[Movies] I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)

After the success of Ant-Man, a friend and I got into a weird conversation of re-examining Paul Rudd movies. The question came up if we could name movies where Paul Rudd was truly the lead actor like he is in Ant-Man, and there was a bit of a struggle there. A quick IMDb search eventually led us to conclude that at best he has been the plucky romantic interest with limited agency, or something along those lines.

Then we saw I Could Never Be Your Woman, which felt like the sort of movie that we should have remembered more since it featured Michelle Pfeiffer, but for the life of us we just couldn't remember having scene it. And he had top billing here so...how bad could the movie be?

Closer scrutiny revealed that the movie only saw a very limited release in some countries but for the most part was a direct-to-video release in most markets including the United States. I guess that explains why none of us could remember having even heard about this particular movie.

[TV] Penny Dreadful: Season 2

The first season of Penny Dreadful was quite the surprise since here we had quite the dramatic show with a dark, supernatural and sometimes even gothic approach to things. Most supernatural-themed shows of recent years have either gone a little campy or embraced special effects to a somewhat ridiculous degree. And while a show that embraces drama as much as this one does can't help but fall into a little indirect camp, it's still a heck of a lot more serious than most.

And so when Penny Dreadful was confirmed for a second season, I was pretty happy to hear about it. It's not necessarily my favorite show around, but it does have a distinct appeal to it that's a character and a flavor all of its own. And I feel like this second season did its best to build on the successes of the first season while making sure to indulge fans here and there.

After all, people come to this show for an experience that is practically more akin to theater at times. We come for highly dramatic dialog and some pretty intense stares and the odd bit of violence. And the tension certainly picks up in this season with the new adversaries our little party of adventurers has to face. It makes things all the better.

[Games] Say Bye To The Villains

I've already talked about how different games by Seiji Kanai have clearly become popular and Tobie and I are not immune to this allure. After we fell in love with Love Letter, we were significantly more away about Kanai's contributions to the industry. And thus it became rather interesting to encounter other games designed by him on store shelves - and this also made them games to seriously consider.

Say Bye to the Villains first piqued our interest because (1) it appeared to be a game involving samurai and (2) it boasted of being able to support up to 8 players is something we always welcome for our game nights. And for this to be accomplished by a card game certainly had us even more curious. And so we eventually bought the game and had no major regrets since.

[Comics] Dollhouse Volume 1: Epitaphs

It's rather fascinating how a good number of Joss Whedon's creations have found new life in comic books. This has been especially valuable for shows like Firefly, that were perceived to have ended too soon but were sort of able to continue to tell new stories in this alternate medium. It's not quite the same as getting a new season for the original show, but it gets pretty darned close.

Yet another comiXology sale had me picking up this first volume of the Dollhouse comics, another title based on a Joss Whedon show that at least managed to get to a second season. Tobie and I were rather fond of the show and were quite curious to see where the story might go in the long run, but of course things didn't go as hoped and the show did not continue.

I've rarely dabbled in TV tie-in material for one reason or another save perhaps for the various Star Trek comics and of course the material connected to Adventure Time. So this was somewhat new territory for me, but I was eager to see what they decided to do with the characters in this story and where they'd eventually try to direct the story. This first volume is quite the meaty morsel and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to read on beyond this book.

[Movies] Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)

The DC Universe Animated Original Movies have been an interesting little diversion in the direct-to-video market that has been doing pretty well for the company. A lot of times one rather expects them to try going back to the big screen for these animated productions as opposed to limiting them to video, but I guess they don't see a reason to rock the boat just yet. The movies are generally good with some standing out quite exceptionally here and there.

Recent productions have largely focused around the Justice League, particularly the more recent New 52 incarnation of the group. But Justice League: Gods and Monsters represents an interesting diversion since it's one of the rare instances when the movie isn't based on a previously released comic book. If anything the reverse is true here where comics are being mapped out to provide a bit more back story to the cartoon.

This one was pretty violent compared to past efforts, which felt a little surprising for a DC animated feature. But then it sort of fits the vein of the Zack Snyder movies for DC as well, so maybe it's not entirely a bad thing?

[Movies] Drown (2015)

A good number of movies that try to address LGBT stories more often than not end up being rather dark, depressing and intense from a highly dramatic standpoint. I get it, there's a lot of bad things that happen to people within the community and that sucks a lot. But sometimes I wonder if we're too trapped in this notion that we need to constantly shine more light onto this side of the community instead of celebrating what we have or focusing on successes in recent years.Then again, a lot of "good" entertainment thrives on drama and conflict - and I'm not even solely talking about pink entertainment here.

But of course each movie is an experience in itself and we can only measure it on its own merits Thus we come to Drown, which is interestingly enough an LGBT film hailing from Australia. It's a movie with a pretty serious message at heart, but in this manner it ends up falling into the same category of other such dramatic pieces with serious messages to impart.

Some parts of this movie felt rather uncomfortable to me - this is not an easy movie to watch under any circumstances. And this may be a good thing given the subject matter of the movie, but it doesn't soften the blow to any significant degree.

[Movies] Pitch Perfect (2012)

So my recent review of Pitch Perfect 2 reminded me of the fact that I had never managed to get around to posting a review for the first movie. I don't have a clear reason for why this was so - it just sort of slipped through the cracks, as if often the case for various movies. I'm just one guy running this site after all - I'm only human!

And Pitch Perfect is one of those movies that became quote surprisingly popular in a fashion that felt somewhat similar to when Glee first made a splash on network television. Initially I had figured that it was just another movie that would drift through theaters and disappear soon enough. But one thing led to another and we got ourselves quite the global phenomenon.

And while I wasn't too happy with the sequel, there's a lot that can be said about this first movie and while it rather worked. And while it's not exactly a formula for success, at the very least things came together with just the right balance to make this movie pretty successful.

[TV] Grace and Frankie: Season 1

As much as I try to remain rather thoughtful about which shows to watch, sometimes I can get pretty shallow and just jump on stuff. This was a good example of me being all campy gay guy and being totally willing to watch a series featuring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin together. Sure the premise of the show turned out to have some interesting LGBT angles to it, it was more important to me to see what these two actresses would do with this particular show.

Grace & Frankie is a unique Netflix comedy that had a premise that could have gone in any number of directions. Despite how silly things look on paper, the show actually got to explore some interesting angles about relationships for older individuals, especially given the little twist that I'll get into formally later on.

It's always quirky to look at comedies like this and notice that you're not exactly rolling on the floor laughing. There's a quirkiness to things, but don't expect a laugh track or your traditional setup and  punchline structure that you see in more traditional sitcoms.

[Games] Last Night on Earth: Blood in the Forest

So after the fun that was the Timber Peak expansion for Last Night on Earth, we get another expansion somewhat more tired to that story with Blood in the Forest. I had already liked what Timber Peak had added to the game more than other expansions, Blood in the Forest is probably one of the more visually striking additions to the game. Plus it's a heck of a lot of fun.

But now we're all used to how Flying Frog Productions has been handling this franchise in terms of its expansions. We get 2 or more new hero characters and we get more cards and some other bell or whistle. But this expansion really added something distinct to the game in terms of the new zombies and the new board pieces that really shake things up. And we're all the better for it. It's harder to go back to just the base game once you've played this particular expansion.

[Comics] Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search

In the same way that my partner Tobie was able to find a copy of Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise, he eventually managed to find a copy of the sequel mini-series, Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search. I was pretty sure that we were going to get a copy for ourselves eventually but I did find it rater amusing that once again it was Tobie who found the book.

These Dark Horse comics have proven to be an interesting balance of interest in the franchise despite my mixed feelings about The Legend of Korra at times. They're quite the vivid continuation of the original story of the and a nice bridge between the two shows in a manner that is way more effective than some other prequel type creations we've seen.

But what I really love is how these collected editions also include commentary from the creators which really adds to the flavor of the whole experience. The story and the art are already amazing on their own, but when you learn more about what the team was thinking while they were putting things together or the direct reasons for certain artistic directions, then the whole experience really gets added dimensions of significance and brilliance.

[Movies] Ant-Man (2015)

So we've finally reached the end of what is known as Phase 2 of Marvel's big plan for getting us hopelessly addicted to their movies. And this one seemed a somewhat odd choice since it features a character that the average non-comic book reader might be all that familiar with. But Marvel always tries to assure us that they have some sort of a plan, so we all just roll with it

And while Ant-Man may not be the most amazing Marvel movie ever, it is a movie with a lot of heart and might just actually be a heck of a lot more approachable than people thing. It's easy to dismiss someone who's power is to become very small since shirking doesn't seem particularly useful in the world of "what superpower would you wish to have" sort of conversations.

But the movie really did a great job of trying to stress the fact that Ant-Man is a great example of a science-related hero much in the same way that we have heroes like Iron Man or even Spider-Man. And thus he's more than just a person with a unique superpower, but he's also someone who needs out think his enemies and all that good stuff.

[Movies] Helicopter Mom (2014)

I love Nia Vardalos. She's a charming actress who has made a number of memorable movies. However I've come to realize that she's a lot better in movies that she herself has written as opposed to merely the ones that she stars in. For such movies, not even her charming portrayal of the role is enough to save a movie and make it better. I can't provide scientific data to support this, but that's just how things strike me in the end.

Helicopter Mom, however, is probably one of those movies that I'll use as evidence of that above claim. It's a movie with a bit of a vague title based on a saying that's probably more common in slightly more limited circles and one that probably won't become a thing even after this movie.

I don't know how things ended up the way they did here. The movie is a bit of a train wreck in terms of concept and even with execution. I guess it had its heart in the right place but it got really, really lost along the way. And that sort of breaks my heart given my love for her, but no one's perfect. And this feels especially true when you only have movies to base majority of an opinion about a person.

[Movies] Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

A lot of people look back at "old" Hollywood with a certain of idealism as potentially filtered through the heavy lens of nostalgia. But to be fair, there are a lot of great movies to be discovered in movies from "before your time" - although one has to consider that the term "old" eventually applies to more and more movies as time marches on.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has always been one of those movies that people talk about favorably but one that I only remember seeing isolated parts of. And so this is yet another movie that the documentary Casting By reminded me about and thus he need to bump it up in my viewing queue.

Now I remember how female members of my family would gush over the likes of Paul Newman and Robert Redford and I never really paid attention since I wasn't full away of my queer nature at the time. But have having watched the movie in full once more, I have to admit that I am rather shocked at just how gorgeous these guys are. I don't often gush about this sort of thing, but damn.

[TV] Community: Season 6

It came as no surprise to anyone that NBC eventually cancelled Community. Despite critical acclaim, the show just never quite got up there in the ratings market And so it seemed the show was at an end and various online petitions were launched in the hopes of changing the minds of the folks at NBC.

But then a most surprising announcement came along that Yahoo of all companies decided to save the show. We've gotten used to pay-TV providers like DIRECTV picking up shows and more recently streaming services like Netflix breathing new life into various shows up for network television cancellation.

It was part of some effort to promote Yahoo Screen, which is a product that I had never heard of before and probably won't remember much despite Community's sixth season appearing on the online service. And while it was nice to see it continue on, it clearly suffered from changes in the cast and the writers seemingly not 100% certain where they want to go with these characters. The end result was a season with good laughs in general but not that much overall impact at the end of things.

[Games] Carcassonne: Wheel of Fortune

So I'm still not done reviewing the various Carcassonne expansions that we have here at the Sietch - you can blame Tobie for getting us started on this particular game franchise. And as much as I rarely win against him, he does present an interesting challenge to aim for every single time.

Carcassonne: Wheel of Fortune is a rather unique expansion since it also counts as a base set. It's also one of the first times we noticed that the developers of the game made sure to include an easy indicator of which expansion the tiles were from versus older expansions - which to this day are a pain to separate back into their boxes.

But more than being a base set, this is a great expansion that introduces a powerful new mechanic in the form of the Wheel of Fortune itself, along with creating one heck of a starting configuration that is sure to mess with your classic farming strategies. On the whole, it's a great game and it's strong enough to be played on its own in place of the original set.

[Books] Every Day

One of the first books that I read after getting a Kindle was Boy Meets Boy, a rather poignant young adult romance piece by David Levithan that was charming even if a little idealistic in its presentation. There the author dreamed up a small town that openly accepted the LGBT community and thus their drama was pretty much normal teenage drama when you get down to it. I never got around to reading more of his books, but it was certainly a title that I kept in mind.

Then came along Every Day, which became quite popular across the young adult segment and not necessarily just the LGBT teen segment at that. I put off getting a copy for myself for a while since my reading queue is full enough as it is, but of course an Amazon Kindly Daily Deal eventually came my way and I ended up getting the title.

This was a rather different take on things that felt a bit more science fiction in flavor but still with Levithan's skill at capturing young love. But the nature of our protagonist here is really what made things pretty jarring and unique and thus probably a large factor of its popularity.

[Movies] Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

So when the first Pitch Perfect movie hit, it managed to be quite the brilliant success, that sort of reminds me of when Glee first TV it felt rather different from everything else. I generally appreciated the movie as well given my own love for Anna Kendrick, but I don't think I quite went as crazy for it as many other did. What was immediately apparent was that the movie was pretty much fated for a sequel as Hollywood is not one to easily give up on a money-making franchise.

So now we have Pitch Perfect 2, although I realize that I forgot to write a review for the first movie for some reason. It's not that I didn't like it but I didn't absolutely love it either. And I wasn't expecting much from the sequel since the given how quickly it was put together, it certainly felt like a "strike while the iron is hot" sort of Hollywood deal. And while this does not mean that I think all speedy sequels are bad, I do tend to support the notion that better movies take a bit more effort. And yes, I know 3 years between movies doesn't feel that "short" a time, but I really think it can be, especially when you think about the quality of the output here.

And while this sequel was still more okay that horrible, it definitely suffered from a lot of the problems of a cash cow sequel that tried to focus a bit too much on the joys of the first movie without introducing too many new aspects into this second one.

[TV] Between a Frock & a Hard Place

It has been 20 years since The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was first released in Australia. The movie has well-known as one of those must-watch LGBT movies among various circles, whether or not you think you totally appreciate drag queens just yet. It's quite the powerful piece of LGBT cultural history almost, when you look at it pretty seriously. Plus it will always be a really fun and campy movie.

I recently stumbled across the documentary Between a Frock & a Hard Place and I don't know why I thought it might be a piece about LGBT priests or something - I guess because of the term frock? But then when I finally read up on what the little TV piece was about, I was even more excited to watch it.

I proudly admit that I've fallen more and more in love with drag culture over the years, and this show was rather fascinating to explore since it talked about the movie and that period in Australian LGBT history. And what really struck me was just how much thought went into this project. The result is more than just a comedic piece of entertainment - it was also a statement and perhaps even a rallying call for others in the community.

[Movies] Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

When you hear the words "Bonnie and Clyde," it feels a lot more like the sort of pop culture line that becomes a catchphrase. People don't always know what the original context of the quote is - they just know to use it for two people being together in perhaps a less than benevolent way. Perhaps we could say that it's when you're "infamously together" or something along those lines.

I'm still dealing with the fallout of having watched Casting By, and thus the decision to secure a copy of the ever classic film, Bonnie and Clyde, based on the real-life criminals of the same name. Of course in the movie they're both drop-dead gorgeous, as is the way of the Hollywood process.

The movie is known of representing a turning point in Hollywood history, and it took me a while to fully appreciate why. If anything, it's a movie with a lot of sensibilities that feel almost modern and that was what made it so jarring. It pushed the limits and broke new ground and became quite the brave movie experience.

[TV] Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

The problem with being a fairly avid reader is that you never seem to run out of things to read. Worse, your fellow bibliophiles continue to recommend books that they all claim to be must-read books that one must absolutely read right now. And so you end up with a ridiculously long list of books that are all probably good and all worth reading but you never quite have time for.

That's my relationship with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a book that many people have recommended to me and one that Tobie actually owns a paperback copy of. And given that I own way more books that Tobie, it's a somewhat notable event. And yet I still haven't read the darn book! Shame on you, Rocky, SHAME. *bell*

But now it's a TV mini-series. Worse, I've now watched the mini-series without having read the book. Worse still, I really enjoyed the series because it's pretty darn amazing and brilliant and I feel all the worse for not having read the book yet.

I promise, I'm moving it up the reading queue.

[Games] The Witches: A Discworld Game

So I'm a big fan of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books and his passing felt like quite the personal tragedy on some level. And one of the things I ended up doing after the news broke out was to finally get a copy of one of the board games inspired by his ever colorful creation.

Thus we have The Witches: A Discworld Game, which is a fairly simple yet still nicely themed game that works well enough within the context of the part of the Discworld being covered here. The rules of the game are easy enough to learn for players of a wide range and there's some good fun.

But while you probably don't need to read the books in order to play the game, full appreciation of the detail that has gone into the game links to that book knowledge. So again, it's not a requirement, but the game is so much more awesome once you have.

[Books] Costume Not Included (To Hell And Back Book 2)

After my first venture into the To Hell and Back trilogy of books, I was intrigued enough to continue my journey deeper into this story universe. Plus I had already bought the books, so there really wasn't much else to risk as this point - I had to get money's worth, after all. And there are far worse books out there.

Costume Not Included is the second book in the continuing adventures of Chesney, also known as the superhero The Actionary. After causing Hell to go on strike, gaining a demonic companion who has pretty much enabled and now aids his crime-fighting and a possible girlfriend, what else is there for Chesney to do, right?

But of course things do get more and more complicated as the revelations of the first book continue to develop. The character are full agents in this story after all, and thus naturally they want to get a better grip on their own fates and better understand just what the heck is going on. And so we have even more religious figures come into play as Hell tries to take the game to the next level.

[Movies] The Voices (2014)

So I have an on again, off again thing for Ryan Reynolds. He has a certain goofy charm that I like and it has rather helped how much work he's put into his body in more recent years that have certainly made him an actor that's hard to forget. However his movie career has remained to be a little colorful in more ways than one given rather distinct movie choices that included some odd genre movies.

The Voices has to count as one of those movies that sort of snuck by without much fanfare. I'm pretty sure that this movie never had a formal theatrical release here in the Philippines given the subject matter and the overall tone for the movie. Plus it's just one of those movies that really slip by you if you're not paying attention.

And as much as I was expecting a quirky black comedy given the movie's premise, I was not at all prepared for the final result, which was more like a rather vivid depiction of mental illness or something. This is just not just a funny movie with talking animals.

[Pink Culture] We Need More Than Tolerance In The Philippines

About two years ago, some survey claimed that the Philippines is among the most LGBT-friendly in the world. And I suppose it's easy to see why this may be true given how we see members of the community everywhere ranging from your local hair salon to hosting shows on national television. But in light of the recent US marriage equality ruling, the renewed attention on the LGBT community just stresses how far we have to go.

A more recent survey shows that 7 in 10 Filipinos are against same-sex marriage in the country. The Speaker of the House has also been quoted as saying that he is against any same-sex marriage bills in the House. And just look at the comments section of any news agency for articles about same-sex marriage or LGBT rights and you'll see all the Bible-thumpers proclaiming how to be LGBT is a sin and other statements along those lines.

So it doesn't feel like we're LGBT-friendly - if anything we're only really LGBT-tolerant. Just look at how different it is when a conservative person seems okay with LGBT people outside the home, but the moment a family member comes out all hell breaks loose. There's a weird line between knowing LGBT out there in general and having an LGBT member of the family that changes everything. And thus so many members of the pink community stay in the closet out of fear of rejection and disdain from those they love the most.

But all is not lost - I will always believe in love and love will see us through. That and a lot of hard work and major efforts to educate others why the LGBT community is very much real and why we deserve truly equal treatment. This is not about fighting religion or something - we just want a space of our own that we should feel fully entitled to as human beings. We deserve full recognition and not just tolerance. We deserve acceptance.

[Movies] The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain (1995)

Let's get this out of the way right now - I sought out this movie because it involved Colm Meaney, who played Chief O'Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I think it also got featured as a part of some documentary, but at the moment I can't remember which one. So I was actually one of the few people who got into this movie and were surprised by the fact that Hugh Grant (a) was in it and (b) had top billing.

The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain is a movie with a rather long title that happens to be about a very long "title" of sorts for a person. It seems like a rather silly premise to develop a movie around, but it's actually quite charming, as is often the case among many movies that come out of the UK.

There are a lot of British movies that seem to focus around small communities doing great things - something that I suppose reflects how this little country has had to do some great things against more challenging odds. It does make for a good story medium - everyone appreciates a good underdog after all, right?

[TV] Daredevil: Season 1

The 2003 Daredevil movie is often cited as a good example of how Marvel can get things wrong. It was a rather strange movie adaptation of the popular comic that resulted in some superhero training for Ben Afleck but not much else. And worse, it spawned an Elektra sequel, which was just...bizarre.

So when Netflix announced that they were going to release a web series based on the blind acrobatic superhero, I was among the skeptical. Sure, they had had a few successes with original programs like Orange Is The New Black, but could it handle a proper adaptation of such an established character? After all, if they couldn't do a decent movie about it - why would anyone think that a TV series would be a better alternative?

But then the show was released online and everyone began the new binge-watching viewing pattern that Netflix has trained thousands of people to appreciate. And the result...was actually pretty darned amazing. And while many people focus on Marvel's successes in the movie world, this show is a great example that their properties can also do well on the small screen.

[Games] Gloom

The irony is not lost on me that I first posted a few for a variant of this game, Cthulhu Gloom, before getting around to talking about the main set. To be fair, we didn't get our own copy of Gloom until some time after we got the variant expansion, and so the sequence of events ended up being what it is. And while both games are fun in their own right, there's still a lot of value behind the game that started this particular franchise.

And there's a lot to love about this game - just look at the art style and the rather creative use of materials. And the potential for clever storytelling that the game provides does result in a game experience with rather rich flavor.

We don't play this game as much as some others for various reasons. But it's still a fair amount of fun.