Spot Reviews 04/04/25
Apr 04 2025
Star Wars Rebels (2014) [+] Animated series that ran four seasons. A decade-and-a-half after the Galactic Empire is formed rebel resistance cells start to spring up. One such cell is led by Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall) and consists of Jedi not-quite-Knight Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr), his eventual protege Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), Mandalorian weapons designer Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar), Lasat former honor guard Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum), and the irascible astromech Chopper (Dave Filoni). Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) makes some guest appearances and later on Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) is the Big Bad. This series makes the Ahsoka live-action series make more sense — not that it was particularly confusing but a lot of back story stuff in Ahsoka is developed in Rebels. Chopper is of course the best character in Rebels.
Flow (2024) [/] Animated film with no dialogue. A feral cat is caught up in a flood that drowns his homeland. He manages to escape on a small sailboat inhabited by a capybara. As the boat moves along they pick up a lemur, a dog, and a big white long-legged bird (secretary bird). The boat moves along the flooded land and they have adventures. And then the waters recede and the four (minus the bird) find themselves together perhaps lifelong friends… It’s not bad animation. Gets a bit psychedelic at times. At the end I’m not sure there was a point to the story other than this cat experiences this world-ending event.
Gear.Club Stradale (2022) [-] Apple Arcade. Italian driving game with pretty realistic physics such that in the first race — on a two lane mountain road — it's really hard to pass much less pass half a dozen cars to qualify. Not the game for me. But it is a nice looking game.
Sonic Dash+ (2022) [-] Apple Arcade. You play Sonic the Hedgehog running down a three-lane track. Pick up gold, zoom over monsters, jump and duck, activate powers. It's like an endless runner turned into levels. Maybe too much of a kid's game.
Pho Hoa & Jazen Tea, Mercado Shopping Center, Santa Clara [/] Came for dinner during DDC. Standard food. Was fine with a loud kid. Apparently part of a sizable chain. Was fairly full of people when we ate there.
Flow (2024) [/] Animated film with no dialogue. A feral cat is caught up in a flood that drowns his homeland. He manages to escape on a small sailboat inhabited by a capybara. As the boat moves along they pick up a lemur, a dog, and a big white long-legged bird (secretary bird). The boat moves along the flooded land and they have adventures. And then the waters recede and the four (minus the bird) find themselves together perhaps lifelong friends… It’s not bad animation. Gets a bit psychedelic at times. At the end I’m not sure there was a point to the story other than this cat experiences this world-ending event.
Gear.Club Stradale (2022) [-] Apple Arcade. Italian driving game with pretty realistic physics such that in the first race — on a two lane mountain road — it's really hard to pass much less pass half a dozen cars to qualify. Not the game for me. But it is a nice looking game.
Sonic Dash+ (2022) [-] Apple Arcade. You play Sonic the Hedgehog running down a three-lane track. Pick up gold, zoom over monsters, jump and duck, activate powers. It's like an endless runner turned into levels. Maybe too much of a kid's game.
Pho Hoa & Jazen Tea, Mercado Shopping Center, Santa Clara [/] Came for dinner during DDC. Standard food. Was fine with a loud kid. Apparently part of a sizable chain. Was fairly full of people when we ate there.