Watching, Playing, Reading #1

Welcome to my new post series.  It should be pretty self-explanatory.  I'll be sharing what I'm watching, playing, and reading lately, and what I think about those things.

Watching:

Monk (on Netflix): It's a show about an OCD detective and I love it.  It's funny sometimes and sad sometimes, but always good.

So many movies.  Some of my favorites are: Identity Thief (from Redbox; I love Melissa McCarthy in everything ever and this movie does not disappoint), Cabin in the Woods (on Netflix; It's a movie written by Joss Whedon and it is not your typical teens in a cabin get murdered story; I loved it to death (and there are zombies in it!)), House at the End of the Street (on Netflix; This movie seemed really predictable but I was actually completely wrong and it kept me guessing until the end.)

Playing:

Magic the Gathering (the card game)  I've been playing for almost a month now.  I played against a person at my happy place, the comic book shop which I'll be sharing in its own post at some point, for 2 hours.  A single game took two hours!  We were both playing with life gain decks and the way the game works is that whoever loses all 20 life first loses.  So it took FOREVER (to be read the way it is said in The Sandlot, and if you haven't seen that movie stop reading this and go watch it right this instant!) despite the fact that I was using a 20-card beginner deck and my opponent was using a full 60-card deck.  I think I would have won if they had actually used a 20 card deck, but I did hang in there for awhile.

Linger in Shadows: (downloaded from Playstation Store) This game is like nothing you've ever played before.  The game is essentially a 6-minute movie that keeps stopping and rewinding.  Gameplay is very interesting.  You have to move the controller in different ways to progress to the next part of the movie.  Sometimes you have to shake it from side to side.  Other times you have to turn the controller in circles.  It's a very interesting system of controls that would not work in a fast-paced game, but is pretty perfect here.  The first time I played through, I just finished the movie.  The second time I played through, I accidentally stumbled upon a secret and then found out that there are a whole bunch of secrets that give you trophies when you find them.  So the third time I played through I was all about finding the trophies.  I still missed three though.  This game is very replayable and well worth the, I believe, $2.99 that it cost.  Plus the movie itself is pretty cool.

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Free Realms: (Downloaded from Playstation Store) This game is an RPG.  The free version, which I have, will provide hours upon hours of entertainment.  The environments in this game are incredible.  There's a snowy environment with a North Pole feel to it, a beach environment, and even a fairy tale land environment, just to name a few.  You go around exploring places and completing quests.  You can earn coins to use to purchase stuff to either make your character better at their skills or just look really cool.  This game allows you to try lots of different jobs.  So far I have played as an adventurer, archer, a miner, a brawler, and a chef (I'm not very good at that one).  Some of the other jobs are postman, race car driver, sorcerer (that might not be what they call it) and fisherman.  It's a really fun game.  My favorite jobs so far are adventurer and brawler.  I like being an adventurer because it's basically just exploring the environments as much as possible and trying to find every single secret or hidden place that exists.  You find explorer coins which go in your collection.  You can also collect lots of other things, like wildflowers, insects, and seashells.

My Singing Monsters: I downloaded this app for free on G's phone because I don't have a smartphone but I love monsters.  You get to buy, breed and hatch different monsters.  The different monsters play different sounds that mingle together to sound pretty cool.  You can feed the monsters baked goods to level them up and put them next to their favorite things to make them produce coins faster.  It's a really fun game and I play it for a little bit every time I hang out with G.

Reading:

I just finished reading The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti.  I don't remember exactly where I got it, probably a thrift store or yard sale.  It was really good.  Hannah Tinti has been called the Robert Louis Stevenson of the modern age and she lives up to that title.  Her words paint vivid pictures of ghost towns filled with vagrants and wrongdoers.  This book focuses on an orphan boy and his adventures with a man who takes him from the orphanage, claiming to be his brother.  This man turns out to be quite a con artist and puts the boy, Ren, in all sorts of dangerous situations.  It's a really good book that I highly recommend.

Now I'm reading Watchers by Dean Koontz.  So far it's about a depressed man discovering an extremely intelligent dog and realizing that life is worth living after all and there are still wondrous things to discover.  There are also two side stories, which I'm sure will all converge later.  One involves a hit man being hired to kill doctors, and the other involves a woman who is basically a hermit because of her aunt teaching her that most of the people in the outside world are harmful and dangerous.  This book is very good so far and has made me laugh out loud at quite a few of the dog parts.

I'm also reading webcomics and real comic books which I'll share in two separate posts.