The World of Lucky

Come to luckyslife.com

2017-05-25T00:28:01Z

Things have gotten too difficult right now to update multiple websites. For this moment I am going to stay on my wordpress website, but I did finally get a domain, www.luckyslife.com

come by and visit.

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Assassin's Creed Unity

2017-05-08T12:15:39Z

Youtube LP Playlist: Assassin's Creed Unity
Systems: PS4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Assassin's Creed Unity is the 2014 release of Assassin's Creed.

The game starts with you playing a nameless "initiate who is a player of "Helix" a gaming device produced by Abstergo that allows access to many different genetic memories.

You begin play by watching some backstory with the Templar de Molay and then forward to 1776 as Arno Dorian, a nobleman's son (and Assassin). Your father is killed and you are adopted in by a Templar Grand Master and his daughter Elise. The story skips ahead and you are seeking revenge for the death of your adoptive father and you are estranged from Elise. The story is about your seeking out who killed your adoptive father and seek revenge while you join the Brotherhood.

The story itself is nothing to write home about. I don't want to go into details and spoil any possible surprises (not that I found most of them actual surprises). The missions themselves based on the story were lacking in any real depth and were fairly repetitive. I know I shouldn't compare it to ACIV Black Flag (my favorite in the series) but it isn't even close.

The story about you "the player" when you surface out of Arno's memories is even more blasé, no meat, no outside interactions, just additional "in machine" machines with those in the brotherhood talking to you via audio. Definitely not a lot of story.

The controls themselves were just as horrible as they ever were. The fighting is unwieldy, but they did make the free-running a bit easier so that is something.

For character building they broke your abilities up into some weird leveling system even more in depth then Black Flag.It became a frustrating exercise to try and raise up yourself to do things you could do out of the gate in the prior games. The worst part is Ubisoft went even more overboard with the collectables. It was bad enough that I quit collecting less than halfway through. It just is a cheap way to say your game takes longer than it really does.

Oh, and they push the multiplayer even more. However, it was so bad I didn't even really touch it so I can't say anything more than I hated it.

Pros: The free-running is a bit better (I did get hung up on things more), and it is what you expect, more Creed.
Cons: The leveling system and flag/item collection has to stop. It is just getting worse.

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Man in the High Castle (Season 2)

2017-05-08T10:33:18Z

Still can't do better than the Nazis, mysterious films, alternate worlds and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

It's the next season of the same world. We pick up almost immediately where we left off, having met the Man in the High Castle, the Nazi conspiracy and the drive to make a H-Bomb by the Japanese.

I can't talk very much about the plot itself if you haven't seen it. It does ratchet up the intrigue, who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. There is more of a focus inside New York (the Reich) and Mr. Tagomi opens up a totally new storyline that comes together at the end of the season.

It humanizes all the main characters, including Obergruppenführer John Smith, and Inspector Kids. It doesn't make what they do ok, so no apologism for their behavior, but it does show you why they do the things they do. Like all people, even villains, they are the hero of their own story.

This season was a little different, I found I didn't like Juliana or Fink as much. Not acting or the writing. They were great, but their storylines took them into places I didn't like and their character's twists and turns made me not like the characters themselves as much.

Pros: Once again, great acting, immersive sets, an compelling story and I love Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Mr. Tagomi. I liked him last season, but he clicked with me a lot (well so did John Smith, but Mr. Tagomi took it away).

Cons: Once again, I don't think there is an overall con, but because there are so many roles you will probably hate someone... I still can't stand Joe Blake, not the fault of the actor, he is good, just don't like the character, this season he whines an awful lot and I just can't stand it.

Hands down a great show, I still can't recommend it more.

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Phoenix Arizona (March 2017)

2017-05-08T10:32:07Z

We went down to Phoenix Arizona in March 2017 for Wolsey's surgical consultation. If you want to read the brief post about the trip go here, if you want to read about the doctor's appointment/transition surgery go here.

Link to Gallery: https://luckyslife.com/2017/05/07/phoenix-arizona-march-2017/

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MRSR (August 2015)

2017-05-08T10:26:50Z

DATE NIGHT:
Where: Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad and Hobo Inn
Links: MRSR (http://www.mrsr.com/) Hobo Inn (http://rrdiner.com/)

On July 31st 2015, we went overnight to stay at the Hobo Inn in Elbe Washington, the next morning we went on a train ride. For more details see my post here: https://worldoflucky.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/mount-rainier-scenic-railroad

Link to Gallery: https://luckyslife.com/2017/05/07/3098/

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Night Vale (April 25, 2015)

2017-05-08T10:24:03Z

It has been awhile since Jello and I have gone out other than maybe to a movie, so we decided to see the live tour of Welcome to Night Vale.

We started by going to Panera first and splitting an Asiago Steak Sandwich (Jello loves Panera), we then drove to the Neptune and waited in line for about an hour and a half. Finally we got to sit and watch “Murder Mystery Theater” episode (pretty sure that is the episode name) from Welcome to Night Vale.

It was a LOT of fun, the show was great, but let’s be honest I would be happy if Jello and I just sat in the car and spent time together.

Link to Gallery: luckyslife.com/2017/05/07/night-vale-april-25-2015/

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My Tattoos

2017-05-08T10:22:27Z

I have a lot of tattoos and they are just building. For now I am just going to use this post to hold them as I get them. I will eventually post individually about any meanings/situations/etc around them. Also many of these are old photos, I will update them with new photos this week.

Link to gallery: luckyslife.com/2017/05/07/my-tattoos/

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Galleries

2017-05-08T10:20:09Z

Just letting you know that new galleries go up on my main website regularly (three went up today). Unfortunately there is no html for the galleries that I use on Wordpress. So I won't be able to post them here. Sorry about that. I will post a link however when they come up.

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Call of Cthulhu Keeper's Screen / A Restoration of Evil (book review)

2017-05-05T12:49:43Z

Call of Cthulhu Keeper's Screen by Les Brooks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not too bad if you are a creative GM who wants to work on things.

I picked up this supplement a long time ago. I never ran the scenario, but instead just used the rules for the occasional Cthulhu game. As the years went by I used the Chaosium system less and less and forgot about it.

I am now running a Cthulhu game using the GURPS system and I needed something small to supplement my game. I won't spoil any of the adventure called "A Restoration of Evil" for possible players here, but I will say its a decent low level start. If you are running it at a convention it will work well out of the box. If its for a campaign you will need to fill in a lot of things.

Now that the the rules are very outdated, I wouldn't pick it up for anything unless you could get it used for $0.50.

View all my reviews

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Frontier (Season 1)

2017-05-05T12:48:47Z

Who would have thought I would have watched a series about the North American fur trade. No I didn't say it was good, I didn't say it was bad, somewhere in the bland not much taste fast food of tv.

As a partnership between Canada Discovery Channel and Netflix resulted in what I thought was a decent show based in the 1700s. Unlike Taboo, this show occurs before the American revolution (and in fact doesn't really address much about the colonists). I suspect this is because it is produced by the Canadian Discovery Channel.

Declan Harp (Jason Momoa) has declared war on Lord Benton and the North American fur trade is at stake. The story behind Declan is standard fare (family destroyed, hunted, etc) that I won't go into detail here. He comes across an Irish criminal who was taken in by Lord Benton to take down Declan. They bond and then it comes down to a fight between Declan Harp, his ragtag group of traders and the British military.

Most of the show is entertaining enough. Not as good as Taboo (not even close) but it is not a bad thing to watch. It felt like it could have been told a lot better in a 2 hour movie format then in six episodes.

Pros: Jason Momoa is the reason to watch the show. He doesn't have a huge set of dialogue, but he is pretty, and I just find him personable.

Cons: The story is a sluggish beast that you have to endure.

I will probably watch the second season.

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Man in the High Castle (Season 1)

2017-05-05T12:47:43Z

Nazis, alternate universe, resistance and a mysterious films showing alternate worlds, of course its great.

The world is different, the Axis powers won and split up America. The Japanese took the western third, the Nazis took the eastern half leaving a small strip in the middle that was a neutral zone. There are main characters in the resistance, in the Nazis and in the Japanese occupying force (and Trade Minister).

I don't want to spoil it, but all the acting is really good. Their are two main Nazi characters, both very good at their roles, one who questions what he is doing and one who is a loyal higher up officer who does his duty but has to protect his family. There is a Japanese inspector and a Trade Minister both excellent with varying views, then of course there is a grouping of Resistance actors who are all great with various outlooks.

Its not set in World War II, its 20 years after and you get to deal with the politics of the two empires posturing over what is left of America with the threat of war (and surprisingly enough the only reason there is peace is because Hitler is still alive). There is a character in here that you will like no matter your outlook.

Pros: Great acting, immersive sets, an compelling story.

Cons: I don't think there is an overall con, but because there are so many roles you will probably hate someone... personally I can't stand Joe Blake, not the fault of the actor, he is good, just don't like the character.

Hands down a great show, can't recommend it more.

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Hand of God (entire series)

2017-05-05T12:45:42Z

It deserved more than two seasons.

The series can't be anything but good when it stars Ron Perlman and Garret Dillahunt (and others). Perlman is Judge Pernell Harris, the corrupt judge has a breakdown after the suicide attempt of his son.

This breakdown results in him falling in with a con-artist preacher and his girlfriend, and gaining a loyal follower in Garret Dillahunt. The voices point to who is responsible for the attempted suicide and a whole host of intrigue begins from there.

Originally I was going to do reviews on the season level, but sadly Amazon notified the public that there was only two seasons, so I felt I could do it in one go.

The story starts off intriguing and just hits almost all the right tones. Perlman is always great, there are small hints of his character in SoA, along with other characters he has played. Garret Dillahunt is standout in this and the intensity of his character almost steals the show.

There were some less stellar parts. I found after the first six episodes I didn't like the storyline with the preacher and his girlfriend, and in the second season I disliked how Perlman's "faith" changed (I won't go into details though). However, that being said I really enjoyed the series and I am saddened that it didn't get a third season. I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed Ron Perlman especially.

Pros: With the name Perlman in the credits, it is going to be a fun watch, he doesn't disappoint and neither does his "Benaiah" played by Garret Dillahunt. The scenes with just the two of them make it worth the time.

Cons: The preacher storyline I found annoying. However, that could be because I don't have a strong attachment with that portion of religion and not the fault of the actors/actresses involved.

I am disappointed there wasn't a third season.

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Oatmeal Pie

2017-05-05T12:44:22Z

OATMEAL PIE

Type: Dessert (Pie)

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: However many you want (6-8 is what seems reasonable).

Results: Pretty good, this initial recipe is a bit sweet for me but I really like it. I will attempt less sugar next time (not dark corn syrup, that is important) and update this recipe as I go.

INGREDIENTS

¾ cup sugar

3/4 stick (6 tbs) butter, softened

2 eggs

⅔ cup corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup regular oats

1 unbaked, frozen 9-inch pie crust (I got really lazy here)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 and place unbaked, frozen pie shell on baking sheet.

2. Cream sugar and butter.

3. Mix in eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl.

4. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in oats.

5. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 325 for 45 minutes or until crust is brown and center is just a bit jiggly.

6. Enjoy fully by eating it!

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Hoarfrost

2017-05-05T12:38:09Z

Hoarfrost by Jordan L. Hawk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is for the audible book version only.

The series just gets better as Ms. Hawk builds the world.

The sixth book of the series is going even better. The gang as we will call them now heads up to Alaska to help Griffon's newly reconnected brother Joe at the ruins uncovered. The book takes a new tact with writing from Griffon's perspective almost half the time. I wasn't sure at first but actually it works out pretty well. I am looking forward to Christine getting the same full treatment, which I am sure is going to happen.

The plot itself is also just gets better. Things come back to haunt Whyborne from prior books, more character development and personality is revealed and new enemies and allies are made.

The only thing that disappointed me about this book was the lack of Christine. She is in it, but unlike the previous book she has a fairly minor role. I do like Griffon's larger role, but I am not sure if I prefer him to Christine. I suspect the series will become an ensemble cast eventually. It seems like the best way to keep going with the most plots.

View all my reviews

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luckyslife.com

2017-04-28T21:12:48Z

I found today I am starting to run out of room for my free Wordpress account (worldoflucky.wordpress.com). That being said I decided to double the space and get the $3 a month account and it comes with a free domain name. As it turns out, when I purchased the service it automatically registered luckyslife.com as my domain name. Not intended directly for it to happen, but I think thats better than the worldoflucky.org I was going to do.

This all came about because I host worldoflucky.org on a free standing site. The problem being is it runs about $150 a year and it was coming due again. The only thing I really use it for is to refer people to here, to my gaming sites and to host my iTunes for Things You Should Know. I already direct people to my other gaming sites from here anyways so the only extra it really did was serve as an expensive host for the videos on iTunes. The reason I ended up using this site as my blog more than the .org was because this is a community and people come across, unlike the free standing sight that sits forlornly.

As it turns out, my feed to iTunes for my video casts has been broken for months. I keep trying to fix it, but it looks like I would have to start those accounts over and to be honest it is too much of a pain in the ass. I still do things you should know off my free Wordpress account (and of course Youtube, although I need to get some new videos up after the hubby's surgery, things have been busy). So I decided to cancel that site, save a $150 (and turn around and only spend about $35 for this, just for space).

So ya, thats why WoL.org is gone after the end of May (if you even watch it) and why this can now be reached here at luckyslife.com (well, after it hits the DNS circulation over the next 72 hours).

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Double Feature

2017-04-26T11:40:13Z

Over the last couple of weeks my anxiety has been kicked up to an 11 due to Wolsey's surgery, work and just a lot of stuff in my head. Last night I took some meds to go to sleep and ended up having dreams I mostly remember.

The first dream is we were in a house, a real place (sort of in the dream) that I lived at as a child. It mostly consisted of my dad talking to us, giving us shit. We were talking about a girl named Brie Larson who my dad had a fling with in the house (the reality is there was a drunken one night thing in the place I don't think the girl was named Brie though). My dad was being huge and giving us shit about the place.

For some reason I turned around annoyed when he brought up the place and I said "Well, this is the place where you died too" and everything stopped. It wasn't of course, he died in a place 30 years later. He just looked at me and I realized he was gone in the real world. He just gave me a small smile and said he loved me.

I woke up and found it was about 1am. I didn't want to get up and I must have fallen asleep fairly soon after.

The second dream was more intense and longer, but I remember less of it as I am sitting here. I remember it was a hospital and there were many people there. My mom was in the hospital again to get surgery on her heart. In the real world I think I did this with her four times before she had the final problems she died from eventually.

We waited for her to come out and several others that went in for surgery around the same time she did had passed away. there was a lot of stress about her results. After some drama with the nurses and with my sister (which is too close to what happened in real life with my father) I was freaking out. Finally they brought her back out and she was ok. All I could focus on though was how thin her skin felt when I was hugging her. Thats when I woke up.

So there it is, the depressing dreams of the day :).

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GURPS Basic Set: Characters

2017-04-25T02:34:59Z

GURPS Basic Set: Characters by Steve Jackson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A definite must have for gaming groups!

I have ran tabletop roleplaying games for decades (since approximately 1984). Everything from Dungeons and Dragons Basic set (in the box), Battletech, Shadowrun, White Wolf, and a dozen other systems (that maybe I will do reviews on someday).

I have recently reread the book this year for a new campaign I am running and I am reminded why I use it. Because you can recreate any world you want with these rules. The fact that you can modify the setting, genre, realism level of the game, makes it the best choice.

Pros: A variety of settings are provided in supplements and sourcebooks with constant updating of different worlds and even additional advanced rules, equipment and ideas. You want gritty realism, or cinematic campaign you have it. Do you want a combination of Cthulhu and Shadowrun? What about Fantasy and Werewolf? You can do it all.

Cons: In all fairness this is not an easy system to learn. It is prohibitively complicated for new players or GMs, and even those with lots of experience will still struggle a bit. The rules can bog down the game so you will have to learn to cut the things you don't want to deal with. This is why I can't give it a 5 star and only a 4 star.

Overall it is my favorite systems and with patience you can convert any other game system into GURPS (my most recent one was converting Mechwarrior/Battletech into GURPS and it was better than the original system because of more RP character options).

View all my reviews

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Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

2017-04-13T03:37:31Z

Youtube LP Playlist: Valkyria Chronicles LP
Systems: PS4, PS3, Microsoft Windows

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is a facelift on the PS3 Valkyria Chronicles where you follow a plucky group of soldiers in Squad 7 as they try to fight off one of two large Empires that wish control over the resources of the small country of Gallia.

You play Gunther Welkin, a peaceful scholar who only wants to be a teacher. The problem is he is the son of a famous general and he presents a conundrum for those who know of his father but not him.

The other members of Squad 7 include Gunther's sister, Isara, a Darcsen (the stand in for Jewish people during World War II). Alicia the apprentice baker and possible love interest. Largo, a large old school soldier and Rosie the racists bar singer who hates Darcsen.

The story unfolds as Squad 7 is formed and they fight back the overwhelming Eastern Imperial empire. The game utilizes a visual novel format with a few cutscenes in a very linear fashion. The big "attraction" to this game is that each chapter has a tactical battle where you command different types of units that you can build up as you go. The game even involves a couple of traditional JRPG type creatures.

Overall the story I liked a lot. Its set in a World War II type era. It involves big personalities, romance, a weird pig thing. The story itself can get very adult and very dark, ranging from racism, concentration camps, death, despair. I was caught off guard by it, and I do have to say onions were cut during the game (that means possible tears). There was some inner meaning on war and what it does to people. I wasn't expecting that at all.

Oh, as a side note, the cell shading style of the game was unusual and I enjoyed it a lot. I wouldn't like it for all my games, but it served its purpose well here.

What I was disappointed with was the actual tactical combat. I play a lot of tactical and strategic war games, so I do have a skewed point of view. I seek out realistic combat that feels like a professional war-game. These were not bad battles, but they were much more simplified then I was used to.

Some of the missions were not satisfactory for me when playing. I also was disappointed that while you can replay the visual novel/cutscenes at any time, you could not replay the battles. I also disliked the experience points and research. It felt like it was similar to Xcom, but not in the good ways, when building your troops there was no specialization other than any individual weapons you may have found. The combat wasn't horrible, but it was far more basic then what I seek out.

Pros: Very intriguing story. I want to know more about the world.
Cons: The tactical combat was not what I was looking for.

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Bloodline (Whyborne & Griffin #5)

2017-04-13T00:26:22Z

Bloodline by Jordan L. Hawk

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Audiobook only!

This is the fifth installment of the series I have read, and the fifth time the story has just gotten better. Ms. Hawk's writing has gotten tighter, and the reader has gotten much better with intonation and cadence with the book.

The story itself is very interesting, you get to meet additional members of Whyborne's family, including some unexpected members. The struggle against a new threat from a couple of unexpected directions.

Where the last book had a lot to do with Christine and some additional items on Griffin, this focused mostly on Whyborne. I enjoyed every page of it, but I do have to say the series as a whole will do better overall if Ms. Hawk focuses on the the group as the whole. I can't talk about specifics due to spoilers, but I love his mom and I do like how Ms. Hawk has made Whyborne's father more and more three dimensional.

Overall, I definitely recommend it as a read!
View all my reviews

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Ghost in the Shell

2017-04-13T00:23:45Z

Better than expected when I don't take into account the white washing, although I was still a little disappointed. I would see the sequel because this is one of my genres.

The movie itself really isn't trend setting in this current day and age. I suspect the is a weird result of its original anime being so influential. Twenty plus years ago when it came out it was a relatively unusual, groundbreaking event, influencing such seminal works as The Matrix. The Matrix and other movies then in turn, influenced other movies making the tropes from the original GitS cliche.

The whole concept of exploring what makes you human really had nothing new in this movie that you couldn't see in a dozen other movies that handled it a bit better.

That being said, Scarlett Johansson did a good job as the Major. I felt she did convey the spirit behind the character, but unfortunately not enough to raise the move above "just ok". I was especially pleased with Bataou and how he was portrayed, but once again they didn't give him a big enough part to do much more than give some interest. The rest of the characters were just blips in the movie.

Now we get to the white washing. This clouded my opinion of the movie the whole time. The movie could have been done with any Japanese actress and I probably would have liked the movie better. Once again not because SJ did bad, but because the knowledge of the white washing left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess as I get older, the harder it is to look past stuff like that.

The movie did try to give a partial explanation of a white actress playing a Japanese character late in the movie, but it was less of any sort of in depth story idea, and rather something pieced in to explain why the major has a white body and not a Japanese body. Basically it was a reason they could use on why they went with SJ rather than it being a real plot point.

The good: Decent sci-fi, nice choreography, and an ok story.

The bad: White washing with a bit trope thrown in.

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Therapy

2017-04-04T13:41:36Z

I have always known that I have issues. I am sure it stems back to my upbringing, genetics and experiences. I grew up in poverty, violence, and a scattering of some pretty incredible experiences. Combine this with my family's mental health history including bipolar, PTSD, depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, crime, and self medicating.

I have had four different counselors in the last five years I have gone to. None of them have worked out. The first one could only see me ever 12 weeks or so, while she was great, it wasn't enough to do anything for me.

The second counselor was of no use. They really weren't interested in doing much but trying to get me to take meds, which by the way I have a bad reaction to (at least Setraline aka Zoloft). That counselor was done quickly, as was my use of the med.

The third counselor got fixated on my family and stories about my family. She was less interested in helping me and more about some weird desire to vicariously live through my experiences. My sessions made my anxiety and PTSD worse and that just didn't work out in the end.

My most recent counselor I gave a try to was last year. A few months after my father's death I went in and tried again. This time I figured I would just start with the grief counseling part. I went a couple of times, he seemed pretty good but was once again I think intimidated by my life story. I went to training for work for a couple of weeks and when I got back my counselor never responded to any of my calls for getting more appointments. I don't know if maybe he moved on or if he is avoiding me, but I sort of gave up on that.

I am pretty much done with counselors I think. My goal now is to just try and write about my feelings. I have found that actually helps me more with my anxiety then most counselors do. This means you all may be subject to my ramblings. I will try and post a disclaimer or maybe tag it "therapy" when I start talking about how I feel. :)

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Kong: Skull Island (movie review)

2017-04-04T02:36:44Z

There are some slight spoilers, not about the movie plot but about the world.

Kong:Skull Island was a surprise to me. I had walked into the movie with my husband expecting a bad movie, or at the very least something like the most recent version of Godzilla. However, for what it was, it was a lot better. That would be a summer blockbusting creature feature.

Don't get me wrong, Kong won't win any drama awards. It is a B grade monster movie filmed with a AAA budget. The budget was worth it though. The effects were believable and very enjoyable. The only issue I had with the filming was the transition from night scenes to day scenes left me blind for a few seconds.

The acting was decent for what they had. The only really fleshed out character was John Reilly as a shot down American Pilot (if you have seen a preview or trailer you already know he who is, the funny older guy). John Goodman, Samuel L Jackson, and team are all good at what they do, but they just weren't fleshed out. Their characters were generic.

Probably the most interesting part though was little Easter eggs laid around that indicated Mothra, Godzilla and I believe King Ghidorah. It even includes a monster hunting organization. I love the idea of a marvel level universe for the large monsters. This is a good idea, almost as good of an idea as Universal's monster universe started by the remake of the Mummy next month.

The good: It hit all the right notes for a monster movie, action, adventure, no reliance on arbitrary romance. I didn't detect any racist stereotyping and I really liked that it was set in 1973.

The bad: Some of the effects were filmed for 3D, I did not watch that version, but even the flat 2D screen was annoying when it tried to push those scenes into the movie. Also, I would have liked more monstrous creatures on the island.

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Necropolis (Whyborne & Griffin #4)

2017-03-28T02:56:50Z

Necropolis by Jordan L. Hawk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is for the Audio Book only!

As I started the fourth book in the series I had pretty high hopes, and Jordan Hawk cleared that goal with some room to spare.

In order to avoid spoilers all I will say is you get a glimpse of the dirty, dusty and rough desert. You see Whyborne grapple with the "horrors" of living in a tent. You get a bit more background on Griffon (there can never be enough background). You get some good sex scenes. Finally you get a lot more background on Christine.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Christine when this all started. I wasn't sure if she was going to fit into the stereotypical woman with gay guy best friends. However she has been flushed out and given a pretty cool backstory. I look forward to more about her now as well.

Oh, on a down note, Christine sounds like a catty gay guy sometimes when the narrator reads her part. I am not sure if its on purpose or maybe just something I am hearing, but that was the only negative.

If you liked the first three, definitely you want to read this.

View all my reviews

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My First Trip to Phoenix

2017-03-26T18:01:30Z

We flew down last Sunday, at a very very early morning hour to Phoenix, Arizona. We started by leaving the house at 4am, much to Wolsey's chagrin.

We arrived at the airport, with no caffeine in our system and with only an hour to wait until we fly out. Fortunately I went to the local Starbucks to get my caffeinated fix. Trust me, no one wants me uncaffienated.

We got down to Phoenix and for the first time ever I was in Arizona. I stepped off the plane and was hit by a wave of heat that was unexpected. While it was in the high 30s in Seattle, but they were having a heatwave in Phoenix and it was in the mid-90s and unlike Atlanta, it was a desert. The last time I had been in a place that warm and dry was when I was 15/16 and we were homeless as a family, living in a car and making Lake Tahoe our place (it was when we went down to Carson City/Reno).

We finally got to the hotel (a La Quinta which I have liked, not sure why my coworkers hate the chain), changed into short's and decided we were hungry. There was Mimi's Cafe just a block and a half up and we thought it would be a great place. There we ordered lunch (well actually I ordered some sort of specialized waffles).

It wasn't bad at all, the prices were Seattle average (11-13 each). I probably wouldn't recommend it for locals though, we didn't realize that Seattle prices are high in Phoenix, and I wouldn't recommend paying top dollar for a not top dollar place. The waitress was nice though, and we found out she had lived in Everett for six years.

We then headed back to the hotel, where we promptly laid down and napped.

We got up, decided we were still hungry (we hadn't eaten large meals at Mimi's) so we hit Red Robin and found the food to be extra greasy (unlike our normal Red Robins we live next too, oh and yes I realize in general the food is a bit greasy, but this was above and beyond).

Finally we just hid out in the hotel room, the temperature was spiking even hotter.

The next morning was pretty simple, we got some waffles from La Quinta's breakfast bar then went to the doctor appointment (to read about it at https://accidentallygay.wordpress.com/?p=1057 ).

We then went to Tia Shorty's and I had the absolute best tacos in my life. The shredded beef just melted in my mouth, the spices were wonderful and I am glad I ended my Arizona food sampling there as it left it on a really good note.

We then got back to the airport for a later then we like flight (didn't leave until almost 7pm) and we got into town after 10pm. With the Lyft ride back to the house we were in bed by midnight.

Overall the trip was a stupendous success, not because we went and saw a bunch of things, but rather because Wolsey gets his surgery 14 months earlier then normal (end of May/beginning of June 2017). So this trip was fantastic!

If you want to go see the photo gallery from the trip, go here.

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Stormhaven (Whyborne & Griffin #3)

2017-03-17T04:08:37Z

Stormhaven by Jordan L. Hawk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For the audiobook only!

I have to say Jordan Hawk is just getting better, and so is the narrator. Originally some of the words spoken and written were a bit boxy and didn't quite gel with me. I do take some ownership of that as part of it was undoubtably me getting used to a new author.

However in this third book Jordan Hawk takes us deeper into who Griffin is, where he comes from and what torments him on more than a cursory level. We get to meet people who are close to him, and explore his fears more in depth. I thought this was fantastic.

We also dig a bit deeper into Whyborne, his family and some inkling of what may be coming for him. Along with that we had Christine also involved, this time she felt even more part of the group. I no longer really think of them as a duo, but a trio. They each have something they bring to the party.

Jordan expanded their own ability as well. The sex scenes were never bad, but they are feeling smoother in this. The plot is a bit tighter and we are getting connections between stories. It is a good start for world building.

The last part is that the narrator has gotten more comfortable themselves with reading it. The sex scenes were ok, a little off. However, the biggest issue was accents. It seems like they have laid off of them and that has made all the difference.

Overall a great book, it is coming together and I am looking forward to Necropolis.

View all my reviews

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