Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Thanks to Jeane asking about the show, I realized somehow I hadn't watched the second half of season three, the final season.

The Lion Guard is set within one of the Lion King movies (Simba's Pride), aired on the Disney channel, with preschoolers as the target audience. Right from the first episode, I liked it.

While it wasn't a 100% perfect match for adult viewer me, it was so very good. The stories and characters were enjoyable for adult viewers, and even most of the humor was good. (Alas one character was very big on fart humor, which didn't work for me, but I bet preschoolers endlessly giggled over it.)

This show did things that other animated shows didn't. For example, the characters aged. Physically aged up from one season to the next.

Some of the stories were so darned mature, too. In one episode, the main character had to learn that some things you cannot heal. Some injuries never get better. That sometimes there is no return to normal, that you have to just do the best you can with a long-term injury. After that ep, I was so moved I just sat there and thought about that. That's the kind of lesson we learn in only the best written adult TV shows, and it was in a cartoon meant for preschoolers.

In another episode, I actually teared up. There was a death of a minor character, and it was just handled so realistically, I was so moved by it.

Sadly it seems season three was the last season. It wasn't canceled, but the story is over and the animation department for it has been shut down. From wiki: "In Simba's Pride, there is a years-long time gap, The Lion Guard takes place during the years". Three year gap, three seasons.

I'm really sad it's over, though I am glad it had a conclusion and wasn't just canceled.

In an attempt to branch out from posting about only books, I'm going to try to use isiscolo's weekly post format of what I'm currently reading/watching/playing.

What I'm currently reading

I decided to bite the $1.99 bullet and get the third LitRPG Fjorgyn book. Its editing is a little worse than the previous two, but I suspect I'm going to get my money's worth from it.

What I'm currently watching

I finally gave The Man in the High Castle a chance (well technically, a second chance) and this time it totally hooked me. I watched the first nine (of ten) eps of season one in two days. I told myself I wouldn't marathon it, it's too heavy for that, but here I am.

I tried it once before, but hadn't even gotten through the first ep. Often times I want a show that I can just watch in the background while doing other stuff, and High Castle is NOT that kind of show.

What is that kind of show? Big Bang Theory. That has 12 season, 24 eps per season, and I've watched it from beginning to end six times now. Every time I hit the last ep, I just start over from season one again. It's really a perfect 'keep on in the background' show. I keep expecting to get sick of it, but so far nope (other than the themesong, I'm starting to hate that).

I'm also watching The Great Australian Bake-Off, which is a mirror copy of the British version. I finished the Canadian version a week or two back. All three are exactly the same. The hosts/judges are different people, but they fill the same roles, so it's basically the same show.

What I'm currently playing

FFXIV continues to be my MMO of choice. I've been playing it about six years now. If I'm home, I'm logged in, even if I'm not actively playing. Like now. I'm making this post, chatting on Discord, and have a show in the background.

Unfortunately I got drawn back into Candy Crush. Which would be fine, if it didn't eat into my reading time. It's way too easy to go from "I'll just play a moment now and then" to me spending all my pre-sleep reading time on it.

My other phone game of choice is at least not addictive. Jurassic World Alive. Basically Pokemon Go with dinosaurs (but a much better game).

I've had the link to this comic open forever, waiting for time to make a post and share it. If you are a Star Wars fan, or even if you just kind of know the characters (like me), this fan-made comic is something else. Abundance of Faith Just the artwork alone is worth looking at, but the story was interesting as well (and I bet a Star Wars fan would get a lot more out of it than I did). Be sure not to miss the link to the backstory/comic for the Storm Trooper character, it's at the bottom of one of the chapters. I loved that as much as I did the original story. The artist is making a second SW comic, and I can't wait to see it!

Black Mirror: I finally watched the current season, only four months after it came out. Can't say it was really worth the wait though... Not sure if this season was weaker than season 3, but it really didn't impress me. I only loved one ep of the six (Hang the DJ). Three were okay (USS Callister, Metalhead, Black Museum). I disliked one (Arkangel). One I hated more than any other ep in the series (Crocodile).

Lost in Space: I'm marathoning it this weekend, on ep 8 of 10. While it's not "best thing ever on TV" level, it's entertaining and fun. I never saw the original series, so I can't compare it to that, but I'm enjoying it for what it is.

Vikings: Alas, like so many other people, I've lost interest in the show mid-season 4. When the timejump happened/the kids growing up, I just stopped caring. At least the first seasons were outstanding! And this was only the second show ever that I listened to the themesong Every Single Time. Most of the time when I'm catching up on a show, I aggressively skip them. Love Viking's though.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: I'm not sure if I gave up on season 2 of this or not. The problem is, you need to watch and pay attention to catch all the jokes and such, but I multitask through much of my TV viewing, and that's just a poor match for this show.

Not owning a TV or getting cable, I miss a lot of shows. Not just watching them, but knowing the show existed at all.

Yesterday I spotted a "new" show from Marvel: The Inhumans. Turns out the whole first season ended already, so I found it online and marathoned it.

On one hand, it was entertaining enough to watch the whole thing over two days. On the other... Ugh. I wish it had been much better written. And better acted. And just better in general.

While I guess overall I enjoyed it, it had so so so many plotholes and issues. But then, it also had Iwan Rheon, which did much to balance out all the other problems, even though I really didn't much like his character at all. AV Club called it a poor, low quality copy of Loki, and that's what I had thought as well.

Man, this post makes it sound like I really didn't like it. It wasn't awful, but it could have (and should have) been so much more.

Did anyone else watch it? What'd you think of it?

Looks like it's not coming out until fall though, so still a long wait. (And only on CBS All Access...)

I'm watching the ABC hour long interview with Trump. Oh. My. God. He couldn't sound more insane and scary. He's actually getting worse. He's not surprising, but man is it scary.

Interviewer: "You said you'd do X, but X is against every international law and treaty."
Trump: "I don't care."

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Semi, but not really, related, I started watching Homeland again. I stopped in season three, they killed off the character I liked best and so I didn't want to keep watching. Now, season six, it's pretty darned good! I might go back and either watch from the beginning again or just the seasons I haven't seen yet.

Like Netflix, Hulu has started making its own shows. And, based on Shut Eye, it's doing a darned good job of it.

Shut Eye's main character is a failed magician-turned-psychic... who seems to be starting to get real psychic visions. He and his wife are working (against their wills) for a Romani family. The many many looks into the Romani ("gypsy") culture are so very interesting.

A couple of times the show had too much graphic violence for my tastes, but that was just two or three scenes in ten episodes. (One bothered me a lot though, even days later.) It's still really worth watching this show, even if you don't like graphic violence.

The characters were all very interesting, and the storyline never stopped twisting. The final twist of the season had me grinning and on the edge of my seat wanting more!

You can watch it on Hulu or here.

I need to finish Westworld and 3% still. Usually I finish one series before moving on to another, but for some reason lately I've been jumping around between them.

It's such a sad thing when you finish a series you were marathoning. I watched all of Major Crimes with barely a break to watch anything else. Five seasons straight through, just a pause now and then to watch a single episode of some currently-running show, then back to it.

It's a show full of wonderfully realistic characters. All of them flawed in some way, but all coming together over five seasons to make one big family. The crime-of-the-week part of it was so background, the relationships were what drove the show for me.

Now I have to wait until next year for more episodes of it, blah.

By total chance, I stumbled upon Grey's Anatomy. Since I no longer have a TV and watch it online, it's harder to change the channel. The other evening, when I was in the middle of something and whatever show I had been watching ended and Grey's Anatomy started, I didn't have a hand free to change the station. I was surprised at how watchable it was. I had no idea who any of the characters were, but I thought it was a show I could get into. So I started with season one... A couple days later, and I'm well into season two. There are eight seasons as of now, so this will keep me going a while.

I feel bad that I haven't gone back to watching Designated Survivor. It was a really great show. In it, a terrorist attack struck Washington DC killing the president, VP, and all of the House and Senate. Following the rule of succession, the Head of Housing (Kiefer Sutherland) became the new president, a man who the president had intended to fire the next day. I only saw the first episode of it, but then the election happened and suddenly I cannot make myself watch anything related to the president, Washington, politics, or any of that. I feel horrible for the show -- I hope other people aren't having the same reaction as me.

I'm still settling in to my new apartment.

Short version: LOVING IT!

Slightly longer version: Though I really, really hate the bathroom (toilet/shower in a tiny room, sink/mirror/counter outside of it), all the many pluses more than make up for it. The apartment complex's neighbor is an elementary school, which seems to mean the complex is a great place for families to live. Every neighbor in the building has multiple children, but that seems to mean everyone goes to bed early. I can't believe the size of families people are packing into apartments! My patio faces another building, so there are two apartments/patios facing mine. One of the apartments has four kids, the other seems to have five. Age ranges from baby to maybe five/six years old. During the day/afternoon/evening, they do play outside and are sometimes loud, but it's still quieter than the last couple places I lived.

I was worried I wouldn't have enough space for everything, but the more I organize stuff, the more I find I have enough room. I still think I own WAY WAY WAY too much stuff though. I had ~24 medium sized cardboard boxes, four very large plastic tubs, five luggage-sized duffle bags, and a number of large black garbage bags full of bedding/blankets/etc. And furniture, of course. How does one gather all this stuff? I have 25 butter knives!

I'd like to know who in the world thought off-white carpeting was a good idea for apartments. Every apartment I lived in with carpeting has this same beige-ish color carpet. I live in fear of dropping something on it. I know my cat will throw up on it at some point. I know hardwood floors aren't as warm, but at least I don't have to worry about messing them up, and they're a lot easier to keep clean.

TV: I've been binge watching Major Crimes. I love the characters in it so much! I'm almost through season three, and season five is currently airing now. I'm going to be so sad when I catch up. Mary McDonnell is just so delightful to watch. ...huh, apparently I need to watch The Closer next, as Major Crimes is a spin-off of it.

While I love Major Crimes, I'm watching a couple episodes most every day, so now and again I need an episode of something else just for a little break. Aftermath sounded like a great fit for me:

The series is centered on the Copeland family, a couple with three almost-grown children, who struggle to survive as natural disasters, followed by the rise of supernatural beings, brings civilization to an end...

I was worried the "supernatural beings" were going to be zombies (I'm so done with zombies), but nope. Only one episode has aired so far, but it's super creepy and I love it.

This isn't the first show from Canada's Space channel that I have loved. I also really enjoyed Bitten (which I see has a new season out -- I have to catch up on).

Other: While staying up all night/not sleeping even a moment is a bad, bad, bad thing to do, I look back so fondly on that night a week ago when I couldn't sleep and my MMO had a patch coming out, so I just stayed up all night waiting and then playing. There's something so foreign and exotic about being awake at 2 AM or 3 AM, knowing everyone else is asleep around you, while you're having fun. I paid for the loss of sleep for many days after, but it really was worth it.

I just finished season two of Better Call Saul and... *#$#(@$#)



Maybe this would be a show that's better to watch once a week instead of marathoning it. Jimmy/Saul really got on my nerves. He keeps getting himself into deep crap because he's too nice of a guy, and somehow that's more annoying than if he were a jerk. Maybe that would be less annoying if it had been spread out instead of all of it in a week or so.

His whole darned life could be better if he wasn't nice, if he didn't tell the truth, if he didn't try to help someone -- what kind of a lesson is that?

As the season went on, I was wishing Mike were more the focus of the show instead of Jimmy. Mike is complex and growing/changing/evolving, and very, very interesting.



While I enjoyed the show, it left me feeling annoyed more than anything else.

I have no idea what I'm going to watch now, I think I'm caught up on everything I wanted to watch...

Edit: Trying out Better off Ted. Might just die of laughter. :D