Spot Reviews 09/05/25
Sep 05 2025
L-Pop (2023) [+] Disney+ Spanish-language half-hour series of six episodes. Andrea (Andrea de Alba) is a K-Pop superfan living in Mexico City while her older sister Paulina (Alicia Jaziz) is filming a documentary about Andrea's fandom. When a K-Pop dance contest is announced Andre is excited but is immediately kicked off her team because she is so busy she can't commit to practice. So Andrea starts her own team with three misfit K-Pop fans and whilst they practice at a Korean bistro after hours Andrea starts to become attracted with the owner Ji-Won (Isan Beomhyun Lee) who turns out to have been a failed K-Pop idol when he was younger. Characters are cute, dance sequences are nice, songs are original for this series. Worst part is the "rival team goes first and uses the same song, then hero team misses the cut by one but one team is disqualified" plot beats, which I've seen before a couple of times at least. I like the comedic moments of the documentary (everything we see is from the documentary camera POV) especially Paulina (and the other characters) interacting with abused cameraman Pablo (Christian Banas).
Lethal Weapon (1987) [/] Rewatched this and still fairly good film. Two Los Angeles detectives thrown together — veteran and stable Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and ex-special forces half-way suicidal Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) — take on ex-mercenaries no drug smugglers led by General Peter McAllister (Mitchell Ryan) and his top lieutenant Mr Joshua (Gary Busey). Good 1980's era comedy and action, probably R-rated at the time but almost a family film today as there is like no blood and little swearing or sexual situations.
Riptide GP: Renegade+ (2023) [/] An Apple Arcade title. In the future where much of the world is flooded you are a watercycle racer making a comeback after being framed by your rival. It's the usual compete in races, get new watercycles and upgrade them, level up your skills. Annoyingly to me your boost is recharged by doing motorcycle-style tricks as you race. Touch controls are nice as you pivot your device to steer and use thumbs to break (acceleration is automatic) or do tricks (which have various thumb swiping combinations using both thumbs at the same time).
Farmside (2023) [/] Apple Arcade farming sim. At base you plant crop squares, wait for them to mature, harvest them, then use them to fulfill orders. There's also a lot of builder mechanics in that you have a forge and a mill and probably other structures that create stuff that you use to do other things and everything takes to do. Good graphics, a thin story but serviceable, good onboarding process (you can pretty much do the objectives as they come and not worry about strategy). Fairly mindless game that keeps you busy.
The Unforgettable San Jose Earthquakes: Momentous Stories On & Off the Field (2024) [/] by Gary Singh is a 150-page glossy paperback book about my local MLS team. The format is a year by year review though mostly concentrating on historical moments and the fans and the team history and players and personnel. What happened in the season isn't really commented on unless there were historical moments. Author's aim is to show that San Jose Earthquakes have a long history in the San Jose community (even though the original San Jose Earthquakes are not corporate ancestors of the current Earthquakes). Lots of photos and personal anecdotes since Singh grew up with the Earthquakes and has covered them as a reporter for decades.
Lethal Weapon (1987) [/] Rewatched this and still fairly good film. Two Los Angeles detectives thrown together — veteran and stable Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and ex-special forces half-way suicidal Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) — take on ex-mercenaries no drug smugglers led by General Peter McAllister (Mitchell Ryan) and his top lieutenant Mr Joshua (Gary Busey). Good 1980's era comedy and action, probably R-rated at the time but almost a family film today as there is like no blood and little swearing or sexual situations.
Riptide GP: Renegade+ (2023) [/] An Apple Arcade title. In the future where much of the world is flooded you are a watercycle racer making a comeback after being framed by your rival. It's the usual compete in races, get new watercycles and upgrade them, level up your skills. Annoyingly to me your boost is recharged by doing motorcycle-style tricks as you race. Touch controls are nice as you pivot your device to steer and use thumbs to break (acceleration is automatic) or do tricks (which have various thumb swiping combinations using both thumbs at the same time).
Farmside (2023) [/] Apple Arcade farming sim. At base you plant crop squares, wait for them to mature, harvest them, then use them to fulfill orders. There's also a lot of builder mechanics in that you have a forge and a mill and probably other structures that create stuff that you use to do other things and everything takes to do. Good graphics, a thin story but serviceable, good onboarding process (you can pretty much do the objectives as they come and not worry about strategy). Fairly mindless game that keeps you busy.
The Unforgettable San Jose Earthquakes: Momentous Stories On & Off the Field (2024) [/] by Gary Singh is a 150-page glossy paperback book about my local MLS team. The format is a year by year review though mostly concentrating on historical moments and the fans and the team history and players and personnel. What happened in the season isn't really commented on unless there were historical moments. Author's aim is to show that San Jose Earthquakes have a long history in the San Jose community (even though the original San Jose Earthquakes are not corporate ancestors of the current Earthquakes). Lots of photos and personal anecdotes since Singh grew up with the Earthquakes and has covered them as a reporter for decades.