VIDEO GAME: Umamusume – Pretty Derby (2025)

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Umamusume: Pretty DerbyYear: 2025Rating: TTime Played: ~36 hours I was first introduced to Umamusume a few months ago when I saw a random Reddit post about an anime girl running on a track like a racehorse. When I looked into it a little more, I found there was a whole anime and mobile game called Umamusume: Pretty Derby that basically boils down to famous Japanese racehorses re-imagined as pop-idol anime girls racing to be the best. Of course, I had to try it out. While it’s a pretty standard gatcha game containing tons of characters with lots of personality, Umamusume doesn’t have much going on for a free-to-play player. Just like other gatcha games, Umamusume allows you to pull for characters and cards, which are used to give these horse girls abilities to help them race better. The real issue is that there seems to be one card that’s overpowered, which makes doing a career run fairly easy. Sure, I still had...
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MOVIE: Moana 2 (2024)

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Moana 2Year: 2024Rating: PGLength: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours There’s a trend in quite a few sequels that follow “coming-of-age” stories where the main character must then step into a leadership position now that they’ve figured out who they are. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) did this, and Moana 2 (2024) also followed this formula. While the first movie usually does a great job of having the main character overcome an obstacle to achieve their goal, leadership is often much more complicated to convey and requires more moving pieces. While rounding out the group dynamic for these kinds of movies is fine for providing a wider range of talents to pull from, with Moana 2, most of these characters felt one-dimensional because they had almost no presence in the previous film to establish their core abilities. The only one that had any previous background was the foe-to-friend Kakamora. And while Moana (Auli’I Cravalho) learned her lesson that she doesn’t have to...
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BOOK: Mississippi on Ice (2024)

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Mississippi on Ice Year: 2024 Author: Joseph D. Slater Length: 268 pages Did you know Antarctica used to have bartenders? Before I read Mississippi on Ice, I hadn’t considered that the research stations on the bottom of the world would need more than just scientists to keep these outposts running. This blue-collar take on one of the harshest environments on Earth is one of the most interesting stories I have read lately. And while some of the trauma the main character must put up with is a bit intense at times (and takes a long time to recover from), seeing that there are common people who can make Antarctica work for them is an inspiration. The undercurrent in Mississippi on Ice definitely leans into the toxic traits men can have and how hard it is to escape them even at the end of the world. Most guys just want to live their lives, but when the patriarch of a family is abusive, it’s all the...
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MOVIE: Finding Nemo (2003)

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Finding NemoYear: 2003Rating: GLength: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours It’s funny how your perspective on movies changes as you shift into new life stages. Growing up, Finding Nemo (2003) was entertaining because of the adventure Marlin (Albert Brooks) went on to save his son. Decades later, I can resonate with Marlin’s desire to save his child because I now have children of my own. Of course, this still doesn’t change the core lesson that Marlin learns, which is to not be quite the helicopter parent and let Nemo (Alexander Gould) explore the world on his own. As with most Pixar films from their early era, Finding Nemo looks great. It has a fine balance between being “cartoonish” and the realism that computers could produce. Taking a break from Randy Newman soundtracks did this movie a great service, as his cousin Thomas Newman’s score fits so well with the otherworldly ocean atmosphere. The variety of characters and voice actors fit their roles in...
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VIDEO GAME: Toem (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
ToemYear: 2021Rating: ETime Played: 273 minutes / 4.55 hours As someone who enjoys photography and video games, Toem was the right fit for me. A game where you go around taking photographs for people scratched that itch by making the photography like a fetch quest—providing goals to meet with each picture. The aesthetic in Toem is charming and cozy, and the choice to be almost entirely in black-and-white was interesting but understandable (as black-and-white photography is still a thing). And while there were a few control issues I had problems with, the game was just long enough for me to be entertained and accomplish most of the missions. My only issue with Toem is the controls for the camera itself. Seeing as this is the core element of the gameplay, it was frustrating to encounter it every time I took a picture. Mostly, I found zooming in/out to be cumbersome as there wasn’t just a button to zoom in or out but...
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MOVIE: The Incredibles (2004)

by benmweilertNo Comments
The IncrediblesYear: 2004Rating: PGLength: 115 minutes / 1.92 hours With so many superhero movies having been released in the last two decades, it’s amazing to consider that one of the best superhero films ever created came years before the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and had no connections to any comic books or other previous superhero media. Sure, other franchises touched on the core aspects of this film, but its execution was so flawless that I consider it the de facto singular superhero film. That movie is The Incredibles (2004). The closest that any franchise gets to what The Incredibles is about is probably X-Men (2000), since both deal with superheroes as a family unit as well as needing to hide their powers to fit into a society that is weaker than they are. That The Incredibles also includes aspects of the nuclear family—like being a supportive spouse or caring parent—adds to its legacy. Using common superpowers in a way to...
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