Blogocentric Formulations

August 2024 Watch List

To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish.


Movies

          Harold and the Purple Crayon
          The Monkey King
          The Sea Beast
          Ultraman: Rising


Television

          The Bear (Season 3)
          Betrayal: The Perfect Husband
          Unicorn Academy


Other

          Critical Role (Campaign 3, Episode 102)
          Critical Role (Campaign 3, Episode 103)


August, if you couldn't tell, was a "mostly watched stuff the kids picked out" kind of month. I can't say that any of the movies really impressed me, and the television was pretty lackluster too. I really love The Bear, and the episode "Forks" from Season 2 is probably one of the best episodes of television I've seen in the past five years, but this season left a lot to be desired. The first two seasons were working toward something (the protagonist coming back and taking over the family sandwich shop after his brother's suicide, and turning that sandwich restaurant into a fine dining establishment, respectively), but the only thing that happened this season was a bit of soul-searching, it seemed like. It was slow because none of the characters seemed to be working toward any kind of goal, and no narrative was developing. There were still some good episodes, for sure, but it was kinda slow going and didn't live up to the hype of the first two seasons, IMHO.

One thing I did get back into recently (as also evidenced by my reading, which everyone in the "Book Brothel"  is probably tired of hearing about ) was watching the Critical Role webseries, which is a live-play Dungeons & Dragons campaign where the Dungeon Master (DM) and the players are all voice actors. It's easily the most popular live-play tabletop roleplaying game program on the internet (of which there are now many), and I've been watching it to get some ideas for my own campaign about how to structure gameplay. Matthew Mercer is one of the best DMs out there, and it's fun to see how he tells a story and runs a game. I've definitely taken a few tips and tricks from him and have incorporated them into my own home game.


TOP PICK: Critical Role