Gettysburg: Director's Cut (1993) [+] I recently bought this from Apple TV store and watched it. Graphics maybe a little dated, the practical effects are not bad for the budget, and a lot of background soldiers are quite older (due to using a lot of American Civil War re-enactor enthusiasts I believe). But after the first half hour it picks up and especially the middle part with the 20th Maine is quite powerful. It has a great score, good actors and acting, and follows the novel -- Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels and Shaara wrote some amount of the screenplay before he died in 1988 -- quite faithfully. Still a good film to watch.

Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom (2024) [/] Mobile adventure game using Tamagotchi characters (and since I don't know the lore they are all new to me). Do tasks, collect stuff, craft stuff. Maybe there's fighting although seems more of a kids game so maybe not. It's pretty helpful telling you what to do and gating stuff so you don't wander far away. Seems ok.

Cornsweeper (2024) [/] Minesweeper using corn kernels and a minimalistic yellow interface and breezy island background music. The biggest flaw is, although there is brief tutorial, there are no instructions as to controls and such. I want to be able to mark guesses and such like with Microsoft Minesweeper and here maybe even the ability to mark is something you have to unlock (you also unlock power-ups such as you get a redo when you find the first mine). Overall it's a bit of style over playability.

OX9 Lanzhou Handpulled Noodles, San Mateo [+] Apparently a small chain the Bay Area. I had the Braised Beef Stew Noodle with Small Flat noodles (you can choose Regular/Medium Round or Small/Large/Belt Flat). They make the noodles themselves so like for Noodles & Things (sadly out of business) the noodles are slightly more chewy (without being mushy) than regular dry noodles. The braised beef stew soup was also quite good. Surprisingly filling. $19.25 list, $25.77 using Door Dash.

Pretty Man is a Chinese romance drama of 28 half hour+ long episodes. Viki also includes two "special" episodes which consists of cut scenes and clips, some of which would have helped storytelling in my opinion.

The story revolves around Lu Jin Nian (Xiong Zi Qi) and Qiao An Hao (Li Xi Rui/Sierra Li; supporting role as lead female's best friend, The Interpreter, 2016). The series starts in media res so it's a bit confusing what's going on, then we go back to the beginning in high school when the two met. Qiao An Hao is the pretty girl from a rich family. Lu Jin Nian is the transfer kid who turns out to be the ostracized half-brother of Qiao An Hao's best friend Xu Jia Mu (Jerry Yu).

They both are attracted to each other but the whole series is about them never telling each other how they really feel until maybe episode 24 to 26. One sees the other hanging out with a member of the opposite sex and then thinks the other is in a relationship. Or something said is misinterpreted. Jia Mu's mom Han Ru Chu (Tien Hsin) keeps scheming against Jin Nian because he's the son of her husband's dead mistress. It is quite frustrating that 90% of the series' hurdles could have been avoided if the two had been more forthcoming to each other.

Anyway, after a lengthy high school segment they go to separate colleges for a few episodes then finally graduate into the real world. Lu Jin Nian becomes a heartthrob movie star, believing that Qiao An Hao and Xu Jia Mu will eventually marry. Meanwhile in college Xu Jia Mu fell for Song Xiang Si (Zhao Yao Ke) who was bought off (and threatened) to leave the country by Han Ru Chu. Years later Song Xiang Si comes back and takes up acting as an up and comer opposite Lu Jin Nian and then Xu Jia Mu starts chasing after her again.

After being rebuffed by Xiang Si yet one more time Jia Mu is hit by a car and ends up in a coma. To save the family business Han Ru Chu convinces Qiao An Hao to marry her son but it'll actually be a temporary fake marriage and Lu Jin Nian will play the part of her son. So that gets An Hao and Jin Nian living together for like 10 episodes slowly becoming more attached to each other yet still thinking the other doesn't feel the same way.

Xu Jia Mu finally wakes up and some plot threads start getting resolved, including An Hao and Jin Nian finally finding out how the other feels and becoming a couple. And then everything ends in a cliffhanger because there is a Pretty Man 2:

• Jin Nian proposes to An Hao who says yes but a bit later she mentions a childhood incident that IIRC led to Jin Nian's mother's death so he dramatically flings her on the ground and she's starting up with "why" in her eyes the credits roll.
• Song Xiang Si became pregnant from Xu Jia Mu but when she said she had an abortion he pushed her down, cursed her, and angrily stormed off. Later he returns to find her very pregnant but apparently married. It's not exactly explained but I think the "abortion" was a test which Jia Mu failed and the "husband" is an actor friend playing the part. Xiang Si still loves Jia Mu but lots of trust was lost.
• Jin Nian's business partner of 9 years finally confesses her love for him but he's sorry he can't return it so she leaves to join the competitor with the aim of ruining Jin Nian's acting agency.

I looked at Pretty Man which was released the next year. All the female parts (except Han Ru Chu who only guest stars) were recast, even An Hao's agent/friend Zhao Meng (Mo Xiao Weng) and Lin Qian Qian (Wang Yue Ting) who chases after Jia Mu in high school and late in the series. Our two male leads remain, although it looks An Hao's younger brother Qiao An Yi (Xiong Wen Wen) who has lots of scenes disappears in PM 2.

In general I felt the story was a bit confusing at times. Sometimes characters are introduced, used for a few episodes, then they disappear. There's a whole e-sports team Jia Mu is building that An Yi manages and keeps alive when Jia Mu is in a coma but once he wakes up they disappear (maybe returning in PM 2).

The romance is ok though once again them not really talking and clearing things up is rather annoying.

Eventually we come down to Li Xi Rui/Sierra Li is the only good thing in this series. She acts well enough. She's very pretty. Once out of college she's always wearing short skirts with open-toed high heel shoes so you can often admire her very thin legs.

And thinking back I guess the best part is when they're doing the fake marriage. There's something about the beginner actress An Hao (who goes by a stage name but I forgot) getting bullied and sexually harassed and having the big movie star lead actor continually rescuing her in secret or more overtly. That part is very charming.

Anyways, it's watchable but hesitate to recommend since it ends in a cliffhanger and then change all the female actors in Pretty Man 2.

Hull Zero Three is a science fiction novel by Greg Bear. A naked man wakes up That is apparently being attacked by aliens. While trying to recover his memories he teams up with other "humans" though some are more alien than you'd think.

They're on a three-hulled ship (with a small water asteroid in front) that's been traveling for 500 years. There is lots of damage throughout. For some reason besides the cleaning and repair biologicals that ship has created it's also been creating killers to wipe everything out. Why this is happening and how to fix it are important though secondary problems to the man and his new friends as the most important thing is staying alive...

Everything is from the man's perspective so many things are described rather than named -- though he also keeps remembering terms for various things and odd cultural and historical items. Although his companions might seem menacing at times this is mostly a group vs environment story.

This is the kind of SF I like with a mystery to drive you forward and little bits being constantly revealed.

Running Point s1 (2025) [/] Half hour sitcom on Netflix. Party girl Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) has to take over as President of the Los Angeles Waves basketball team (no NBA references in this series) when her eldest brother has to go into rehab. She has her love of basketball (she knows about the game itself and the players than her three brothers) and her plucky Chief of Staff Ali Lee (Brenda Song and just hilarious in this role) and maybe nothing else as even her other two brothers don't think she can do this job

It's a fairly funny series more about behind the scenes than basketball action. On Netflix ad-tier it's kind of unwatchable because there are a lot of commercials (and there lots of product placement in the series). The series is not good enough to stomach five minutes of commercials in a 30-minute show.

A Girl Who Sees Smells (2015) [-] Korean romance-comedy-drama. Oh Cho-rim (Shin Se-kyung, Run On, 2020; Captivating the King, 2024) had an almost fatal accident three years ago, lost her memories, but gained the ability to see smells -- not like the medical condition but literally she can see smells in an airtight room if there's a window to see through. Detective Choi Moo-gak (Park Yoo-chun) can't feel pain since his younger sister was murdered three years ago by a serial killer. Together they end up teaming up to solve crimes (well, one or two crimes) not knowing that the serial killer mistakenly killed Moo-gak's sister when he was trying to kill Cho-rim and the killer is much closer to them both than any of the three realize.

This was a slog to finish because I feel it's badly written. For a police detective Choi Moo-gak breaks too many rules that would get cases thrown out of court. Also he's impulsively angry so even when he knows who the serial murderer is he confronts him and gives him too much information and he does it multiple times. Oh Cho-rim also makes bad choices at times which I find frustrating as the killer should probably have been caught half way through the series instead of prolonging it another 8 episodes.

One cool part though is that the killer has face blindness so him using various ways to try to identify Oh Chorim is kind of neat and it's kind of neat how the face blindness is turned against him a couple of times by the protagonists knowing that if they don't talk he can't tell who they are except by clothes.

Blackjack by MobilityWare+ (2024) [-] It's a functionally ok Blackjack game by a company that puts out a lot of games that are not very distinctive. Strangely no rules settings so you can't change the default "dealer must draw on 16 and soft 17" and you can double-down on anything. It's also just you vs dealer -- it'd be more interesting with some NPCs that chit chat.

Trader Joe's Veggie & Flaxseed Corn Tortilla Chips [/] $3 for 12 oz bag (same ratio as Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips at $4 for 16 oz bag). Ground white corn, brown flaxseed, and a bunch of vegetable powders so you end up with three different colored chips for Carrot+Tomato, Spinach+Garlic, and Red Beet+Onion. I would not say it tastes good enough to eat by itself but with some Manchego Cheese it tasted just fine. Flaxseed is theoretically good for you though I'm a bit suspicious that turning vegetables into powder to make chips or pasta you lose all the benefits.

There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless... is a yuri anime of 17 half-hour episodes.

Introverted geeky high schooler Renako Amaori (I listened to the English dub and find any credits for that) somehow made it into the popular girl group which has:

• Mai Oduka - the tall blond teen fashion model who is often gone overseas doing photoshoots and fashion shows
• Ajisai Sena - the cutest one who is often busy taking care of ther two younger brothers
• Satsuki Koto - Mai's rival and sort of emotionless brainy type
• Kaho Koyanagi - the shortest girl who does a lot of cosplaying

One day Mai declares her love for Renako but Renako just wants friendship so they agree to date secretly being "friends" one day and "dating" the next, except Mai keeps breaking that deal. Renako is just full of insecurities and doesn't think dating the most beautiful girl in the class will work out well.

Eventually Satsuki finds out and also wants to date Renako, mostly as a competition with Mai to prove she can be the better girlfriend. Then later on Ajisai and Renako start hanging out more and Ajisai confesses to Renako, who is for once mutually attracted. And last Kaho wrangles Renako into cosplaying and being her cosplay partner at some meetups (and this one is not a romantic entanglement).

Throughout the series Renako strives to maintain proper best friends relations with everyone even though all that interaction is stressful and exhausting. Meanwhile each of the other characters interact with Renako in distinct ways -- Mai is rather aggressively romantic, Ajisai is more secretly pining, Satsuki is cold but actually quite helpful, Kaho is also very introverted but when in cosplay costume becomes ultra-extroverted and tries to show Renako how to be extroverted.

The series has quite good animation with lots of motion. English voice acting is good. It's more comedic than romantic though Renako is a rather complex character who, like any teenager, is being pulled in many directions both externally and inside her mind.

Overall this is a charming series with cute girls maybe falling in love.

Probably took a couple of years but I finished re-reading the Honor Harrington series including the last book, Uncompromising Honor, which I hadn't read.

With the first book, On Basilisk Station, it begins as Horatio Hornblower in space with a new female captain, an old ship with a surly down-on-its-luck crew, and in a minor backwaters system where revolution and invasion are imminent, though unknown, threats. Honor Harrington is tall, youthful (due to prolong 3rd generation which greatly extends lifespans and slows down aging so at times it's a bit of an anime "teenagers fighting wars" feel), beautiful (though she never thinks so and most people attach caveats that get fewer as the series goes on), smart, tactically brilliant, loyal (to her Queen, nation, friends and family), and embodies her first name.

As the series progresses she is often involved in doomed fights that she somehow wins, often has to combat sexism, and loses people, loved ones, and parts of her body (replaced with prosthesis and cybernetics because her body rejects limb regrowth tech). Honor Harrington quickly rises through the ranks and socially as well as she becomes an Admiral and also a Greyson Steadholder (kind of like a Duke/Duchess of a small country) and one of the richest people in her corner of the galaxy.

Meanwhile during most of the series Harrington's nation, the Star Kingdom of Manticore, is in a decades-long war against the People's Republic of Haven (which later reverts to being the Republic of Haven after a change of government). By the last two or three books the focus starts to shift to an incipient war with the Solarian League, the biggest nation at least 100 times bigger than either Manticore or Haven with a fleet to match though fairly obsolete since they haven't been at war in hundreds of years. Oh and I forgot the shadow bad guys that appeared maybe half-way in the series and become more and more revealed though still mostly believed to be fictitious in the last book.

To go along with that shift we get to the point in the last few books that Honor is merely one of many characters. Maybe appearing in a third or a quarter or even less of the book though often still at key moments. So by the last book it is truly a good time to end the series since there are other series set in the same universe. Honor is promoted to an NPC background character and one of the movers and shakers of the galaxy.

I really like the first 12 books which kind of end with peace between Manticore and Haven. Books 13 and 14 is mostly about setting up the Solarian War with Honor Harrington making appearances but just kind of being there, though she does command a big fleet in book 14. Too many separate groups each doing their own plots (though all involving Manticore vs Sol) and it was not as good storytelling (and the books are also quite long).

Overall one of my favorite series. May have gone a bit too long but at least finished before the author dies (David Weber was like 65 when he wrote the last book in this series though even now still writing books in related series).

Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) [/] Sequel to Sisu. After World War II is over former Finnish commando Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), who doesn't speak a word in this movie, returns to his empty home. Now that his family is all dead and his home is now in Russian territory he dismantles his home and is determined to bring it back to Finland. Except that the KGB still wants Aatami so Soviet officer Yeagor Draganov (Stephen Lang) follows with his men to bring him back... It's a series of small and violent action scenes and the style feels like when Quentin Tarantino does an homage to 1960's/1970's films. If you liked the first Sisu this is more of the same maybe done with a bit more polish.

Stardew Valley (2023) [/] With 8-bit graphics JRPG-style game play, this is an "open-ended farming RPG". You inherit an old farm and have to clear it and start planting and tending crops. Then meet the 20+ villagers and get to know them. You can farm and build up your farm, befriend the villagers of which 12 are potential marriage candidates, there are even caves with monsters and treasure (mind you there is only like one fighting stat so killing things is doable but not deep game play). I played it for a few game days (time is constantly moving even if you do nothing). It's a popular award-winning game but maybe not my cup of tea.

Turmoil+ (2023) [/] There was an old C64 game I typed in from a magazine where you drill for oil in a 2D sideview world. As you drill down you use up money. If you hit oil and syphon it you get money. If you hit a rock you break your drill... Turmoil reminds me of that old game. You start with money and a plot of land. Use a diviner to find possible oil deposits (drilling blindly you'll likely miss). Drill down and hit oil. Syphon the oil and with a horse and wagon you can store the oil or sell it to the left or right markets. There are three or four NPCs also drilling and their oil selling affect the price so timing is important but you also only have a month or three so selling at a low price is better than not selling at all. In between levels you can upgrade equipment (bigger pipes, faster horses, etc.). It's a nice not particularly deep game. Would be nice to have a multiplayer option instead of playing versus NPCs.

Shiki Laurelwood, San Mateo [/] Delivery. Pork Ramen and Aki roll ("Barbeque eel, avocado & cucumber; topped with cooked shrimp and house sauce"). $40 from Door Dash (includes service charges). Both dishes were only ok so I probably wouldn't order from here again.

A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College is a Chinese drama-romance set in ancient times and running 30 45-minute episodes. Sang Qi (Zhao Lu Si, who I've seen in many series and I like her performances), a noble's daughter, is the first female student ever at the Imperial College and has to deal with the usual bullying for violating social norms. Two people on her side are childhood friend Zhuo Wen Yuan (Ren Hao), who is also the top student, and vice principal Yan Yun Zhi (Xu Kai Cheng), who promised Sang Qi's brother he'd help her though he does so secretly and in bullying way.

The romance is between these three. Once Sang Qi starts to realize Yan Yun Zhi is actually helping her she starts to develop an affection for him. Similarly Yan Yun Zhi interacting with Sang Qi all the time leads him to fall for her (which leads to one theme for the OPFOR -- if the people attracted to the two leads split them apart and then force them to be around them through enforced marriage love will develop because of constant close proximity). Meanwhile Zhuo Wen Yuan has always secretly loved Sang Qi so he starts competing with Yan Yun Zhi and it's kind of obvious why but Sang Qi is quite oblivious to Zhuo Wen Yuan's feelings for her.

Besides the romance the main drama is a smuggling ring that Yan Yun Zhi, helping the investigating authorities, is trying to crack. But every time he gets close the villains get away or something else happens and half of it is because Zhuo Wen Yuan's family secretly runs the smuggling ring (or they're the senior partner to the public-facing rebels who do the all the dirty work). Zhuo Wen Yuan is sort of heir presumptive so doesn't lead the ring but as the series goes on he takes more and more control bringing him into conflict with mom because he's getting distracted trying to win Sang Qi's love.

I really liked the beginning of the series which is more based in the college and college life (half way through they graduate and become junior officials). Here it shows off Sang Qi as a tough intelligent woman who cleverly avoids bullying attempt and eventually wins over at least some of the student body. Meanwhile she's also sparring with Yan Yun Zhi and although probably comes off a bit worse she holds her own. I think that kind of goes away in the second half of the series and Sang Qi is much more often a victim that needs to be rescued and I kind of disliked that part.

Also with thirty episodes and only one villain group it's always "you defeated a minor boss but there's a bigger boss next up the chain" and there's an inordinate amount of "I'm the only witness so what I say is true" even if there was another witness but he's dead now so what he said doesn't count. The last few episodes I was just waiting for it to be over.

Overall I don't regret watching this series as it's quite good at times but not consistently good to bring it above average.

The Rise of Major League Soccer: Building a Global Giant by scholars Rick Burton and Norm O'Reilly is really a book about why business people should invest in MLS either directly, partnerships, or ad support.

The authors sort of cover the history of MLS from the 1994 FIFA World Cup which was held in the USA, through the founding of the MLS in 1996, through almost folding in 2010 or so, to its partnership with Apple, Lionel Messi, and the coming World Cup in 2026.

Chapters

1. Conquering the World: The Rise of MLS
2. Soccer is Big Business: So is MLS
3. Don Garber: Growth-Oriented Leadership
4. How MLS Altered the Failure Trend in North America
5. How the 1994 FIFA World Cup Shaped MLS
6. MLS and David Beckham: Why an Englishman's Arrival Tipped the Scales
7. MLS in Miami: How Lionel Messi made Inter Miami a Global Brand
8. MLS Expansion: The When, Where, and Why of MLS Growth
9. COPA 2024, FIFA Club World Cup 2025, FIFA World Cup 2026, and the LA 2028 Summer Olympics: What They Will Mean to MLS
10. MLS: The Diversity Advantage
11. How Toronto Became an MLS Stronghold
12. Ted Lasso, Ryan Reynolds, and EA Sports F: How Celebrities and Video Games Continue Lifting MLS
13. Tech Cities, Tech Teams, Tech Stadiums: How Technology is Reshaping MLS's Relevance
14. Predicting MLS's Future

As you can see from the chapter titles this is not very chronological and is mostly about why MLS is still a growth sport that is now the 5th major sport in the USA and may possibly catch up and be top 4 or even top 3.

The chapters are short and all include one or two Expert opinions or anecdotes that run several pages. I think I read the whole thing in about six hours over three days so it was interesting enough to kind of keep at it.

Still this is not a book for fans so I wouldn't recommend it.

Vivy: Flourite Eye's Song (2021) [/] Science fiction AI robot anime story with 13 half-hour episodes. Vivy (voiced in English by Cristina Vee) is the first independent AI robot -- there are other robots and humanity depends on many many robots but they are all simpler AIs controlled by a central computer whereas Vivy can think for herself.

All she wants to do is sing and make people happy. But she meets Matsumoto (Max Mittelman), a robot from 100 years in the future when all the robots rose up and wiped out humanity. Matsumoto is tasked with stopping that and he needs Vivy's help as she's the only robot that survived 100 years. Although reluctant Vivy decides to help on and off over the next hundred years because saving humanity means she can sing to people and make them happy.

Good animation and the jumps forward in time are interesting at first since Matsumoto can tell Vivy how history is changing. Also Vivy meets more and more advanced robots who don't seem quite as human as her. Not sure I really like the ending or at least how the crisis is finally resolved.

Puzzles & Dragons Story (2023) [/] Apple Arcade. Sort of a linear story fantasy RPG. Collect characters and level them up. Each room is like three combats. Each fight is your team vs multiple monsters using a match-3 mechanism to attack and trigger your powers. Not that interesting a game without exploring, interacting with NPCs, and solving puzzles or doing quests.

Sonic Dream Team (2023) [-]. Apple Arcade. 3d adventure game where you control Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. The levels are Sonic-like in that some parts are speed and reflexes but other parts are more platform exploration with Sonic mechanics. I found it unplayable though maybe with a controller. Good graphics though.

Napoleon Journal #17 (2000) [/] This is a special issue of the quarterly full-color magazine and is meant to introduce new people to the Age of Napoleon. A history of the age from before the fall of the Bourbons to Napoleon's second abdication with asides about science, culture, food, fashion, etc. A look at the major powers and a brief look at all of Napoleon's battles (just broken down into how many fought on each side and what their casualties were). The level of detail is less than I'd like and for the most part it glosses over battles. If it were a book I wouldn't keep it in my library and as a magazine less so but it's a good attempt for a small circulation magazine and it does have a lot of photos and illustrations... Oh actually this is the last issue of the magazine before it went under. You can order a DVD of all back issues on their web site.

Unveil: Jadewind is a Chinese historical drama running 34 45-minute episodes. Set in ancient China this is kind of like a procedural crime drama (mostly murders). Fuchang County Princess Li Pei Yi (Bai Lu) is one of the top investigators in the Palace Investigative Bureau. She is beautiful, an excellent warrior, and rather reckless as the first case shows when she uses a heart stopping pill to feign death and winds up buried alive (luckily a shallow grave and she cleverly manages to send up a signal for the rest of her team).

Early on she has to enlist the aid of the Astronomical Bureau who send deputy director Xiao Huai Jin (Wang Xing Yue) who manages to stay the rest of the series because so many clues have astronomical origins, either directly -- like knowing where the moon was at the time of a murder -- or indirectly -- like knowing that mirrors can focus dim moonlight to bright enough that it looks like a lantern.

A certain sort of romance develops between the two. But also secrets. Li Pei Yi's family was murdered fifteen years ago (the official reason is dad went mad and killed everyone then himself) and she's been looking for the real culprits since. Turns out Xiao Huai Jin knew her when she was a kid and helped her survive that night but she doesn't remember and he does. As Li Pei Yi gets closer to her family's true killers (it does seem to be layer upon layer to get to the head boss) she also starts to figure out she and Xiao Huai Jin's common past.

But although there is a romance subplot this is mostly a stylish crime solving in ancient China show with a good number of cases, each going two or three episodes and often one case leads to the next. Sets and costuming are nice and the fight sequences are well done. The crimes are quite ingenious at times and it's a good thing Li Pei Yi is great at smelling out herbs and poisons and examining bodies, whereas Xiao Huai Jin is great at looking at a scene and seeing what's out of place.

Good series and very entertaining.

NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition is I guess maybe a slightly cut-down version of NBA 2K24 for mobile devices. This is a pro basketball game based on the NBA with real player names and likenesses.

Game Modes

• Play Now - for an instant game
• My Career - create a player then go from the playgrounds to the big leagues
• The Greatest - play one of the great players or form one of the great teams
• The Association - play a full season where you can manage game strategy and trade players

Normal game play on an iPad is not easy even with UI on easy. I'm not sure I'd be good with a controller in any case. As usual you control the player with the ball and when you pass you control that player. On defense you control the closest defender and I guess you can switch to other players.

I just played The Association and played games with Simulcast which means it's an automated game and you have an overhead X's and O's view so you see these circles moving around (each circle has the player's last name, face and position) and the ball being passed and shot. More importantly perhaps you have crowd sounds and sportscaster comments (they use real sportscaster personalities and there is a lot of varied audio commentary and a lot is stitched together but you don't really notice that). It is like listening to an NBA on the radio while looking at a real-time X's and O's display.

With The Association you can play all the games, or Simulcast, or even just get the result of each game and concentrate on coaching and player personnel.

This is a fun distraction game even though mostly not my type of game.

War Machine (2026) [/] A group of Ranger-candidates on their final test (a week long mission in the wilderness) encounter an alien mecha that starts hunting them down. With no live ammo it's mostly running away and trying to stay ahead of the two-legged mech. Alan Ritchson plays the grizzled Army sergeant with a bad knee who's on his third try to join the Rangers. He's a loner but was given command of the candidates and the stress of the mission finally brings out the leader in him. The movie ends with a patriotic Starship Troopers style "let's go fight the alien invasion" which I guess sets up follow-on movies because it turns out thousands of mechs landed all over the Earth. The action is pretty good and the mech is fairly cool and quite scary in a couple of scenes when it's right there with the candidates (I guess it's a couple of stories tall).

Delicious - Miracle of Life+ (2023) [/] Sort of a Diner Dash restaurant sim plus a family story. You play mom Emily who runs a big kitchen that serves customers over-the-counter, on two dining tables, and one cooking lessons table. Customers come in and give you their orders and you tap on stuff to assemble the order, tap to deliver the order, tap to take their money, tap to clean a table. Some dishes require cooking so you tap on the stove to cook and refill up to six items. Some things require a timing thing where a meter goes back and forth and you tap to stop the meter on the green area. There is some strategy is timing such as making a counter customer wait to pay a bit so you can get two payments in a row. I've played a few levels and nothing really new in terms of gameplay.

But there is a story. Emily and her husband Patrick want to make a baby which they were having trouble with but then she becomes pregnant and so we go through that story. The game starts with a three or four minute prelude and there are often one to two minute intermissions to tell more story with the characters moving around and saying dialog (better than a wall of text). I like that the characters make comical expressions in the intermissions which gives them life.

It's a cute story well told to go along with proven gameplay.

The normal version is $15 in-app to unlock the full game. There is also a GameHouse subscription if you love their games, though it is a lot more expensive than Apple Arcade.

Disney Dreamlight Valley (2023) [-] Apple Arcade version -- the game is available on other platforms. You are sucked into a fairly land plagued by Night Thorns that rob memories. Merlin is there for the tutorial and to activate your powers that allow you to destroy Night Thorns. Do quests and free the various Disney characters... On my iPad Air M3 the game is a bit laggy and you don't any settings to reduce graphics. More annoying -- although you can customize your looks you can't customize your name so it keeps using my full name (that it got from Apple Game Center I guess). Both those things don't make it a game I want to keep playing.

La Petite Camille, Millbrae - Beef Stew with Rice Com Bo Kho [-] Got this from delivery. Soup container + small white rice container. You kind of need a bowl to mix it in. Tastes fine though a bit plain; a little light on the stew flavors. I remember the pho place near my Union City house had good beef stew pho. Would not get again if I remember... I see previously I loved the garlic noodles and with the catfish fillet it's quite good. Hopefully I remember next time.