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A quick review of media since the last installment. It was a quieter second half of the year for media consumption.

Books

Oathbringer: Brandon Sanderson’s latest. Third in his Stormlight Archive series. As always a very enjoyable read. I felt that he did a good job really expanding the world and characters on this one. A couple of very powerful moments. It is a time investment, and probably not a good idea to jump in mid-series.

A Wizard of Earthsea: A classic by Ursula K. Le Guin. This was a reread, which I read out loud. Seriously, you should read this. Works very well orally.

Video Games

Destiny 2: The beta did not lead me astray. Bungie knows how to make a good sci-fi shooter. The reviews have been mixed, but I’m in the camp of really enjoying the game. The reduction of the grind mechanics might reduce the ability to spend your entire life on the game, but it does mean there’s only so much time you need to spend. Given my time constraints for playing, this has made it very satisfying. The recent changes feel like they’re very well balanced in responding to the community, but not excluding anyone. I also have a clan to play with now, and the raid is a lot of fun.

Super Mario Odyssey: A great game. Just fun. Created a nice balance of new and old mechanics. Beautiful level design. If you have a Switch, you should be playing this.

Celeste: I played through on the switch. Challenging, but not impossible. The story made the game feel meditative.

Breath of the Wild DLC: DLC 1 was fun, but challenge levels aren’t really my thing. The second DLC was great though. Hit the same notes as the main gameplay, and was a lot of fun.

Movies

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Put me in the camp of having heavily enjoyed it. I loved the subtle and not so subtle twists on expectation throughout the movie. More thought provoking than The Force Awakens. I’d say The Force Awakens was emotionally more satisfying, but this might be the better movie.

Mary and the Witch’s Flower: Not surprising anyone, this is a visually beautiful film. Very enjoyable, and well done. Ghibli-esque in style, story choice, and presentation, it still had some unique flavors.

Cars 3: Wow, what a good job they did. As good as the first, but with an even better lesson to the story? My favorite moment was with the old racers explaining why they raced: “Moonshine”.

Boss Baby: Better than it had any right to be. The previews do not prepare you for the way the story is told.

TV

The Good Place: Just finished season one. Very well done. They clearly had a lot of fun with this.

What I’m Looking Forward To

Some already released movies (babies really make it hard to watch movies): Thor: Ragnarok, Coco. Some upcoming: The Incredibles 2, Black Panther. I’m finishing up reading The Stone Sky. Obviously going to watch the second season of The Good Place.

A quick review of the various media I’ve enjoyed the first half of the year. Not an exhaustive list, just hitting the high points and where I’ve spent the most time.

Video Games

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: I checked the Switch’s play time: 140 hours. I regret nothing. Takes everything great about the Zelda series, and really harkens back to the original (no directions). Adds in modern gameplay devices. I think I have one or two uncompleted side quests, but I’ve found every shrine, and have almost completed the first DLC. Play with the Japanese audio if you can, or rewatch some of the cut scenes with it. Probably game of the year for me.

Night in the Woods: I backed this on Kickstarter, and it came out this spring. Fits well into what I enjoy out of indie games: story and character driven. It rewards exploration and talking to everyone. Great music too.

Final Fantasy XV: First Final Fantasy game I’ve played since 9. Excellent mechanics, good balance of difficulty, and the game keeps things moving along. I never felt like I was grinding. The large open world was fun to explore. Finished it in a little over 60 hours. Very weak with the story, a lot isn’t fully explained in game. The characters are weak, and the “spontaneous dialog” in the car quickly becomes repetitive. Music wasn’t used as well as previous entries in the series. The fact the car stereo is populated with the previous games’ soundtracks was wonderful. And now I want to go back and play Final Fantasy VI.

Books

Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation: I grew up in the generation being described, but I missed most of the media tied to it growing up in Alaska without cable. Absolutely fascinating to hear how the 16-bit generation happened. Very well written, kept me engaged (far to rare with non-fiction).

Nebula and Hugo nominees: I read most of the Nebula and Hugo nominees. The Incomparable did an episode on them that I’d recommend listening to. I enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky more than them, but it did drag in the middle. However Ninefox Gambit stood out to me. Very different story, with an interesting world. The sequel was equally good, telling the story in a different fashion from the first, keeping it interesting.

The Caledonian Gambit: Science Fiction spy thriller. That is a weak summary. Good start to Dan Moren’s fiction career. It was a good, quick read. Can’t wait for the next one.

Movies

Your Name.: Beautiful and fantastic. It starts out very much as one movie (and does that well), but becomes something totally unexpected. Also, great soundtrack. I pre-ordered the release of the Japanese Blu-ray (since it still doesn’t have a US release date, and I just need English subtitles).

Wonder Woman: Very well done. Look, just listen to The Incomparable episode.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2: Fun movie. Played many of the same riffs as the first, to great effect. A couple of absolutely beautiful scenes with great use of color.

TV

Steven Universe: Not watching much of TV, but Steven Universe continues to keep me wanting more. Cartoon Network’s weird scheduling continues to frustrate. The soundtrack came out recently, and it a lot of fun to listen too. That got me into a slow re-watch I’ve been doing, which has been very enjoyable.

What I’m Looking Forward To

A short list: Thor: Ragnarok, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Destiny 2 (The beta was a lot of fun), Mario Odyssey.