Spot Reviews 09/26/25
Sep 26 2025
In House Marriage Honey (2020) [/] Japanese romance series of 7 half-hour episodes so it goes quickly. After her fiancé calls off the marriage Haruta Ami (Matsui Airi) goes on a dating app, finds someone who wants to get married immediately, and gets married at first sight to Miura Manatsu (Itagaki Muzuki). Immediate complication when it turns out they both work for the same company (he's in sales and she's in accounting) and he wants to keep the marriage a secret… There are some nice moments in the series and no real bad parts but it moves too quickly to develop investment in the characters.
Close Range Love (2014) [-] Japanese romance drama movie. Shy and stoic high schooler Yuni Kururugi (Nana Komatsu) falls for English-class teacher Haruka Sakurai (Tomohisa Yamashita) and the feeling becomes mutual. Besides that complication there is the new teacher Mirei Takizawa (Asami Mizukawa) who is Haruka's ex-girlfriend, and Kazuma Akechi (Arai Hirofumi) who is a fellow teacher and Yuni's guardian. I found this to be a plodding movie. It's different that one of the leads tries so hard to be unemotional but once again makes it hard to get invested in the characters. Also the tone is fairly serious and the romantic ending doesn't feel romantic at all.
Road Trip to the End of the World (2025) [/] A visual story computer game with a bit of interactivity. Andy and her imaginary childhood friend Fishy are driving from the East Coast to San Francisco to crash her former best friend’s wedding. Along the way she reflects on their friendship and how it ended and with Fishy’s help eventually realizes why it ended. It’s an hour-long story, mostly static pictures but good art, nice background music and an original song. Overall quite well done and a poignant story.
Lifeline+ (2023) [/] Lifeline is a choose-your-own-adventure style game with the modern twist that you are communicating with a stranded astronaut via SMS. Taylor sends you messages in real time and if he has a longer task or sleeps he won't send more messages until he's done (you on the other hand can wait forever before responding). One early task for you is looking up some information for him but I didn't play enough to see if that happens more. I guess part of the appeal is Taylor's sardonic humor and sarcasm… I didn't particularly like the real time aspect. I'd rather have a "game clock" that advances more if Taylor does a long action. Also since it's SMS messages Taylor likes to talk in short sentences sending each as a separate message which I find quite annoying in real life and in this game. You gotta admire making a popular game series that only requires a minimal UI — definitely less of a programming challenge than most other games.
Trader Joe’s Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower [+] “Seasoned with a blend of cumin, cayenne, and lime and flavored with tomato concentrate…diced tomatoes, tri-colored bell peppers (red, yellow, and green), and pickled jalapeños...” And it’s about half riced cauliflower. As a rice substitute it’s not good as the cauliflower is too hard to feel like rice. But mixed with rice it tastes great and a 50/50 mixture means you’re eating less rice if you eat too much of it like I do. It’s $4 for a frozen pack that has three servings.
Close Range Love (2014) [-] Japanese romance drama movie. Shy and stoic high schooler Yuni Kururugi (Nana Komatsu) falls for English-class teacher Haruka Sakurai (Tomohisa Yamashita) and the feeling becomes mutual. Besides that complication there is the new teacher Mirei Takizawa (Asami Mizukawa) who is Haruka's ex-girlfriend, and Kazuma Akechi (Arai Hirofumi) who is a fellow teacher and Yuni's guardian. I found this to be a plodding movie. It's different that one of the leads tries so hard to be unemotional but once again makes it hard to get invested in the characters. Also the tone is fairly serious and the romantic ending doesn't feel romantic at all.
Road Trip to the End of the World (2025) [/] A visual story computer game with a bit of interactivity. Andy and her imaginary childhood friend Fishy are driving from the East Coast to San Francisco to crash her former best friend’s wedding. Along the way she reflects on their friendship and how it ended and with Fishy’s help eventually realizes why it ended. It’s an hour-long story, mostly static pictures but good art, nice background music and an original song. Overall quite well done and a poignant story.
Lifeline+ (2023) [/] Lifeline is a choose-your-own-adventure style game with the modern twist that you are communicating with a stranded astronaut via SMS. Taylor sends you messages in real time and if he has a longer task or sleeps he won't send more messages until he's done (you on the other hand can wait forever before responding). One early task for you is looking up some information for him but I didn't play enough to see if that happens more. I guess part of the appeal is Taylor's sardonic humor and sarcasm… I didn't particularly like the real time aspect. I'd rather have a "game clock" that advances more if Taylor does a long action. Also since it's SMS messages Taylor likes to talk in short sentences sending each as a separate message which I find quite annoying in real life and in this game. You gotta admire making a popular game series that only requires a minimal UI — definitely less of a programming challenge than most other games.
Trader Joe’s Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower [+] “Seasoned with a blend of cumin, cayenne, and lime and flavored with tomato concentrate…diced tomatoes, tri-colored bell peppers (red, yellow, and green), and pickled jalapeños...” And it’s about half riced cauliflower. As a rice substitute it’s not good as the cauliflower is too hard to feel like rice. But mixed with rice it tastes great and a 50/50 mixture means you’re eating less rice if you eat too much of it like I do. It’s $4 for a frozen pack that has three servings.