second to last race).

Interviews with drivers and owners and one commentator. I've heard there's a bit of re-enactment since the film crews are not there for every big moment.

I guess my biggest issue is that there is no through-line with respect to the racers. Episode one focuses on the new drivers but after that episode you might see something on one or two but by the end of the series you don't know how they did. Same for Fernando Alonso. It's a little different for the teams since the series tends to focus more on the two three or four teams so that seems a bit more of a story.

Overall I found the season ok. I suppose since there are a low number of personalities and it's mostly the same people one year to the next it kind of builds up as you watch more seasons. I don't think I'll bother to watch previous seasons on Netflix.

Botez High Gloss Spanish Veneered Chess Board ($190 on sale) + Silver and Black Chess Pieces ($70).

It's a big wood chess board with Botez signature on one corner. The deluxe pieces are weighted and fit comfortably on the board. For some reason the silver pieces feel underweight -- i guess because they're not actually metal.

This board came out 3+ years ago and this after a long time in development as Alexandra tried out various manufacturers and materials.


Anna Cramling Edition Chess Set ($150)

Another wooden board though not a glossy coating like the Botez board. There is a stylized AC monogram. About half the area of the Botez board and although it comes with pieces they do feel a bit light. I guess the Botez set is more tournament size and piece weight and Anna's set is more personal.

It comes in a nice box with two compartments to hold the pieces which are also in cloth bags.

I remember people complaining about the price but Anna has the cheapest set of the three and it's quite nice. Good chess sets are not cheap.


Neochess x Nemo Special Edition Chess Set ($495)

Nemo took like a year designing the board (though not the pieces). It's a wood board and Chinese themed: red and black squares with two gold dragons + jade and black colored pieces. A little Neochess x Nemo logo on opposite sides of the board. The board is a bit bigger than Anna's and the squares go edge to edge (Anna's has a-h, 1-8 on two sides to help beginners); as such the squares are almost as big as the Botez board.

The pieces are as tall as the Botez ones with a slightly smaller base so they fit comfortably. You could use the Botez pieces on Nemo's board though the big pieces are a bit too large for the squares. Piece weight is very slightly less than Botez pieces.

The box has a styrofoam container so each piece is in its own nook.


Botez board is big and shiny and not really transportable. Suitable for setting up on a coffee table and leaving it out. Anna and Nemo have more portable sets especially since they each have a box, but still too big to fit in my backpacks -- maybe in a big hiking/camping backpack.

I like bigger and heavier pieces so I'd rank Anna's set at #3. I think I'd go with Nemo's set at #1 because it's carry-able while still having big pieces. So final rankings:

1. Nemo Chess Set
2. Botez Wood Chess Set (they also have a rubber flex pad board)
3. Anna Cramling Chess Set

The Last of the Sea Women (2024) [/] Documentary film about the haenyeo -- Korean women (used to be men but the work was too hard for them) living in Jeju island (and apparently Geoje island) who make their living free diving harvesting the coastal ocean floor. From a height of 30k in the 1960's there are about 4k now in Jeju and predominantly 60+ years old. We meet a couple of 30-something Geoje island haenyeo who have a YouTube channel promoting their livelihood and why it's beautiful. A big chunk is devoted to their fight to prevent Japan from releasing irradiated water from the Fukushima power plant that had a meltdown. Although the last is important I feel that was a lot of time not devoted to the haenyeo themselves and their ways. By the way I reviewed the K-drama Welcome to Samdal-ri which features haenyeos.

Mini Stopwatch - Minimal Timer (2025) [+] A free macOS menu bar stopwatch. Click and it starts, click and it stops, double click and it rests. There are a few more features if you upgrade to pro for $8 but what it has is all I need.

Stopwatch˚ (2024) [/] A free stopwatch app for iPhone/iPad. The default view has folders and multiple timers and annoyingly often has a rate me which I've done and still it comes up the next time. There's a second tab which is just one stopwatch in a UI very similar to Apple Clock's stopwatch tab. I think the only difference is Stopwatch wants you to confirm when you reset the timer. I only use the second tab and one stopwatch (I use Mini Stopwatch as a second stopwatch that runs on my Mac).

Rice-a-Roni Thai Curry Chicken [-] Rice + vermicelli. This one is red curry and a little sweet. Easy to make though I guess the flavor is a bit too subtle for me. And I'm not as much of a fan of sweet entrées. I guess I want a more spicy curry. Probably will skip in the future.

Eternity is an Apple TV romantic comedy set in the afterlife. At the age of 70-something Larry (Miles Teller) chokes on a pretzel and dies and ends up in the afterlife which turns out to be an underground train-station-slash-hotel. His AC (afterlife coordinator) Anna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) tells him that after you die you get to choose the Eternity you'll spend in. As such there are many worlds and many sales people trying to get newly dead to choose their right Eternity (a fair amount of humor comes from the various Eternities, like Jane Austen World or Smoker's World, and there are lots of posters that the camera pans by but are not otherwise noted).

Larry though wants to wait for his wife Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) so they can choose an Eternity together. He meets a bartender, Luke (Callum Turner), who is also waiting and that Larry can do the same by getting some sort of job in the afterlife. But later Anna finally convinces Larry to choose an Eternity and if Joan later shows up there then it's Fate. Just in time Joan shows up having died a decade-plus later (I guess time works different in the afterlife).

Great! Larry and Joan are reunited but complication when it turns out Luke is Joan's first husband, a dashing World War II soldier who died overseas. Larry on the other hand seems a bit like a schmuck who caught her on the rebound and from the glimpses we've seen so far maybe not the happiest of marriages. So now Joan has to choose who to live Eternity with (the guys flat out reject Joan's suggestion that all three could share an Eternity) and the next part is her going a date with each where Larry comes off second best.

Eventually Joan chooses Luke and they go off to their Eternity. (Oh I forgot to mention once you go into an Eternity you can't ever come back and if you do they catch you and you end up in Limbo forever.) Joan and Luke have a great time for a couple of weeks then Joan starts to miss Larry. I also forgot that they showed each Eternity has a museum where you can see your past as if watching a play. Joan starts going to the museum every day to relieve her life with Larry and we start to see he was actually a good guy and good to Joan.

Joan decides to come back to afterlife and find Larry even though she'll probably fail and end up in Limbo...

It's a small budget film ($12M which seems low considering the sets and effects) and a nice story. Elizabeth Olsen is good. Miles Teller can be suitably uncharming and charming. Callum Turner pulls off the clean-cut 1940's male. The ending is satisfying. Kind of like with Fly Me to the Moon the concept I wasn't sure of but it turned out well.