#luimnigh's NYR 2024

[luimnigh]

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

So, January's over, how did I do?

Six full movies, three partial watches.

Three full series, one partial.

And I'm almost finished a videogame.

Not as well as I wanted to. The big problem does seem to what I thought it was: I'm tired after work. There's a big gap there after I went back to work after the Christmas holidays. I managed to keep up with a pair of weekly series, but there's no movies between the 5th and the 21st.

But I'm getting back in the swing of things, so let's see how I do in February.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

...so here's the August update, three days before October comes around.

Look, my baby brother got married this month, there was a shitton of stuff to do. It's not gonna be a very long September list.

How'd I do in August?

Seven completed movies, eight partial watches.

One partial TV series.

Played some levels of a videogame.

Find out what I watched under the cut.

Movies:

The Ministry of Ungentlmanly Warfare: It's a Guy Ritchie movie, so it's effortlessly stylish, and it's based on the true story of an actual WW2 raid. Fun heroes, despicable villains, great time.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: Just caught it on TV. What can I say, it's The Lord of the Rings, they're great movies and this has the best battle scene out of all of them. I am of course referring to the flaming Ent who douses himself in floodwater.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story: It's not gonna win any awards, and I don't know how it would go down with someone who isn't a Weird Al fan, but if you are it's a fun time and a hilarious movie.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Still a fantastic film. Still tear up at the end. Damn shame it wasn't successful.

Hotel Transylvania 2: These are just Adam Sandler's best movies, point blank.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: My parents are pirating Sky Movies. It has greatly increased my choice of movies to just catch on TV. Good movie, probably would have been better if Valeris had been Saavik.

Shrek 2: ...what can I say, it's fucking Shrek 2. The best use of I Need a Hero in all of cinema.

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (Partial): I only caught a half hour of it. I don't think I've ever seen it in full.

Expendables 4 (Partial): Only caught the last half hour of it. Absolutely scraping the bottom of the barrel on that franchise. The final battle takes place on a very fake set in a PS2 skybox.

Frankenstein: The True Story (Partial): A 70's TV movie. The pirated version my dad found was only Part 1 of 3, and we couldn't find the rest of the film. So the story we saw ends with Frankenstein, his body deteriorating, throwing himself off a cliff without ever harming anybody. It has David Macallum and Jane Seymour!

Batman Begins (Partial): Better than I remember.

The Dark Knight (Partial): Worse than I remember.

Some Like It Hot (Partial): I never knew this was a comedic crossdressing movie. The movie is probably offensive in other places, but the parts I saw involved the two guys getting very into character. I could see someone interpreting them as eggs.

Deep Impact (Partial): I'm gonna be honest, I watched a video earlier this year about how Nukes work in Space, and I cannot help but think the depths they drill to in order to plant the nukes is much too shallow.

Babe (Partial): Only the last fifteen minutes, and my brother was incredibly surprised to find out Babe was a movie about a Sheep-Pig.

Series:

Jet Lag: The Game: Season 11 (Ongoing): This is the only series I keep up with holy crap. Three dudes playing tag on Italian trains.

Video Games:

Powerwash Simulator DLC (Partial): Kept falling asleep while playing. Way too relaxing.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

The February Update:

Three full movies, three partial (including the second half of Doctor Zhivago, which I want to track down and watch from the beginning).

One full series

Two videogames, including the one incomplete from last month.

One full book.

Well, less than January, but also not as disappointed with myself? Because the time was instead spent writing my own story. And I've made some nice progress on that. Mostly worldbuilding, but I have actually gotten a good chunk of the first chapter down.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

I'm quite a bit late on the July update, huh?

Good month, though.

Six complete movies, two partial watches.

One TV series.

And I continued the game.

Details under the cut:

Movies:

Twisters: Oh, absolutely a fun movie. See it in theatres if you still can. All I can really say on that one, other than my surprise at a RWBY cast member being in a decently-sized role.

Doctor Strange And The Multiverse of Madness: Could have been better. Could have been worse. I enjoyed how Raimi brought in some of his style to the piece.

Thor: Love And Thunder: A lot better than people make it out to be. I feel it balanced humour and drama better than it's predecessor, but lacked it's predecessor's deeper themes.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Really good. Loved the design of Talokan.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: Again, not as bad as people make it out to be, loved the creative creature design, difficult to compare it to it's predecessors.

Deadpool & Wolverine: Wanted another Deadpool movie, got another Deadpool movie. Really, really fun.

Top Gun: Maverick (Partial): Over the month I caught the first fifteen minutes and the last half-hour. The dogfight at the end is fun, and that's literally all I can say.

The Courier (Partial): I actually managed to watch pieces of two films by this name in July, and that was very confusing. One is a spy drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch about a British spy arrested in the USSR, and the other is an action film starring Olga Kurylenko about an assassin protecting a witness in a criminal case. The spy drama seems good, the action film seems terrible.

Television:

Loki (Season 2): Watched Season 1 when it came out. That's a pretty good show, I reckon. Loki goes from wanting a throne to wanting to save his friends, and in the process needing to take a throne to save his friends, sacrificing himself. Full circle. Fun.

Video Games:

Cyberpunk 2077 (Partial): Need to get back into it. Took some time off to do my failed MCU binge, and I haven't been able to get back into the rhythm of playing it yet.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

June! And in June, I made a mistake: I started playing an Open-World RPG. Those buggers take AGES. I'm 74 hours in.

But I still managed a decent haul this month:

Seven complete movies, two partial watches.

Three series completed this month, with no new partial watches.

And the aforementioned 74 hours of videogame. Still not complete.

As always, details under the cut:

Movies:

Bolt (2008): Babysat my nephew at the start of the month, and watched four and half movies in one day. I really liked this movie as a kid, and I feel it still holds up pretty well. It's a period piece in some ways, but fairly timeless in others.

Steamboat Willie: Yes, I'm counting it. I explained the use of the clip at the beginning of Bolt to my nephew, and then I showed him the short. As a fan of Cuphead, he appreciated the art style.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Solid kids film, definitely enjoyed Idris Elba's performance. A little convenient how the location of the Master Emerald just so happened to be close to Hawaii, but we'll let that slide. Also would have preferred if they'd gone into detail on the Echidna/Owl conflict, while GUN was kinda just there to set up Shadow.

The Bad Guys: Oh this is a gorgeous film. Also, I don't think I've ever seen an anthropomorphic animal films that a) included humans, and b) included non-anthro versions of animals that had anthro-versions.

Independence Day: Yes, in June. It's on TV pretty regularly.

Bad Boys For Life: Once again, another "Well it's on TV I might as well". Bit of a strange one, but enjoyable. The shots where they tried to recreate Michael Bay's style stood out, but only because of their restraint in using them. Also, Michael Bay has a speaking role.

Nope: This is a damn good movie. Even knowing so much about it, there were still parts that surprised me. And even I could recognise the Evangelion and Akira influences in the climax.

Ralph Breaks The Internet (Partial): Caught the last half hour on the babysitting day. I do enjoy elements of this film, I feel they did really well with what they had, but I just don't like the premise. It feels so corporate, and a departure from the first film. Definitely a case of artists doing their best with a company mandate, I feel.

Armageddon (Partial): Oh hey, it's Bay again. Caught the last half, starting with them heading to space. It's a very visually spectacular movie. Also: 90s Michael Bay is actually quite critical of the US Military, which is weird in contrast with 00s Bay's reverence of it. I think the turning point there is likely either Pearl Harbor or Bad Boys II. Or 9/11.

Series:

Doctor Who: I literally raced home from Manchester to watch the finale. It was underwhelming. Though that might be because I was super-tired and the ending was interrupted by my Mom getting a phonecall about my brother's fiancée being hospitalised for an asthma attack. (She's okay now.) Kinda lost track of the episode at that point.

Dungeon Meshi: Honestly, a weird place to break it up. Not much of a climax, besides the heroes finally coming up with a solid plan. Still like the series.

Jet Lag: The Game: Series 10: Much better than Series 9. Felt like more of a competition. Loved how they foreshadowed the ending right at the beginning.

Videogames:

Cyberpunk 2077 (Partial): Picked this game up, used, in 2022 for cheap at a now-closed Gamestop. Bounced off it partway through Act 1 because I felt overwhelmed by the jargon being thrown my way. Came back to it after watching Edgerunners, and found it much easier to understand the world around me, and thus make decisions in it. Would recommend pre-gaming this game with the anime.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

The March Update:

Still yet to track down the rest of Doctor Zhivago. Completed chapter two of the book.

Five movies, and one partial watch.

One full series, and I've reached the halfway point in another that's still airing weekly.

Partway into a book, aka I finally started rereading Gideon The Ninth so I can actually read Nona.

No games.

Overall pretty good I'd say. Though maybe I should start listing what I've watched and read and played, and not just how many.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

May! Did pretty well this month. Okay, made no progress in reading the book I was reading, but apart from that I watch quite a bit of stuff.

Five movies, and four partial watches.

Two series, continued my weekly watch from past months, and added two new weekly watches.

And two games polished off.

I spent today babysitting my nephew, so let's just say I'm already getting a good start with June.

Movies:

Face/Off: It had come up on Flickle a few days before, and I ended up on it after scrolling some streaming sites for a while. Been a couple years since I've seen it. Delightfully bonkers.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: There's some elements of this film that I feel have aged badly already, some elements that are unrealistic now that I know more about the realities of animal testing and care, but the global pandemic in the end hits different now.

Jumanji: The Next Level: Fine enough sequel, I liked it quite well. Nothing spectacular to it.

Casino Royale (2006): I watched this instead of Eurovision. Which means, unlike the rest of Europe, I watched Britain br good at something.

Deadpool 2: Good to catch this one before the sequel arrived. Took me a few years to realise this was an adaptation of the "Deadpool in love with Death" story without making Deadpool want to bone bones. Still think both these writers and the Avengers writers are cowards on that mark.

Rush (Partial): Caught the last hour one night, basically starting with Niki Lauda's crash. Good movie.

Maiden Voyage: Ocean Hijack (Partial): Caught the first hour of this film late one night. Terrible action movie, Die Hard on a Cruise Ship which makes it an inferior Speed 2: Cruise Control.

The Imitation Game (Partial): Parents were watching it. Caught the last half hour. Spent the entire time annoyed with Turing's characterisation.

The Road Dance (Partial): Caught the last hour. Depressing drama set in the Scottish Outer Hebrides during WWI, about the aftermath of a sexual assault. Mark Gatiss is in it.

Series:

Tales of the Empire: Good to see Barriss again, though I certainly didn't wait as long as many others I know.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners: A lovely little tragedy. Very much epitomises the idea of a tragedy where so many things could have happened to change the ending, and yet you know that the ending was always inevitable. Also I've been thinking about playing the game, so this helped give me some understanding of the setting.

Dungeon Meshi (Partial): I feel like this show is gonna need a second season to wrap up. The situation is still only escalating.

Doctor Who (Partial): You know, I haven't watched weekly Doctor Who since Capaldi? I stopped watching after Hell Bent. I really do need to watch the seasons I missed. Anyway, I think Ruby might be Susan.

Jet Lag: The Game: Season 10 (Partial): Yeah, already way better than Hide And Seek.

Games:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations: The final game in the trilogy, and a nice send-off. Some interesting twists and turns, and a nice look into both Mia and Edgeworth's heads. And thankfully, there was no character as annoying as the clown this time.

Saints Row (2022) DLC: Stepping back into Santo Illeso was like stepping back into a comfortable pair of slippers. Problem is, the company that makes those slippers has been shut down, so once those slippers are worn out, I'll never be able to get new slippers. A damn shame.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

April! And... yeah, kinda fell down on this one. Just... didn't really watch or play much of anything. Well, watched a lot of Youtube videos, but that's it.

Two movies, one partial watch.

One series completed, continued watching another.

Still haven't finished the book I'm on.

Started playing a game, though!

Details wil be placed under the cut from now on:

Movies:

Titanic: Been years since I watched this in full, but I know the movie front to back because my younger brother was obsessed with it as a kid. Still his favourite movie to this day. And honestly? It's still a really good movie. Nearly cried at the end.

In The Land Of Saints And Sinners: Recent Netflix release. Liam Neeson led neo-western set in Donegal in 1974. Hitman with a heart of gold ends up in conflict with wanted members of the IRA. Good film, bit melodramatic in places. Jack Gleeson plays a fantastic performance, didn't even recognise him until I looked up the cast.

Star Trek (2009): (Partial) This repeats so often on the local channels expect to see it on this list a few more times. Fun enough movie, but I'm sure the differences between this and the rest of the Star Trek canon has been litogated to death at this point.

Series:

Jet Lag: The Game: Season 9: Like I said last time, this season really kinda suffered from the choice of game. Hide and Seek just isn't exciting to watch.

Dungeon Meshi: (Partial) Okay, this show got really interesting in the last few episodes. Conflicts between our heroes and other adventurers, teasing the wider consequences of their actions, hot monster lady, they had it all.

Books:

Gideon The Ninth: (Partial) I just need to take an evening and actually sit down to read the damn thing, the stop-go system of reading a bit when I have a free moment just doesn't suit me. Need to hyperfixate and blow through it in a sitting.

Video Games:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations: (Partial) Back into Ace Attorney with the last of the trilogy. Been having a lot of fun, but I did get stuck at one point because the game wouldn't let me progress until I asked Gumshoe about the victim. Which I forgot to do because the case wasn't a murder for the first day.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[luimnigh]

That's good advice, me.

(FYI: Partial means I watched a significant amount, but not enough to count as a full watch. Might get back to it, might not.)

January:

Movies:

Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit: First Movie I watched this year. Weird way to start a year.

How To Train Your Dragon: Still a fantastic movie. Quite possibly the only animated film my parents consider art.

Honey I Shrunk The Kids: Hadn't watched this in years. Pretty good. Practical effects don't hold up.

Nimona: Maybe should have saved this film for Easter, being a movie that came back from the dead.

Mary Poppins: We watched Mary Poppins Returns over Christmas and my Mom couldn't remember if she'd seen the original.

My Neighbour Totoro: My first Ghibli. Should probably get around to watching more.

In The Heat of The Night (Partial): I caught the last hour of it on TV and holy crap do I need to track down the rest.

Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (Partial): Caught the last half on TV. Fun enough movie.

The Revenant (Partial): Once again, the last hour. Fairly interesting.

Series:

Arcane: ...how do League of Legends show be good?

Percy Jackson: Damn good adaptation. I've seen some criticism, some I agree with and some I don't, but I was satisfied.

Jet Lag: The Game Season 8: Okay, so this is technically a Youtube series, but it's weekly 40+ minute episodes of a game show. It counts.

Murder Drones (Partial): Also a Youtube series, but it's 20+ min episodes of animation, it counts. Watched this because my nephew is really into it, and I wanted to be able to talk to him about his interests.

February:

Movies:

Groundhog Day: Yes, I watched it on February 2nd.

Zoo (2017): A based-on-a-true-story kid's movie about a group of Belfast children trying to save a baby Elephant from being euthanised alongside the rest of the Zoo's large animals, because the authorities are afraid of them escaping if the Zoo is damaged by Nazi bombing raids.

Quadrophenia: The story of a young man who sacrifices his whole life to live out a subculture that nobody else takes as seriously as he does. Based on an album by The Who.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Partial): When I say I partially watched it, I was in the room playing Ace Attorney while my parents watched it.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (Partial): Now I just need to watch the last half of To Sir With Love to partially complete the Sidney Poitier 1967 trifecta.

Missing Link (Partial): Breaking with the pattern, I caught the first half hour of this film. Gotta love a Laika.

Dr Zhivago (Partial): When I say I caught the last half of this film, I mean I watched an hour and a half of this movie, and it still only counts as half.

Series:

Mrs Wilson: Three-episode miniseries about a woman uncovering her late husband's infidelities and secrets, complicated by the fact that both of them worked for British Intelligence. A true story about the lead actress' grandmother. It's fucking good.

Video Games:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Good game, though I feel like the DLC case tacked on the end dragged it out a bit.

Phoenix Wright: Justice for All: I really do like how the Psyche-Lock system gives uses for the evidence in the investigation stage.

Books:

Iron Widow: Fun book, good read, some heavy subject matter, really liked learning about the elements of Imperial China that ended up in the story. Climax felt a bit rushed, though, it escalated fairly quickly.

March:

Movies:

Last Action Hero: If you're aware of my taste in superheroes, it should come as no surprise that I fucking love this movie.

Logan: Still makes me cry. Goddamn.

Death On The Nile (1978): I have genuinely been on a riverboat down the Nile, and now I feel cheated with the lack of murders.

The Devil's Own: IRA man goes to New York to buy Stinger missiles. Grows attached to cop he's staying with. Can't tell if Brad Pitt's Irish accent is bad or not.

Nobody: Love a good action film where you can see the main character get progressively more beaten up.

Master And Commander: The Far Side of The World (Partial): Long title. Long movie. Literally could not watch it all.

Series:

Blue Eye Samurai: You know, this is the first time I've really liked an Irish villain in non-Irish media? Usually it's just stereotypes out the wazoo, but Abijah Fowler's a breath of fresh air. It's just... true that people who suffered under colonisation can turn around and join their oppressors in oppressing others. He's a man who had great cruelty visited upon him, and decided the only way to never be hurt like that again is to visit that pain on others. The rest of the show is damn good too.

Delicious In Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi (Partial): Oh, it's an absolute delight.

Jet Lag: The Game Season 9 (Partial): Genuinely forgot to add this to my March roundup. Maybe because in between March ending and me posting the roundup the season finale aired and it stopped being Partial. Anyway, honestly, I felt this season suffered from the concept. Hide and seek is hard to make look interesting.

Books:

Gideon The Ninth (Partial): I really need to just sit down and dedicate a few hours to reread it to completion. I'm sneaking a few pages whenever I have time at the bus stop, and it's taken me weeks to get to the sparring matches organised by Coronabeth.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.