Quantum Jump

So there's a new Quantum Leap... I am a big fan of the original series, so let's judge this new endeavor entirely on one episode!

Dr Ben Song leaps into the past... and immediately can't remember anything. Fortunately, he has a hologram of his fiancee (not that he knows this) and the rest of his team is scrambling to find out what is going on with him... because he wasn't supposed to be the one who leapt.

So a few things. One this is continuing from the previous series. We get Sam Beckett mentioned straight up (although Scott Bakula has already said he wasn't brought in for this first season) and references to Al as well. This will hopefully stand on its own, but it's already leaning on the past.

Two, the stuff in the past is very generic. Now, they are giving more of a focus on the rest of the team (which took several seasons to really get underway originally) and yay for Ernie Hudson and Mason Alexander Park! But one thing the original series had was deep sincerity for the people he helped in the past, but this isn't feeling that yet. (Again, basing everything on just one episode.)

Thirdly... this does feel like generic network tv, with a budget and overview to match. Let's see how long they take until they start throwing in the curveball episodes and celebrity body of the week... but then this might be more of the personal side.

Which reminds me of the MacGuyver reboot (which did actually reboot). They also went hard on the personal side with lots of team interaction, less puzzle (or old flame) of the week. That's just the way TV is now.

I'll continue to watch (although not post more reviews), but I'm not overwhelmed, or even whelmed, yet.

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Are we Danger Zone yet?

I've heard really big talk about how good Top Gun 2 is, but I didn't really care overly much, haven't seen the first one for a long time, but yeah, I got around to it.

There's a tough mission to destroy a place belonging to [Enemy Country Here]. Maverick could do this, but he's old, so let's get him in to teach the new kids how to do it, while showing them up by showing off how great he is. Add in a son of a friend, and you've got stakes and a character arc, and off you go!

And... yeah, okay, this is decent. I was surprised by how quickly we got to the main mission by only halfway through the movie and was "hang on, there's a lot of movie left, what's going to happen?" Mainly it just spins things out. Now, this is pretty plane porn, but we aren't getting in deep here, it's very visual.

Which is all to say... this is very watchable, but not exactly memorable.

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Surprise Winner!

I won a competition! It was for a Whittaker's prize pack, so let's take a look!

Inside is a variety of things. Such as an apron!

An oven mitten and lots of recipes.

And, of course, chocolate!

But the most surprising thing of all... I didn't even know I had entered the competition! Just from buying chocolate at the local store I was entered... which is actually somewhat concerning if you think about it. Huh...

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Expansive

It took a while, and it was all via audio books, but... I have now heard all of The Expanse. Yes, there was a TV series, and that covers books 1-6, leaving 7-9 as all new. [Fortunately, there is a gap between 6 and 7 so they easily could end up making the later books and cast the same actors.]

Hardly surprising... yes, this is a great series. It's largely hard sci-fi, the main gimme being the "Epstein Drive" that allows travel in the solar system to be days/week rather than years, with communication still at light speed. We get aliens (of a sort), intergalactic travel, and other sci-fi elements, but all grounded and well thought out about the impact this actually has. (Which isn't to say we get physics lessons, but you can definitely believe it's not just a magic wand in disguise.)

This follows a core group of people too. I lost track a little in the tv series, but this works well (it helps to mainline the entire series at once). Unfortunately, not everyone gets through unscathed, but this series isn't gratuitous when it comes to people dying, it is structured well, either because of well understood characterisation, or simply age.

There are also a number of side novellas. Most are just filling in background details, but I can see why one of them was incorporated into the main tv series, it definitely has a long term impact. But you can skip them without any real worry.

And after all this, what's next? Well, it's not like my To Read list is actually any smaller...

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Calico Cats!

I backed this game a long while ago, and finally got around to playing it.

You are a girl (note: there is extensive customisation features) and you just inherited a cat cafe... and there are others around who are glad that happened, and happen to have a few errands for you to run. And so we get a nice relaxing errand quest game where you can pet all the animals, and there are a lot of them, and open up the map and... the stakes could not be lower.

There is no pressure to get anything done. Just wander around, find animals, bump into people, and just enjoy yourself. (Even the cooking "mini-game" is fun!)

Now, we aren't talking the highest graphics here, and there are some wonky physics, but hey, it's a heckin' fun game to play. And after the last one, this is one I really enjoyed!

I still have to find all the animals if I want, but otherwise, it's time to run a cafe and pet some animals.

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No more Just Cause 2 play this game

Well, I did the story missions. I found out what the Just Cause was... spoilers for however years old game this is, apparently it was just to nuke an oil field... well, okay then.

Before doing the final missions (and I didn't know it was the final mission until I did the penultimate mission, and which point it then told me I was stuck in the endgame then) I did a ton of collecting, and a ton of faction missions and a ton of other things... and after all that, you get to go back and continue the side mission stuff. That's when I found out I hadn't even done 50%. The hell? Like I know there's a ton of collecting, but the story missions aren't even the bulk of the game! It's all the extra stuff they littered the map with!

So I still have some faction missions to do (although I partially screwed myself with one because I hate flying jets), and then there are lots of places to discover and faction items to pick up... I definitely want to do the faction missions, but beyond that... I might keep the game on my computer in case I feel like diving in and cleaning up the map, but... more likely, I'm just gonna delete the game and move on.

Just Cause 3 at some point, but don't plan on it any time soon.

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