The Five on Fridays: Week 4
Here's some of the things I liked best this past week. Enjoy!
1) The Martian (A Novel by Andy Weir). Books that are turned into movies. It's a quandary for me. Should I read the book before seeing the movie? Should I wait and see the movie first then get all the extra details? Rational I think the latter is a better course of action since it is less likely that I'll be disappointed by a bad adaptation. My inability to be patient and wait for the movie to come out, however, usually leads me to read the book first. Oh, well. That's what happened with The Martian. I saw the trailer and was hooked. Despite my excitement, I tried to hold out on reading the book. But Amazon kept taunting me, recommending it to me (damn algorithms!) and I caved and read it. It is such a good book. Tense, but funny. Sciency, but well-paced. I just tore through it. Let's hope the movie lives up to it.
2) Terraria (video game). I'm late to the game with this one, as I am with most video games. If you don't know, Terraria is an open-world 2D explorer/sandbox/crafting game that has an old-school visual appeal. Basically you run around making things, exploring your world, mining for loot, fighting creatures, etc., etc. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I'd heard of it, but didn't really even know anything about it, but had a vague sense that I didn't want to play it. (Sort of the way I felt about D&D until I knew what it was really about) No reason why, just my weird brain. So, I'm not sure what made me try this game out, but I did and I am addicted. It plays on my love of Big Picture to fine details / completionist / system mapping stuff that I mentioned last week. I'm planning a series about it on my gaming channel (it should be starting next week), so if you are interested make sure to check that out. At this rate I'll be trying Minecraft soon too.
3) Harmontown (documentary on Netflix). Do you know of Dan Harmon? He created one of my favorite tv shows, Community among other things. It turns out he is quite a character according to the documentary, Harmontown, that delves into his life as it chronicles his cross-country tour staging his live podcast of the same name. I seriously still cannot believe I didn't know this podcast, movie, and community existed, because it embodies and tangentially relates to everything I like it this world. I just happened to Google Erin McGathy, who was a guest on a podcast I listen to and found out she is married to Dan Harmon and I fell down the rabbit hole that ended in this movie. As I first started watching it, I thought, "Gee, you really need to like and appreciate Dan Harmon and his 'genius' to like this movie." But then we are introduced to his dark side, and I realized it is just being really, really honest. Dan Harmon is a genius, but he also has his troubles. Despite all that, through his work, he has brought together people who feel disconnected into a community, a community of "nerd[s] full of love." And that is a lovely thing to think about. It is also lovely to be reminded that there are still new and cool things to discover and be excited about. Thanks Google!
4) Lil' Cuties (podcast hosted by Dave Horwitz and Shawn Pearlman). I've been listening to podcasts for maybe ten years now or something, (ugh. old.) but really have been sticking to the same things, never mixing it up. (Maybe I'll do a post of those soon.) Just recently, one of those said podcasts had a guest that I really loved, Dave Horwitz, who had a new podcast, Lil' Cuties on the Feral Audio Network. I listened and my podcasting world was expanded. During this podcast it feels like Dave and his co-host and friend Shawn Pearlman are speaking to me. Yes, it feels like they could be my friends and that would be great (seriously guys, be my friend), but it's more than that. I guess I'm navigating that line between Honorary Adult and Lil' Cutie too and it's nice for someone to put into words all the jumble of weird that is in my own brain. Having just discovered Harmontown, as well, and realizing they are both on Feral Audio, I might need to check out their other podcasts.
5) Planner/Plan-With-Me Videos. Do you ever get lost in a spiral of YouTube video nonsense? Generally I don't because I have my YouTubers that I watch, but that doesn't mean that I didn't fall into a pit of Planner/Plan-With-Me videos this past week. But I think this was a good thing. If you don't know what these videos are, let me explain. There are YouTubers that focus on how the design, decorate and organize their planner (usually Erin Condren planners). I always thought they were kind of superficial silly videos, but I've been trying to organize my life better, so I turned to these videos. They were actually quite helpful and I've designed my own little system to keep myself in check. No, I'm not decorating my planner with glitter and tiny pictures of anthropomorphic grocery bags and washing machines, but I find those plan-with-me videos kind of zen-like and relaxing. And they are just a great source of organizational inspiration under all the stickers and washi tape.
I hope you liked that five, another five next Friday along with a post on Monday about podcast and a recipe post on Wednesday. Make sure to follow me on the social mediaz to find out when I post. Have a great weekend!
