Spot Reviews 09/15/23
Sep 15 2023
Netflix Series - Make My Day (2023) [+] Eight episode half hour Japanese animation science fiction series. The world of Coldfoot is blizzardly cold and a major exporter of Sig which is an extremely compact power source mined by convicts. Jim (Masaomi Yamahashi) is a part-time prison guard caught up in it all when a previously unknown species wakes up and starts killing everyone at the main mine site. As the creatures head to the city Jim and the survivors race back to save what they can... Other than Jim being really annoying the first half of the series (it's part of his character arc) it's a pretty good suspense/thriller story with about half a dozen distinct characters who at times almost self-destruct the group.
Apple Arcade - Game of Thrones: Tale of Crows (2020) [/] RPG/Strategy game where you are the general with a force sent to reinforce the entrance to a great wall. But the garrison has disappeared so you need to do their job (e.g. patrolling the other side of the wall) whilst investigating their disappearance. Game play is sending out parties on missions and you have three leaders (with different characteristics and I think there are missions than you can do comfortably so you have to prioritize) to lead each mission. Missions take time and this game is a bit real-time so you have to wait for a mission to complete (and missions often have waypoints where the mission leader messages back asking for what to do next). On my iPad the UI is a bit cramped but I like the concept so will try this game on my Mac.
Apple Arcade - Slash Quest! (2020) [/] Cutesy mostly top-down view RPG action adventure. The main difference is you're holding a magic sword straight out in front of you, movement is turn left/right or walk forward/back so you have to maneuver like a 2D airplane and stick your opponents (and also destroy a lot of the terrain).
Novel - Earth (1990) [/] David Brin novel set on Earth of about 2040. In the midst of a climate crisis (rising waters have already buried many coastal cities, deforestation and a failing ozone layer is causing mass animal extinctions, food supplies can barely sustain 20B people) disgraced physicist Alex Lustig finds a small black hole growing inside the Earth, threatening to grow and consume the planet within a year. He and his allies will try to expel the micro black hole before the big governments get wind of it because whomever controls that power controls the world... It starts interesting then gets a bit boring (I struggled to get myself to continue reading) leading to a minor deux ex machina ending.
Mexican Restaurant - Fletch's Taqueria, San Mateo [+] Burrito (carnitas, rice, beans, pico de gallo salsa) + regular french fries (crinkle cut) + complimentary chips and pico de gallo salsa for $22. I ate there. Burrito was really good, fries were perfectly deep fried, salsa was good but chips were very stale.
Apple Arcade - Game of Thrones: Tale of Crows (2020) [/] RPG/Strategy game where you are the general with a force sent to reinforce the entrance to a great wall. But the garrison has disappeared so you need to do their job (e.g. patrolling the other side of the wall) whilst investigating their disappearance. Game play is sending out parties on missions and you have three leaders (with different characteristics and I think there are missions than you can do comfortably so you have to prioritize) to lead each mission. Missions take time and this game is a bit real-time so you have to wait for a mission to complete (and missions often have waypoints where the mission leader messages back asking for what to do next). On my iPad the UI is a bit cramped but I like the concept so will try this game on my Mac.
Apple Arcade - Slash Quest! (2020) [/] Cutesy mostly top-down view RPG action adventure. The main difference is you're holding a magic sword straight out in front of you, movement is turn left/right or walk forward/back so you have to maneuver like a 2D airplane and stick your opponents (and also destroy a lot of the terrain).
Novel - Earth (1990) [/] David Brin novel set on Earth of about 2040. In the midst of a climate crisis (rising waters have already buried many coastal cities, deforestation and a failing ozone layer is causing mass animal extinctions, food supplies can barely sustain 20B people) disgraced physicist Alex Lustig finds a small black hole growing inside the Earth, threatening to grow and consume the planet within a year. He and his allies will try to expel the micro black hole before the big governments get wind of it because whomever controls that power controls the world... It starts interesting then gets a bit boring (I struggled to get myself to continue reading) leading to a minor deux ex machina ending.
Mexican Restaurant - Fletch's Taqueria, San Mateo [+] Burrito (carnitas, rice, beans, pico de gallo salsa) + regular french fries (crinkle cut) + complimentary chips and pico de gallo salsa for $22. I ate there. Burrito was really good, fries were perfectly deep fried, salsa was good but chips were very stale.