Mayday (2026) [+] Apple TV action/buddy movie set in 1987. On an SR-71 recon mission (the two or three minutes screen time of the Blackbird flying is really cool, don't know how realistic but it makes it look more like a rocket than a plane) over Russia Navy pilot Troy "Assassin" Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) is shot down but is fortunately rescued by Americophile Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh -- totally didn't recognize it was Branagh and his character is the action/fighting guy though the fight scenes are slow enough he could have done a lot of the filming). Ustinov is former KGB but now disillusioned about the Soviet Union and he wants to help Kelly and hope he can defect to the USA.

A bunch of travel montages and fight scenes with humor. Most of the humor is Ryan Reynolds being a smart-talking character, also each of the main character's of the other's country. They are chased by rogue KGB assistant director Alexander Volkov (Marcin Dorociński) with his KGB troops.

Better movie than I expected. Fairly good action and humor with male bonding.


Under Parallel Skies (2024) [-] Philippine romantic drama movie set in Hong Kong. Parin (Metawin Opas-iamkajorn), a Thai young man from a rich family, meets Iris (Janella Salvador), a Filipino hotel desk employee at the hotel he's staying at. They start with a couple of bad encounters but she must be friendly to guests so he uses that to enlist her help in looking for his mother. Meanwhile they're kind of falling in love -- two people from different cultures and both living in a third culture. And then there's a sad ending for I'm not sure what story reason. I didn't think the chemistry worked either.

Pyrite Heart (2014) [/] A short visual novel with choices from Winged Cloud. You are the arrogant Princess Ahri attending high school for a week as a bet to prove you are better than the commoners. You have two love choices: either high school class president Ryuu or your faithful servant and childhood companion Kenta (also there undercover to protect you). There are only a few choices and I played about an hour through both endings. Nice art and a bit of a heartfelt rated G story. $5 on Steam though I'm not sure it's worth that much.

Macaroni Grill - Butternut Tortellaci [/] Pretty tasty. Stuffed pasta with butternut squash cubes and prosciutto (some kind of meat) sprinkled on top. For $24.50 not a lot of food. I guess even with bread and coffee ($3.50) that leaves room for Cheesecake ($8).

Monthly Magazine Home is a South Korean romance drama running 16 hour-long episodes. Desperate for a job, journalist Na Young-won (Jung So-min - Because This Is My First Life, 2017; Alchemy of Souls s1 (2022); Love Next Door, 2024) is hired as an editor at Monthly House, a sort of lifestyle and beautiful homes magazine recently bought by new owner Yu Ja-seong (Kim Ji-seok, supporting role in Kiss Sixth Sense, 2022).

Yu Ja-seong is a self-made real estate mogul and sees the magazine as strictly a vehicle to sell properties he buys (though it does have other articles). This puts him at odds with the regular magazine staff as they are more idealistic:

• Choi Go (Kim Won-hae, lots of roles usually as the dad) - editor-in-chief
• Yeo Eui-ju (Chae Jung-an) - senior editor and Na Young-won's friend from college
• Nam Sang-soon (Ahn Chang-hwan) - editor who dreams of winning a housing subscription (I guess a lottery where the government helps you buy your first home)
• Shin Gyeom (Jung Gun-joo) - the new magazine photographer doing it as a favor to his good friend Yu Ja-seong, and he's secretly has very rich parents. Also falls for Na Young-won which indirectly causes one of their breakups.

Na Young-won becomes Yu Ja-seong's personal editor, writing promotional articles for his properties, accompanying him on assessments and owner interviews, and editing to his exacting and boring standards (he's all about statistics and resale value not aesthetics).

Meanwhile she finds his YouTube channel where he gives financial advice to help people buy a home. She becomes his biggest fan (even though personally they don't have the best relationship) and is determined to follow his advice and save money for a home. She also uses the YT channel forum to write about her home buying experience and here is where Yu Ja-seong encourages her using an alt account.

Eventually Yu Ja-seong starts seeing Na Young-won not so much as a loser but as someone who is genuinely to be thrifty and save money for a home, which he sympathizes with. And so he starts being kinder to her and a mutual but secret attraction develops.

The ending is a bit off. There is a big reveal and Na Young-won decides to break up and leave Monthly House and one (or three) years later they happen to meet up and she's now an editor of her own small lifestyle YouTube channel (I think). They see each other, they smile, music, credits.

I do like the cool homes they showed off. All very big and expensive and each fairly unique. The secondary romance is between Yeo Eui-ju and Nam Song-soon though he has to go through a lot since he has a sweetheart who eventually leaves him because he took too long to propose -- he wanted to win a housing subscription first.

It's a mostly good series though I didn't particularly like the last episode when they have to break up. I finally got to see Jung So-min in a role where she's smiling a lot even though she's very good playing serious/somber characters and I've loved all her previous roles.

Deepsix is a science fiction planetary survival novel by Jack McDevitt.

A couple of decades ago a science mission was sent to the planet Maleiva III. But after an attack by native avians that left a few people dead the Academy decided never to return to the planet. And during the escape one lander was left behind.

Now back to the present another science mission is sent to Maleiva III because a rogue gas giant is going to collide with it in about a month. Because of this impending doom Maleiva III is popularly known as Deepsix. But the science team's scanning satellites detect signs of a dead civilization, i.e. walls and buildings.

They didn't bring a lander though so the Academy diverts the nearest Academy ship with a lander, Wildside piloted by Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins. She was doing a ferry run returning some people from an archaeological expedition back to Earth. And as fate has it one of her four passengers is Randall Nightingale, the leader of the first Maleiva III science expedition and since he survived all blame fell on him so now he's just an obscure old man who'd rather not get involved.

Skipping ahead. The story really starts when the Wildside lander is destroyed along with a lander from a cruise ship. That leaves Hutch, Nightingale, Gregory McAllister -- famous curmudgeon who was a passenger on the cruise ship and came down to see the ruins and get interviewed --, and two or three other survivors and expendable victims.

Now the survivors have three weeks to trek to the old lander from the first expedition so they can maybe take off. Meanwhile the science ship will try to cobble together a rescue plan that still depends on the survivors using a lander to at least get high off the ground.

And there's the mystery of the planet (which has dangerous native life). The ruins and artifacts indicate a small primitive race that still warred with each other. But there's evidence of a space elevator (including a remnant scaffold a thousand kilometers long orbiting the planet). Luckily the survivors will gather enough information to piece together what happened.

It's a good story and quite interesting. There are a lot of cameo characters but many are introduced with enough background and description to bring them alive. Like the nerdy physicist who comes up with a way to grab the survivor's lander, or the retired zero-g welder who really takes to teaching a few dozen volunteers how to do welding for the grabber.

Apparently this is the second novel in a series and at least the first three star Priscilla Hutchins.

Thank You, Doctor (2022) [/] Chinese medical drama series running 40 45-minute episodes. At a large university hospital two doctors join the new Emergency ICU center (this is different than the regular ICU which the hospital also has so a subplot is justifying the existence of an "extra" ICU). Bai Shu (Bai Yu) is a single dad, gifted surgeon, but very arrogant. He's assigned to EICU in order to broaden his social skills. Xiao Yan (Yang Mi, She and Her Perfect Husband, 2022; Eternal Love, 2017; The Interpreter, 2016; ), returns to China from a stint with a Doctors Without Borders type organization where she did a lot of good but lost her fiancé during a rebel attack.

Each episode focuses on one or two cases with many cases running over to a second episode so it's not as episodic as clean-cut episodic as American tv. Half an episode is about the doctors and staff which means the guest characters get a lot of screen time. This means that, like an American series, you're getting bits and pieces of the various characters -- like head of EICU Lu Ping An's (Li Jie) hidden love for the married head nurse, or first year resident Chen Zhi (Liu Yan Chen) chasing after the fiery doctor Tang Hua (Jiang Rui Jia) who thinks he's a fool. And the very slow romance between Bai Shu and Xiao Yan.

In the end though I found the series below average. Many medical cases are fairly similar or similarly resolved and there's a lot of "trust the medical system even though it seems expensive" messaging. None of the three romances are resolved, though the main one is a strong maybe. But it does seem like they wanted a second season. The last episode ends with a minute or so long insert where it looks like they had everyone available except Bai Yu and in a long, voiceless camera sequence it kind of wraps up things a bit.

I was expecting more romance and/or more drama. I watched for Yang Mi but I think the show is more about Bai Shu than other characters.


Drawing Closer (2024) [-] Japanese romance drama film. Teenager Akito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase) finds out he has a year to live and is considering suicide but meets the bright Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) at the hospital and she only has 6 months to live. Not telling her his illness he befriends Sakurai and tries to brighten her every day as the two fall in love. But eventually they do both die and it's sort of about the mark they leave in other people's lives.

Sakura Spirit (2014) [-] Sexy anime visual novel (with one choice towards the end). You are a teen judo star transported to ancient Japan where you have to help two sexy fox spirits become friends with a local village protected by two sexy girl guards. It's about a 2-1/2 hour story without nudity though lots of cleavage and suggestive situations. A bit weak on characterization but this is a prologue to a longer story that was never completed as far as I can tell. $10 is kind of expensive so I wouldn't recommend this story.

99 Ranch Medium Tofu [-] This is their house brand. It's $2 each whereas House tofu is $2.30 to $3 each. But I found this tofu not quite as good. A bit too firm (firmer than House firm) and dries out faster so I guess there's less water content. On the other hand maybe that means you get more soybean goodness.

Silo, season three (2026) is 10 episodes continuing the post-apocalyptic dystopian story.

Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), our main protagonist, is now Mayor of Silo 18 but she's lost her memories. Camille Sims (Alexandria Riley) is now Head of IT and knows the secret that the central computer will kill everyone in Silo 18 if they go wild. Conversely Camille's husband Robert Sims (Common) although Head of Judicial Security is kind of working against her because the AI's current plan is to wipe everyone's memories and Robert doesn't want his son to forget his parents.

There's more of a resistance movement. There is a mystery murder and missing essential supplies. Camille and her security is looking for Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash), former Head of IT's Shadow who therefore knows too much to be left alive. There's a bit of a revisit to Silo 18.

About 1/3rd of this season shows the world before. Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) and reporter Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick) investigate a government coverup after Daniel's sister Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay) is shot down while doing a fighter strike on a secret Iranian weapons facility. She is the only survivor and her PTSD treatment involves a revolutionary technique of wiping her memory and reconstructing it from the ground up.

Season two introduced multiple silos (in a panoramic shot) and Juliette went to Silo 17. Season three introduces the larger world and how the Silos were built and populated. Season three ends with Silo 18 in full revolt against the system, disabling their Silo kill-switch and discovering that it's not an AI computer but people in Silo 1 trying to control all the Silos. Juliette declares that in order to survive they must stop Silo 1 one way or another...

It's an engrossing story that keeps ramping up. I thought the modern day part was going to be boring and maybe it wasn't the best but still interesting enough with lots of background revealed. Season 4 is green-lit and declared to be the last season so good chance of a good conclusion to the series.

The Third Texas Cavalry in the Civil War is a history of a volunteer regiment that was formed and served during the American Civil War and was disbanded at the end of that war. Douglas Hale, Professor Emeritus of History at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, is the writer. He uses official records plus letters to recount their story.

It's kind of a dry narration with few maps. I guess because of the nature of cavalry actions you get a sense of the battle but not really detailed, even when the Third Texas fought dismounted. Even though he mentions individuals all the time -- this man was shot here, this trooper did a gallant action there -- it feels like he's kind of elaborating on the official accounts without making things up whole cloth.

Interestingly, since Hale had access to census information, he breaks down the unit by socio-economic status and slave holding characteristics to see if there is any conclusions to be gathered there. Not sure he concludes anything. Troopers were generally better off since they brought their own horses and leaders tended to be community leaders. There are also break downs by county.

As with other ACW unit histories I've read at the regimental level it can feel a bit sparse since most fighting is done by brigades. With the Third Texas it's the same as it was usually part of a Texas cavalry brigade so the brigade goes into action and Hale notes where the Third Texas contributed. But also since it's cavalry the regiment does do individual missions.

Overall I found the book interesting. I think the writing style is a bit dry though.

Jenny’s Wedding (2015) [+] Independent drama starring Katherine Heigl as Jenny, thirty-something professional in the Midwest where her parents and brother and sister are very white bread American and she's still in the closet. Once she finally reveals that she wants to marry her longtime "roommate" Kitty (Alexis Bledel) her parents want to be supportive but also want her to keep it a secret so as not to embarrass, which creates quite a hardship for Jenny...

Started watching this late one night and didn't stop until it ended. I've seen it several times and I love this movie. It's a bit slow, low key, and touching without trying to be a hard drama or characters actually hating lesbians.

Upcoming Summer (2021) [/] Chinese teen drama movie. Chen Chen (Zhang Zi Feng) fails an important exam and blames it on a bad breakup with boyfriend Zheng Yu Xing (Leo Wu, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, 2024; The Long Ballad, 2021). But they've never had a relationship -- he's never at school so he was a convenient excuse. After this though Zheng starts hanging out with his "girlfriend" and they bond over their traumas: he's pining for his ex after she dumped him and she's trying to keep it together after finding out her parents divorced a year ago... I disliked that it has a bit of an ambiguous ending so not sure how it turns out for them.

Monster Train+ (2024) [/] Turn-based card mechanics tactical combat game. Concept is that it's the end of the world and you're on a train fleeing demons. You have two or three stops (and a choice of two routes) to get cards, upgrades, or resources. Then it's a fight.

The train has three floors and then the train's heart at the top. Each floor has three spaces for good guys and three spaces for bad guys. Each turn bad guys enter on the ground floor and surviving bad guys move up a floor. Then you spend resources to place units or activate powers. Then one round of automatic combat reminiscent of Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone except you don't choose targets (well, you do if you activate a magic attack) -- each unit targets the front enemy unit (unless otherwise indicated, such as for area attacks) until it's dead. If you don't have any defenders on the top floor then bad guys there hit the train's heart (which starts at 60 hp so it cant take a few turns).

Eventually the boss arrives with each boss having fairly distinct abilities. You get one turn to place units then the fight is continuous until the floor is cleared. If the boss wins he moves up and you get another turn to use cards then another continuous fight. After the fight you one card from a choice of two so you can adjust your strategy that way.

It's an ok game. Not really original mechanics. Not really much in terms of story. Somehow a game like Slay the Spire is a better experience, possibly because the fights are quicker and it ramps up slower than in Monster Train.

Amidst a Snowstorm of Love is a Chinese romance series running 30 45-minute episodes.

I think it starts out in Sweden. It's snowing heavily. Yin Guo (Zhao Jinmai, Shine on Me, 2025) and her cousin are visiting for a week, Lin Yiyang (Leo Wu, The Long Ballad, 2021) is walking in the snowstorm and sees Guo at a bar window talking on the phone and drawing on the condensation on the window and immediately falls for her. Turns out Yiyang is a friend of a friend and is there to help Guo and her cousin.

His attempts to be around her and arrange meals and such is a little clumsy but works because Guo also finds him attractive. It's a hesitant attraction as they don't declare their feelings but each silently yearns for the other. But they will get to spend more time interacting because she is a world class woman's 9-ball player (it's a billiards-type game) and he is a former Chinese national champion snookers player who retired abruptly but not due to any physical or mental issues. Yiyang will eventually return to competitions because he wants to earn money and impress Guo and her family.

There is a lot of both snookers and 9-ball action, though never really explained or shown so I still don't know how either game is played. Someone in chat said 9-ball's objective is to sink the balls in numerical order which I guess was shown though in cuts so I didn't realize that's what the players were doing. Snookers though seems to have more strategy as at some points one player was using their turn to hide the white ball so the other player couldn't win and there must be some sort of penalty if you can't hit one of your balls during your turn.

We also see competition areas and how it's setup. A tv show setup is probably not as grand as the real thing but it did make it look like it's a formal and popular game.

There is a certain lack of drama making this more of a slow and pure romance. Maybe her mom and sister don't like him because of the way he behaved in his last tournament before he retired but that is quickly resolved. Maybe he has a lingering injury but it's never to the point that it threatens his playing. Maybe there's going to be conflict when he takes over his old billiard's club and the older teachers are worried about his changes but again that never becomes a problem.

The ending also comes really fast. In the last episode he proposes then it jumps three years and both of them are happy together (and what happened about that pregnancy scare half a dozen episodes ago?). And then the end not resolving a couple of minor sub-romances that were more hinted at than delved into but still.

The love story is great. It moves slowly and it has little things and it has a lot of feels. But around that there's a rather bland story and world that doesn't seem to have much impact on their developing relationship or lives. Still, very attractive leads and lots of loving looks makes it worth watching.

EasyStore is essentially a WD Elements rebranded for Best Buy so they don't have to price match. It's USB 3 and I got transfer speeds of 120 MB/s compared to 40 MB/s with my USB 2 external drives. It's one 18 TB drive so not trying to do some internal RAID 0 to make two cheaper drives look like a big drive. Doesn't have a power button but will spin down if idle (kind of means don't leave it mounted when not in use). $400 or so new though I assume my brother bought it when it was like $200 at a steep sale (WD EasyStore 20 TB is $880 currently showing how much HD prices have gone up).

On the negative I have two and they both have this high pitch whine when the HD is spinning which make these drives impractically to leave mounted all the time but I only use them for backups so that's fine with me. It also comes with WD Discovery software, though you can also get that and more from WD's Software Downloads page but looking at that page I'd rather rely on my macOS system utilities.

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale (2024) [-] South Korean comedy romance with some loose Cinderella elements. Shin Jae-rim (Pyo Ye-jin) is the stepdaughter to a mom with two girls but although Jae-rim thinks of herself as unwanted mom loves her and her sisters treat Jae-rim like one of them.

Jae-rim, who's had many menial jobs, finally gets the dream gig at Cheongdam Heaven, a rich playboy club run by Moon Cha-min (Lee Jun-young) who has been taught by his father that women will betray you so Cha-min is determined to treat every woman as he would a rock. Except Jae-rim is so annoying to Cha-min but they made a bet and he had to hire her.

Naturally as they interact more they start to see positive attributes in the other. Cha-min's "fiancée" Ban Dan-ah (Song Ji-woo) sees Jae-rim as a rival to remove. Dan-ah is much more into actually marrying Cha-min while he agreed for it to be a pretend engagement that lasts forever so that he doesn't have to deal with other women...

The humor is a bit more cringy than usual. There's a narrator that tries to make the whole story as a fairy tale analogue. It's a 10 episode series (each of 45 minutes so a bit shorter than usual) and the ending part came very quick. I guess the way the comedic parts were done the romantic parts didn't grab me. It is a series that does have some ok moments but way below average.


Sheriff Country s1 (2025) [/] I finished watching season 1 (episodes 7 to 20). I guess it's better than my impression after six episodes. Even though an episodic format there are subplots that last several episodes and bigger subplots that went through the whole season. Maybe a bit too reliant on 2-parters (including a 2-part crossover with the older Fire Country series which this one is a spin-off). The two-parters did have more action, shootings and explosions than typical episodes. Overall a nice series though I probably won't watch any more.

Wheel of Fortune Daily (2024) [-] A stripped down Wheel of Fortune where all you're doing is solving daily puzzles of various types. Bonus Round - where you pick three more letters and a vowel then guess the phrase. Punch Out - You can reveal up to five tiles one at a time and solve at any time. Toss Up - Each phrase is slowly revealed and solve as many phrases as you can in 30 seconds. You can also play against online players... I'm not a WoF fan.