Opinion – The Winchesters Season 1

I decided to do a trial of HBO Max through my Amazon Prime. This was originally so that I could watch Fringe without having to switch discs or dig my set out of where I have them stored. I know lazy. LOL

However, this turned out to be a good thing because I discovered “The Winchesters” Season 1 was also on the streaming service. Last year I had heard bits and pieces about this show. That Dean was going to be telling the story of his parents before the boys were born, that it wasn’t a series set before the show “Supernatural” but a spin off that happens in at alternate universe.

The fact that this is a what if scenario has seemed to pass over a lot of viewers heads. I went to Rotten Tomatoes to do a review there. A lot of viewers were bitching about how young the actors are, how John doesn’t act like he did in the original series, how Mary doesn’t act like she did in the other show, how John wasn’t supposed to know about Hunting until after Mary dies, or how he was never supposed to know about his father and the Men of Letters.

People, People, People… Ya’ll need to remember a couple of things, well other than that this is set in an alternate universe, John Winchester and Mary Campbell didn’t just slide out of the womb as fully developed balanced people. They had to experience life, love, loss, and a whole host of other things to become the characters that we met in the original series. As I have watched the series (I haven’t finished the season as of yet) I have seen the connections, the paths that they are traveling that would see them becoming the people we met in the original series with some changes of course because this is an alternate universe.

The first few episodes were a little cringe worthy, but, as the character opened up and the plot developed it’s just become fun to watch. It’s not as dark as the original show, but, it doesn’t have to be. As I reminded people in my review on Rotten Tomatoes this tale is told by Dean Winchester. The same Dean that loves rock music, pranks, Scooby Doo, and can be super goofy when he is able to relax. Why would a dude like that tell a tale of his parents journey like he is reciting a Stephen King novel? Especially when the brothers had some super goofy and weird adventures when they were hunting even when they were trying to save the world?

I am glad they are handling John, Mary, Carlos, and even Lata the way they are. The story is set in a time within America that was a huge time for change. The culture in the States shifted massively in the wake of the Vietnam War. The fact that they are allowing John’s character to show even SOME of the issues a lot of vets had when coming back from Vietnam is awesome. It allows us to see him fighting to come back home mentally, see him work through the trauma and become a better man. When it comes to Mary we are seeing her working through what she wants in life. Have the same issue that her sons had at times when it came to hunting, leaving hunting, etc. A lot of people don’t like the obviously gay Carlos. My guess is they don’t like how flamboyant he is. I love how sassy he is and he isn’t actually gay. They have subtly established that he is bisexual though I can see why it would be hard for people to get that. I know of men just as sassy as Carlos that were actually straight. Now, Lata is a mystery. She is hiding something from everyone. She seems genuine, kind, caring, etc. But, there have also been things going on in the show that make me think that she isn’t what she seems so I am going to hold judgement over her character until the secrets are revealed.

I really do think that if this show is allowed to continue that it will grow and change into a very interesting series. I would love to see where it will go since we all know that Dean is born in 1979 and the current year in the show is 1972. That gives the show writers 7 years of adventures to work with. Who knows maybe something will happen to force Mary and John out of hunting. Maybe their minds will get wiped, maybe John gets hurt and Mary makes the deal with yellow eyes to save him before settling down, the possibilities are endless on what could happen. This may even be an alternative universe where the boys are raised as hunters and Men of Letters by both their parents.

If you haven’t watched it yet I say take a shot. If you didn’t get past the third episode then you need to try again with an open mind. There are some woke messages in the writing, but, it isn’t in the entire episode so far so it is easily ignored.

Movie Review – He’s All That

Let me just say before I dig into the review for the film. I am old enough that I remember when “She’s All That” hit the theaters. I was just 19 years old when it released. So, This review is from the perspective of someone that saw the original and understood all the nostalgia that is hidden in the new one. If you haven’t seen it then I want to say… What is stopping you already?!

Okay, the movie starts out fairly shallow. There are also things that remind me of another great movie, “Some Kind of Wonderful” (1987), but they aren’t super relative to the story as a whole. I think I only noticed them because I am a huge nerd. This a typical setup actually and was done in the 80’s as well in a movie called, “Can’t Buy Me Love” (1987). Though there are differences of course. This movie is mainly a redo of “She’s All That”, hence the title, with the roles switched and the situations slightly different.

Now, the main character is a good person and is in fact a better person than the “popular jock dude” from the original right at the jump. I think we see this because of the change in focus character for the sequel. In the first one you mostly followed the “loser” Laney with groups scenes and one or two scenes with the jock dude. In this remake you are following the “popular influencer chick” with group scenes and a few “loser contrarian dude” mainly to setup the plot and to help close up the plot in the movie. This change up simplified the formula quite a bit, but, also made some of the plot seem much more shallow as they had to change the conflict for the most part though it is established that the guy dislikes the ex-boyfriend of the influencer chick because he is a dick. Instead of the bet and then the original girlfriend being an issue like in the first one. They had one of the influencer girl’s friends be a traitor who decides to run against her and also start dating her douche of an ex-boyfriend. This was obviously motivated by jealousy by that friend but that isn’t explored as much except for a couple of long shots during certain scenes. If they had wanted to follow the plot of the original then the friend should have still been a jealous bitch, but, gone after Tanner Buchanan’s character, etc.

Over all the movie is fun, funky, goofy, and corny. It is a high school romance movie after all. What really made the film for me, other than how truly hot Tanner Buchanan is, is that they got a couple of the veteran actors from the first one to be in the film. Rachael Leigh Cook plays the mother of the influencer while Matthew Lillard plays the principal of the high school, though Mr. Lillard isn’t revealed until the end of the film. A few moments made me laugh or chuckle because of the references to the first movie. The two biggest being the song “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer playing at the prom with Rachael Leigh Cook teasing the audience about why the song seems familiar to her. Then at the very end of the film when everyone starts to dance Matthew Lillard’s character starts busting out some moves that Brock Hudson, his character in the first one, did as well. It was all very good-hearted.

If you are a fan of the original then I think you will get a kick out of watching “He’s All That”.

However, there are movies done recently that did the same type of makeover shtick a bit better. The first one to pop up in my mind is “The Duff”. Another with a self makeover, romance and highschool drama is “Easy A”.

I’m going to start putting a score at the end of my reviews to help people better understand where my emotional meter is on a movie and how much I liked it. I tend to be critical even when I like a movie or tv show.

SCORE: 7/10

Review: Netflix’s Wednesday – Season One (Spoiler Free)

I binge-watched all eight episodes of Wednesday Season One in two days. The series premiered on the 23rd of November 2022. I watched the first episode at midnight on the 23rd slept and did life things then finished the last episode at 5:00 am on the 24th. I made sure not to follow the hype on this show so that if it was bad I wouldn’t be too upset. I’ve been a fan of The Addams Family franchise since the old black and white which used to do reruns when I was a child in the 80s. Then the two movies in the 90s with Christina Ricci as Wednesday are some of my favorite comedy films. The second is my favorite of the two.

The television show isn’t as goofy as the original show nor is it on the same level as the movies from the 90s. However, this isn’t a bad thing. Tim Burton and Danny Elfman have given this show its own identity and mood. It fits the past work for both of them in other projects. Dark but lighthearted enough not to pull down the emotions of the viewer. All the gore fits into the storyline and isn’t over the top at all.

The design of the sets, costumes, makeup, and more are spectacular and bring a great blend of modern and classic to the show. I especially like how they worked in vivid punches of color into Wednesday’s typically monochromatic world.
The cast did an outstanding job with their roles. As someone who grew up with Raul Julia as Gomez, it is a little weird having the new version in this series. However, Luis Guzmán is growing on me so I look forward to the new season. If there is one that is. Since I have binge-watched the series so rapidly, and, it is the holidays here in the USA. I haven’t been keeping up with the overall take on the internet with how well this has been watched or received as of yet.

I’ve seen Jenna Ortega in other things the one that I love more than this new series is The Babysitter: Killer Queen. She is a phenomenal actress and I look forward to seeing where her career goes. Hopefully, it will be illustrious and busy!
The storyline (without getting into spoilers) is a typical coming of age with personal character growth, but, it doesn’t feel overdone or trite. For me, half of the mystery in the season was easy to see only a few episodes in but the other parts were surprises. They left enough open at the end to tie some things back in newer seasons without having to rehash them. The formula is great with enough bits in every episode to show there is an overarching storyline without overpowering the other things going on in each episode. It is a great balance that I hope they continue with for the rest of the show’s lifetime.

If you are the kind of person that liked or loved the original Addams family movies then I think you will love this series. Just give it to the third episode for it to really take off into the storyline and to get comfortable with the character dynamics. Try not to do what some critics are and be so cynical that you can’t just enjoy good entertainment for what it is.

Supernatural – Character Review/Impressions – Mary Winchester

Okay, I have been binge watching Supernatural from Season 1 forward for over a month now. I watched all the seasons before up to the last two. I just watched Season 12 Episode 3 “The Foundry” and felt the urge to vent about Mary Winchester.

Mrs. Winchester came from a hunter family. Generations of hunters raising hunters. She decided to rebel as a teen/young adult and wanted out of hunting. She met a dude (John Winchester) who she supposedly fell in love with. Then her parents are killed by a demon, the same demon she then makes a deal with just to get the supposed love of her life back starting the shit storm that ultimately happens to Sam and Dean. She never tells Mr. Winchester about hunting, demons, or the deal she made.

See here is the thing. If you truly love someone then you are also supposed to trust them with who you are, where you came from, etc. You don’t hide your past, your family history, or any demon deals that you made for their life. Mr. Winchester can be excused from that because he didn’t know that his father was a Men of Letters member since he disappeared before he was old enough to be told and then the chapter was killed off as well so no one would have come forward later to recruit him.

When Mary is returned to life as a reward to Dean and also Sam for convincing Amara (The Darkness) to turn away from hollow revenge and to give being a family with Chuck (God/The Light) another chance it was supposed to be a good thing. I understand that the new technology and such is jarring. But, Mary in the past always seemed like a smart girl. The kind of girl who would quickly catch on to things.

When she leaves the boys and the bunker at the end of the episode I want to scream at her. A mother doesn’t walk out on her sons. The fact that she makes it sound like she blames them for her issues then says that she loves them before leaving is such a bitch move. Leaving won’t help her get her head around the fact that she missed 33 years of her children’s lives! Asking them questions, letting them tell their life stories while all sat down drinking some beers or something would be better than just walking out like that! I also get the vibe that she is pissed at John for becoming a hunter and going after the demon while dragging the boys along. This shows that she didn’t really know her husband at all. Even I know that a Marine like John wouldn’t just let it go. Once a Marine always a Marine.

This base reaction to things taints her character for me. She is emotionally and mentally weak. I think she kinda always was. So unless something happens to her that makes her learn to be stronger she is going to always be a shitty mom to me.

Game Review: Saints Row (2022)

I am a big fan of the Saints Row franchise. I’ve been playing since the first one came out on the Xbox 360. It started off as a GTA clone but eventually established it’s own voice in the genre. The game story lines got bigger, more campy, and crazy as the series went on eventually getting to Ruler of the Universe and Time Traveler level of hilarity.

I decided to pre-order the Notorious Edition of the new Saints Row. I sat down and played it for hours last night.

The devs decided to reboot the franchise this year with Saints Row. Set in a completely new setting that reminds me of Las Vegas called Santo Ileso. As always you play as The Boss, but, in this one the Saints don’t exist yet. You and your roommates decide after some things go down (trying to avoid heavy spoilers) to start your own criminal enterprise… The Saints.

The story flow so far is slow. They made some of the game mechanics and features only unlockable through the story line instead of it just being there in the game already. Side jobs (side hustles) start off as only a few different types but expand as you play the game. Hidden collectables, dumpster diving, and the Wanted list are also there for distraction. Just like Saints Row 3 and forward you can collect vehicles as well by jacking them and taking them to your garage. There are hours and hours of things to do outside of the main story line.

I don’t like the healing method they are using in the game. In the old ones you got health pickups from killing the enemies. In this one you get one health boost (it doesn’t heal you completely) every so often. Even if you kill a lot of enemies it still takes longer than I would like to get ready, killing speeds up the timer, it can lead to some really frustrating game play where you are literally running and dodging around in circles just to keep alive while waiting for it to pop. Oh, and the default difficulty level is good for co-op. Not so good for solo because trying to aim the guns is frustrating as heck. It auto aims for the body and then fights you if you try to aim anywhere else which makes being accurate super hard. I looked in the settings and couldn’t find anything to tone down or turn this feature off. I would be aiming down sights and it would bounce from one side of the enemies head to the other at a nudge from the stick even if I wasn’t firing.

Co-op at the time of this blog is broken. My buddy and I ended up at a point right in the beginning section that just wouldn’t move forward. We tried it twice before giving up and completing it solo before teaming back up. We can’t see each other when we aren’t right next to each other because we aren’t highlighted in world for the other player. I can’t see him on the map at all to pin point his location if we decided to go explore different locations. Later on in the story line he was forcibly disconnected from me by the game right before a cut scene. This caused the game to almost freeze to the point that I thought I was going to have to close it all the way out and come back in. Then once the cut scene finally played through the game wouldn’t let him reconnect. After this we decided to solo play until the co-op is fixed. This feature being broken at launch when it was being sold as key to the game is frustrating. It also reminds me of Dying Light 2 which is not a good thing. My friend and I go out of our way to buy titles that we can play online together because that is the only time we get to hang out with each other even though we live in the same city.

Over all if you like the Saint Row franchise you will love this game… clarification. If you love the original game and the second one the most of all the titles then you will love this one. The story line is more toned down even with the comedy involved in it.

Movie Reviews: Resident Evil the Complete Collection

During my week, this week, I hurt my wrist. This means no gaming at least for a few more days as I write this. I am to the point in my healing where I can type and mouse with only a little if any pain but can not hold and manipulate a controller. This is major sad face for me, but, it gave me a chance to catch up on some things I’ve wanted to watch. I decided to buy on digital The Complete Collection: Resident Evil through Amazon Video. I had seen the first three films in the six film franchise already. I love the character Alice. The movies do become pretty cheesy as the franchise goes on, but, at the same time they don’t lose their entertainment value. When I watch action movies of any kind I am personally not looking for realism, a deep story, or anything like that. These movies give plenty of action with a bad ass female at the helm!

I will admit that I never played through the original titles to the game series that the film series is based on. I’ve only played Biohazard and The Village. Because of this I think it lets me see the movies in a less jaded view than fans of the games see them.

Through the viewing I noticed plot holes you could drive a truck through, and inconsistency with the storytelling. Most of these were caused by gaps between films, casting issues, scheduling, etc. Most of these from what I understand are closed up within the novels so I will have to read the series someday soon.

The acting is good in the films by the main actors for each film and even some side characters were well done. You can tell that some of the actors actually studied the characters they were to portray in the movie. I didn’t like who they chose for Leon, but, it wasn’t my call and he did okay.

I recommend to anyone to watch this series if you like movies where the good guys win no matter what happens to them. Just keep in mind that this is all loosely based on the game series and seems to deviate a lot by the end from what I understand.

Life Update – July 13th, 2022

Well, my dating life fell apart. Either dude just got bored or he was always an asshole. I have no clue. After a lot of weird dramatic supposed situations he just stopped talking to me. When I messaged over a week after his last communication that I was deleting his information he just gave me an okay. For a guy that harped hardcore on communication it was certainly hypocritical for him to just ghost me like he did. That is all I will say about that. I am continuing to look for a life partner. I don’t need someone in my life. I just want someone to share the journey I am already on with.

Other than my love life being shit things have been okay. My sister from another mister is going through some hardcore shit. I have confidence in her making it through this trial, but, it is going to test her resolve something awful. She and I had a text conversation that I think helped her a little bit. I also am sending her a gift that I think will help give her a reminder every time she sees it that she can do this.

My workouts are going well. I do them every other day because I do a list of songs on the Hard difficulty now. Adding up the run time for the songs in the list I come out a little over thirty minutes. By the time I get to the end of it all my shoulders will have gone from that good burning pain that lets you know that you are hitting the threshold and getting a good workout to numb which means I went passed that line. My arms start to get hard to control once I get to that point. Some of the songs I do are Rollin’, Don’t Cha, Party Rock Anthem, Alone, Crab Rave, Ghosts n’ Stuff, Angel Voices, etc. When I go from song to song there is less than a minute in-between. When I take the VR headset off I’m dripping sweat down my face, down my legs and my body is just ready to rest. I run the risk most days of dropping off into a nap once I am able to sit down and my feet stop doing pins and needles at me. My workouts aren’t without problems for me. I haven’t talked about it but I have bodily health issues more than just my weight. I’m asthmatic. I am heat sensitive. I have arthritis and/or tendonitis in my feet/ankles. I have a bad back from an old injury in my early twenties. The most recently I dislocated my left shoulder while I was sleeping and it took a month for it to pop back in on it’s own since my PCP didn’t want to touch it. While all that was going on I ended up spraining my right shoulder. Those are both still recovering. Most recently I messed up my left knee somehow. It’s healing slowly but steady and at least I can walk on it without pain most of the time now compared to a month ago. I ignore all this in order to do my workouts because I am a stubborn bastard and want to build muscles, lose fat, and be healthier. I’m saving up right now to buy the components for a resistance strength building setup with a bar, carabiners, bands, etc.

Anyway, other than that I have been reading fan fiction and the next book in the Jack Reacher series “Die Trying”. I might change it up and start the series over reading in chronological order instead of published order. It’s what I have decided to do with the Ender’s Game series which I also just started re-reading. I signed up for the libraries summer reading program and already earned a free book from their next sale. My next goal is to try and earn the summer reading medal. I came into the program a couple of months behind (it started at the end of May) so I might not make it but I am going to at least try since I have until August thirty-first.

I played through the Guardians of the Galaxy video game. It’s a decent game but I didn’t really like the game play loop. I was compelled to finish it because of the story line. I borrowed it from my local library. My next game borrow is Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. After the disappointment for me that was Borderlands 3 I stayed away from spending cash on the next title in the franchise. I’m hoping it is more like Borderlands 2 then 3. We will see later on tonight or this weekend.

Between all the reading and game playing I’ve been running errands, going to medical appointments, working out, and I started to watch Supernatural from the beginning so that I can catch up with the last three seasons of the show since I missed the entirely.

“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.” – Plato

Life Update – 06/25/2022

I’ve had some things happen both good and bad. One of my dogs died eleven days ago. So the household has been grieving. It was heart breaking to see our other dog looking in the yard for his brother or the first few times I came home from running errands he would look to see if his brother was with me. It’s getting better as the only cure for grief is time.

I’ve been sticking to my workouts with Beat Saber, but, I will no longer be streaming it or anything. I kept getting hit with DMCA violations by Twitch for allowing my channel to post the streams as videos on demand. It’s crazy and I did write them to call them out on their policy. The game is a music rhythm title. If I took the soundtrack out all the video would be is breathing and me bitching about my feet or the equipment while I hit the blocks. Which is stupid as games like Beat Saber being in videos when the person is playing them is considered Fair Use. Since I don’t want to deal with having to debate against a company that doesn’t want to fight against the music industry for their content creators, who are the ones that make them money, I just give up. It’s even more ridiculous when you take into account that I am not an affiliate. I make no money for my streams of videos. If they would stop putting advertising on my channels streams and videos then there wouldn’t be an issue at all. It’s their own greed that is causing the issue not me. There should be a policy that makes it so that if a channel isn’t to the point of being paid by them or others through the bit/sub system that they don’t put advertising on it. It’s not like the channel has any viewers to actually pull in ad revenue anyway because you have to have a certain standard to even get affiliate. 50 followers and 3 views each time you stream. I’ve never gotten to even 1 viewer each stream in any of the times I have actually tried to grind for affiliate and that is with help from other streamers in shouting me out!

Anyway, I’ve gotten to where I can do normal without walls on all the songs in the game and hard for some of them. I tried going Angel Voices on Expert and did okay until near the end. The blocks where just coming too fast and I couldn’t see the direction arrows at all so… yeah… fail. Starting next week I am going to be doing two workouts a day for 30 – 50 minutes each. Once I can do those and feel like I’m not really trying I’ll get the forearm weights to add intensity to it. I have to wait to add walls back in because my knee isn’t quite healed yet and I don’t know when it will be ready. I did test it today for a couple of songs and it’s not ready yet. I can’t get back up fast enough from the squat because of the slight pain and weakness. Once the pain is gone I can start pushing it to get the strength back up so that I can go up and down quicker. My back doesn’t like it, but, it can shut up. My back is going to always be a problem but I can’t let it stop me.

I don’t know if anyone that reads this know about the company ZOX or not. ZOX is a company that makes stretchy cloth bracelets. They are awesome. I learned about them because of the Depp v Heard trial. Mr. Depp was wearing one that someone pointed out on Twitter. I bought the same one though I don’t wear it. It’s on display in my geek stuff. Then I went during a BOGO sale and got another. This one is one of the thicker bracelets and on the inside it says “The One You Feed”. That phrase is from a Cherokee legend about the two wolves that battle inside of everyone. The dark and the light. The one you feed is the one that grows and wins. This is of course a simplification of the legend itself. Check the link if you want to read the full legend. I got the bracelet and it has turned into a motivating item for me. It’s part of why I’ve been so on point with my workouts. I am feeding the positive motivation in myself to get healthier. All of the images in the slideshow belong to ZOX. I just borrowed them to show off the bracelet.

Other than that I am just living life the best I can. Playing video games, reading, running errands, doing chores, that kind of thing. I hope everything is going well for everyone else. I fully believe that anyone can overcome anything as long as they try and keep trying. Everyday is a new chance to change something we don’t like about ourselves or about our circumstances.

Life Update: 6-11-2022

Things have been busy. I’ve had to deal with disability stuff, a new love interest, and starting a new workout routine. I’ve found time in between all that to play a new game, try and watch a new tv show or two, read a book or two, and watch a few movies. So, lets get into all that and then I will talk about my new workout routine.

I started playing Stardew Valley. A friend of mine got it for me as part of my birthday gifts. I love the game a lot. I haven’t gotten super far into it yet. Only in year 2, but, so far I am really enjoying building up my farm.

I read Odd Thomas and I have to say the movie is very very close to the book. I also read Killing Floor which is the first of the Jack Reacher series. I love the tv show so I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series and watching it as well. I’ve also been reading a lot of fan fiction. I’ll have to start posting all that on here again as reading recommendations. If I can find the time.

The movies were nothing special and I think I actually wrote a review for one of them after I watched it so I will skip those. The shows I tried to watch were October Faction and I stopped about three episodes in… the writing was painful but it was nice seeing the lady who played Cam in BONES again. I also watched Season 5 of Van Helsing and was massively disappointed by it. I’ll do a separate post about that once I have done a complete re-watching from Season 1 to 5 again to get everything I want to say about the show fresh in my mind.

Now on to the more personal stuff. The disability things look promising so far, but, I have to hear back from them to know for sure so I am keeping myself busy so I don’t think about it. My love interest is seriously just starting. I am hoping that it will keep going well, but, I don’t want to count chickens before they are hatched.

My new workout routine is awesome. Okay, for those you who don’t know. I am overweight (350-360 pounds or about 25 stone). I have issues with my feet and ankles as well as my lower back. Last year I dislocated my left shoulder (while sleeping) and sprained the right while trying to recover from the dislocation. I have issues with my hands as well and most recently I sprained my knee. So, typical workout routines like walking, lifting weights, yoga are not ideal or actually possible for me to do.

I did some research on low impact workouts besides swimming (I only have access to a pool for about 3 months a year) and discovered VR options. I bought a PSVR headset for my PS4 since I already had the camera and thanks to my friend Georgia I also had the PS Move controllers. There is a game called Beat Saber that is on console as well as PC. It is awesome! It is a rhythm game that uses light sabers to hit blocks to the beats in a song. It can be quite a workout. So far I have been doing it five times a week. Today I played for around 50 minutes with less than 30 seconds between songs. I could have most likely gone longer than that but my feet start to hurt really really bad after a while even if I try to work in leg movements into the workout to shift off them once in a while. I also start dripping sweat so much that it can get into my eyes. I need to start remembering to put a sweat band on to help with that under the headset. Since I’m not trying to be the best ever Beat Saber player I am looking ahead to adding weights to my arms and legs eventually to take the intensity up a notch since I would have to use more force and control in my movements. I’ll only do that once I can get most of the songs done in hard or expert mode. So this is months and months off from now. At the moment I can only do one song on hard and most of the rest on normal.

I am also looking to get a few other VR titles. Fruit Ninja, Racket Fury, and Super Hot VR to change up the workout routines a little bit. For fun I am looking to get Borderlands 2 VR and PlayStation Worlds. Before I get Borderlands I’ll need to save up for a PS AIM controller.

What is so great about the PSVR is that you can actually us it on PC as well. There is a program out there that you can buy, I forget the name at the moment, that allows you to use the headset for Steam titles. If I can get it and the PC version of Beat Saber I might just be able to expand my fun workout music selection! There are mods to allow you to get custom saber skins, music tracks, and more! These aren’t allowed on the console edition… at least not the PlayStation one.

Anyway, that is what I have been up to. I am starting to see progress in my workout as I am able to go a little longer, react a little faster, etc. I can’t wait to see what I look like by this time next year. Maybe I’ll lose the weight I have been fighting for years. I want to get down to 200 and see what I look and feel like. Oh! I am also planning to get a resistance band system so that I can do strength training. But, that looks like it’ll have to wait until the end of the year if not the beginning of next year since it will cost me a minimum of $80 to get the starter set. With Summer starting the monthly bills are going to go up quite a bit.

Movie Review: Scream (2022)

Now, I was born in 1980 which means that when the original Scream film came out I was sixteen years old. I was the target audience for it and I loved it! The second one was okay but after that I stopped keeping track of the series no matter how hot I think Neve Campbell is even to this day.

When I heard they were making another one I was semi excited but not enough to go and watch it right away. I heard the rumors that it was supposed to maybe rekindle the franchise, but, I had heard that before when they remade Nightmare on Elm Street only to be let down. Now, was this new Scream on par with the original one or even the sequel? No. However, it was still fun to watch.

I don’t know what it is with a lot of horror/thriller movies that have a camp to them, but, the modern ones for the most part just don’t have the right mix of suspense, mayhem, and black comedy. The reason that the first one was so good was because there was no background on what was going on. I am going to spend the next few paragraphs explaining how I would have done this movie to hopefully give a proper feel that is I believe on par with the original movie.

Firstly, I would not have revealed the Ghost face mask, the name of the town, or anything like that right away. It was cute the first few times that the killer called to emulate the original scene, but, in this case it gives everything away. A news cast talking about a series of murders happening in a different town, a radio broadcast talking about the anniversary that is coming up but cutting off when the victim scoffs and turns it off before being brutally murdered by a knife and a black clad figure that is just off camera. Just enough to clue the audience in without being cliche.

Giving clues about the boyfriend once the accusation from Dewey was stupid. There weren’t any clues in the original and the ones in the sequel pointed in the wrong direction which made the twist an actual surprise. By the climax of Scream (2022) I knew Amber was in on it and Ritchie wasn’t a shock. The only actual surprise at the end of the movie was the setting being at the same house. It would have been more shocking to have had it be Wes or the twins. Or how about this! Make it three killers! Tara could have also been on it as the actual ringleader. Just something that is an actual twist! Though I will say that both twins surviving was a surprise.

The pacing for the movie is very fast. It feels like they were afraid of boring the audience. It doesn’t allow the tension to build between scenes. They also played up the jump scare to the point of cliche. This is shown the most in the killing of Wes after the sheriff was killed.

Like I said at the beginning of this I did enjoy the movie but I laughed more than anything else which I don’t think was their intention. With how many scary movies I watched growing up and how full of gore the new stuff is I don’t think this scared, confused, or thrilled the younger generations either. Definitely, a movie to watch with friends and throw popcorn at the screen or tell the characters how stupid they are though!