October in Review

Books Acquired:
None.

Books Read:
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

I was a naughty book blogger this month with only one book read. It happens sometimes. I do most of my reading currently in bed, something I’m hoping to change, and I’ve been falling asleep quick this month. Despite this, I’m still a couple posts behind, so maybe it was for the best. I’ll finally be catching up with myself in November.

Not book related, but we did spend a week in California earlier in the month, visiting Disneyland and doing a bit of shopping. With the Canadian dollar as it currently is, this is not a great time to visit an expensive American amusement park, but we still had a blast. I hadn’t been to Disneyland since I was fourteen, and it was surprising how much stayed the same in the last twenty years.

 

I feel like I appreciate the park more now than I did as a young teen. I was mostly interested in finding the biggest, scariest rides last time, but I really enjoyed all of the animatronics and silly little things this trip. I’m also much more of a wimp on rides now, so it’s easier to get a thrill. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to go at first, but we had a fantastic time.

Movies watched:
The Martian (2015) – This was awesome. The book is more suspenseful and interesting, just because it has time to pace itself properly, but this adaptation was great. It looks amazing (something Ridley Scott always gets right) and Matt Damon was actually quite good in the part.

Wet Hot American Summer (2001) – I heard good things about the new Netflix series, so we thought we’d check out the original movie. I found it really funny in parts, and I loved how it made fun of some tropes and kept getting more and more ridiculous. Probably not for everyone, but I liked it.

The Imitation Game (2014) – I really meant to get to this earlier, as I’ve been interested in Alan Turing since university, but it somehow fell off my radar. It’s such an amazing story, and he had such a huge impact on the world. It’s tragic how he was treated, such an injustice, and it’s great to see his story told so well.

TV watched:
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) – This is a prequel to Wet Hot American Summer with all of the actors fifteen years older, which was just great. I really enjoyed this.

Con Man: Season 1 (2015) – Alan Tudyk’s web series. I Kickstarted (or, I guess, Indiegogoed) it a while back, and the episodes were released this last month. This was a blast, with fun guest appearances throughout. Definitely fan service for any Firefly fan out there.

Games played:
Samorost 2 (2005) (PC) – A little indie game from Amanita Design, with under an hour of gameplay, and not the most exciting to be honest. I loved the art, but something just didn’t connect with me on this. I love their other games, though, and will definitely check out Samorost 3 when it’s released.

The Shivah (2006) (PC) – This is the first game from Wadjet Eye Games, my favourite point and click game studio, and it was fantastic. Quite short also, but brilliantly done. It’s somewhat educational if you know very little about Judaism, which is sadly the case for me.

Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 2 (2015) (PC) – I forgot about this game, and finally played through the second episode. I loved it, and plan to get through the rest this month. Incredibly funny and well-written.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (2015) (PC) – A friend of mine got me onto this. It’s a two-player game in which you try to defuse a bomb. One person relays the information he or she sees before them (“there’s six wires, two red, four black, “there’s flashing morse code, long short short short”, etc) to someone with a giant manual. The person with the manual has to take in this information and try to sort out how to diffuse the bomb (“cut the third wire”, “the password is ‘boats'”, etc). It can get pretty intense and is a lot of fun.

Rocket League (2015) (PS4) – Because, yay Rocket League.

What have you been reading/watching/playing this month?