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July in Review

August 1, 2018 /

Books Acquired:
Forgiveness by Mark Sakamoto
Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen
Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

Books Read:
Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith
Himself by Jess Kidd
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
Packing My Library: An Elegy and Ten Digressions by Alberto Manguel
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

Not a lot happened this month. I’ve been dealing with some on and off health stuff and generally feeling meh, but in an attempt to kick me out of this little slump (and to celebrate/hide for my birthday), we’ve booked a trip to Oahu! We leave in about a week, and knowing that it’s coming has already perked me up a bit. We’ve actually been lucky enough to visit the island quite a bit in the last few years, it just happens to be an easy getaway for us at the moment, so we’ll be spending a few days hitting all of our favourite spots. There’s an endless amount of delicious food there, so we’ll just be relaxing and eating for the week – poké, mai tais, and snorkelling is the main plan.

Paisley will be staying home, rolling in some dirt.

This is why Paisley is never white.

A post shared by Rob (@mcmillan) on

Movies watched:
Papa: Hemingway in Cuba (2015) – Good lord, this was frustratingly bad. It got a lot of publicity as the first Hollywood film to shoot in Cuba after the embargo was lifted, and I had heard it wasn’t great, but I thought I’d check it out anyway. The trailer was decent, and I liked the idea of a Hemingway biopic. For the first half hour, I thought people were exaggerating, but my god things go downhill quickly. The writing is terrible, none of the relationships are fleshed out enough to make sense, and it all turns into an overacting mess. Some of the acting is actually quite good in parts, I really liked Adrian Sparks as Hemingway, but they were working with terrible material.

TV watched:
Nailed It!: Season 2 (2018) – Not as good as season one, but hilarious in parts. I’m still surprised I like this as much as I do.

Queer Eye: Season 1 (2018) – We finally got around to watching this, and it’s as good as everyone makes it out to be. I can’t watch multiple episodes in a row, though, as it’s just a bit too much sentimentality for me to take.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: Freshly Brewed (2018) – I love these so much. It’s just a fun format with what feels like real conversations. I hope he keeps making these.

Games played:
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption (2018) (PC) – I kickstarted this ages ago, and it finally came out this month. It’s said to be the spiritual successor to the Quest for Glory games, developed by the same couple, Corey and Lori Ann Cole. My initial impressions were not good, the game has a really poor opening, but it started to grow on me. I put about 7 hours into it and enjoyed them, although I haven’t picked it up for a couple of weeks now.

Night in the Woods (2018) (PC) – I finished this and absolutely loved it. The writing and dialogue are fun, the music and art are great, and it wraps up in a satisfying way.

Rocket League (2015) (PC) – I got back into this game this month after purchasing it on sale for PC. I previously only played it on PS4. Same addictive game.

Octopath Traveler (2018) (Switch) – I gave into the hype and picked this up. It’s been a long time since I played a JRPG, and I’m really enjoying it. I can already see the pattern of the game, so we’ll see if it manages to keep my interest, but so far it’s quite a bit of fun.

Alto’s Odyssey (2018) (Android) – This is a free (pay to get rid of ads) mobile game, and the sequel to Alto’s Adventure, which I loved. They’re beautiful and relaxing snowboarding/sandboarding games. They’re also basically the perfect toilet games. Not that I would ever do that, but that’s what I hear.

Come say hello:

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

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17 Comments

  • thebookwormdrinketh

    August 1, 2018 at 10:46 am Reply

    I love Comedians in Cars getting Coffee! Too funny, and amazing guests!! I’ll be interested to see what your thoughts are with more time on Octopath. I really want it, and I’ve heard nothing but good things…

    • Rob

      August 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm Reply

      It’s such a fun show. Seinfeld is a great host. I love how he just speaks his mind without tiptoeing around the guests.

      I’ll probably put up a little review of Optopath once I finish it or stop playing. I’m interested to see how it progresses, as I’m only in the first chapter quests right now.

    • Rob

      August 1, 2018 at 2:42 pm Reply

      I played that a bit at release, but it didn’t quite stick with me. Something about Rockstar games don’t tend to pull me in for whatever reason, but everyone loves it. The fact that it’s still so popular after this much time is pretty crazy.

  • Red Metal

    August 1, 2018 at 1:40 pm Reply

    Oof, from what I’ve read, Papa: Hemingway in Cuba isn’t getting good reviews, and your take seems to confirm it. I have to admit I tend not to see bad films seeing as how I tend to review bad games instead, but this one sounds dreadful.

    I’ve been meaning to get into Night in the Woods, and I was impressed with what little I’ve played of it. The problem is that my computer isn’t quite up to the task. I will play it all the way through if I either get a new computer or double-dip by getting the PS4 version.

    • Rob

      August 1, 2018 at 2:55 pm Reply

      NitW is great, but it’s a bit tricky to recommend. There’s not a lot of gameplay there, so it all depends on whether the characters and plot pull you in. I really connected with it, though.

      It works perfectly with controller though, so the PS4 version should hold up well.

      • Red Metal

        August 1, 2018 at 3:01 pm Reply

        That’s fine by me; I’ve played plenty of great games that had little gameplay to speak of such as OneShot. As long as a story-heavy game owns it and has great characters, I can totally get behind it.

        • Rob

          August 2, 2018 at 10:28 am Reply

          Oh, I own OneShot and haven’t gotten to it yet. I’ll have to bump it up the queue.

          I think what gets me about NitW is that I’m either very story-driven or gameplay-driven, but this is more character-driven. It’s mainly about the dialogue, and the story hooks are teased but don’t really happen until mid-way through, which is interestingly something I’d normally not enjoy. But anyway, I’ll be interested to see what you think if you do pick it up.

  • looloolooweez

    August 2, 2018 at 12:26 pm Reply

    Oahu! I hope y’all have an amazing time (and I’m sure Paisley will enjoy rolling in the dirt without you there to be all judge-y, DAD).

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