The Toad's Burrow

      Hey look I'm doing book reviews again. Is this a sign of the end times? Possibly. Or maybe I'm just trying harder to expand what I read and so part of the way to keep me accountable is by writing reviews for said books. Regardless, I have indeed read this entire book, after waiting with bated breath mind you. I don't know how or why, but this book was in hot demand in my city's library system, and I actually had to wait a couple of weeks until I was in front of the line for this one. Why did I pick this specific book you ask? Well I'm single and have never been in a relationship, yet I couldn't stop thinking about a particular tweet claiming this book made them become polyamorous. So I thought, why not, I claim to be someone open to new idea's, so let's see just how open I really was. Let's talk about it.     A short disclaimer, there's only so much I could do realistically do to keep an open mind about this book, I'm not actually that ...

      Yes, I know. Why am I actually following through with my commitment to watching all of The Hangover  movies? I don't know, but sadly I am quite underwhelmed to say the least. This movie clearly understands at least a little bit what made the first one decent, if dated. It knows that it was fun the last time around to go backtracking around this city, finding out about all of these crazy, stupid they did the night before. Except this time, they're in Bangkok, and oooh it's so much more exotic. Except it's just all so much more contrived, and the end result is you laugh less, and then basically everything problematic about it just kind of screams in your face. Let's talk about it.     This film is trying to replicate a formula without putting in the work or dedication to what made it possible for viewers to feel even a little invested in the film. This time around it isn't Doug who is lost and potentially in danger, it's Teddy. And if you're like me ...

    I come into this review as someone who read Old Man Logan  which this movie is very, very loosely based on, having already watched this film once, and not being a particularly big fan of the Fox X-Men movies (not in the sense that I disliked them, just that I haven't watched them). Yet I have to admit, this is probably one of the best superhero movies out there, especially in the 21st century. Yes, it no doubt has it's flaws, I certainly have a couple of gripes with this film, but for the most part it's quite refreshing compared to the other superhero movies. It can try a little hard at times, but in my eyes that's better than not trying enough. Logan really does have some grit, and some emotional weight to it, which can sometimes be hard to come by in a superhero film, so let's talk about it.     I'll get my criticisms out of the way first, like I usually do, because I don't think I have many about this film, and once you realize the "magnitude...

      The Hangover is actually good? I can't believe I'm saying this. I mean I literally only remember this movie from seeing the trailers as a kid and being excited at the prospect of the fact that it showed boobies on my screen. I wish I was kidding but I was also just a young child looking at trailers on YouTube. So going into this movie I just had very little faith in it. Whether it be them immediately starting out with a slur, or the dated music (even if I thought Can't Tell Me Nothing by Kanye West did indeed fit quite well), I just had little faith this movie would have stood the test of time. But it did, and by the end I was even tempted to watch The Hangover Part II right after. So let's talk about it.     I think what stood out to me the most was the casting somehow? I mean the three main characters, Alan, Stu and Phil were such clear caricatures, but they worked? And by the end I oddly felt that their chemistry was quite enjoyable. Like on one hand, y...

      Well, I quickly skimmed over my review for season three of Invincible,  and I have to say, most of my original critiques remained. I do think I was quite nice with my rating for the season all things considered, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed season four. I was just seeing so much discourse, both positive and negative, online being fed to me, so i felt like I had to give the show a spin just to see how much I agreed, and disagreed with everything. And honestly? I was more locked in for this season than I thought I would be. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely still some episodes that are pretty big duds, but for the most part I'm glad to see this show finally start to get it's legs wet and do some more action. Let's talk about it.     One thing I cannot get out of my head this season was a tweet about someone saying J.K. Simmons is phoning it in. While I don't necessarily agree, I think it's more just bad voice acting direction than an...

      Man, where do I even start with this game? Disco Elysium is a daunting game to begin sure. I, like probably so many others, bought this game because it was on sale for around 3 dollars Canadian, and because anyone who comes across this game seemingly comes around with such glowing reviews. And then, you wait, it just lies in your Steam library and you think about playing it and these thoughts start to pop up. "Ooh, but I heard it's a very political game I don't know if that's what I want to play right now," "I heard there are so many ways to play this game it's kind of daunting," and it's all true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't play it, it just means that it's a lot, and you should give it the respect it deserves.     Then you start up the game and it's a lot. I'm not saying I can't read, or don't mind it, but this game is very much like a choose your own adventure book, it takes the name "visual novel...

    Look, the nicest way for me to put it was that I was quite skeptical of this film. While it's rating on Letterboxd was high, and it seemed to have high praise. I was largely going to watch this film simply because my sister asked me to come along with her, to which I happily obliged because unlike Dr. Ryland Grace (is his real name actually Ryland no one ever says it), I have immediately family and loved ones that I do not need to learn how to love. I mean just this morning I had seen Andy Weir come out with a statement that there is absolutely, positively nothing political in his work. Even though the movie does mention that part of the reason Dr. Grace needs to find a solution is that the human race will almost certainly not work together to ration enough food to "only" allow a quarter of the population to die in 30 years. And also, I did see quite a few people call it Marvel-slop, the runtime gave me pause for concern, and some others called it hope-slop. I am happ...

      I love The Wonder Years. One of the first concerts I ever attended was the 10 year anniversary tour for The Greatest Generation , and for a while a part of me thought that might be my favourite album, deep down I always knew it was this one. I mean most of my favourite The Wonder Years songs came from this album, and the remaster that was released last year only really solidified that opinion. So, with the 10 year anniversary tour for this album raging on, I'm set to once again see The Wonder Years very soon, so it's time for me to revisit one of the best pop-punk albums of the 2010's in my mind, and one of my favourite albums of all time in general. So without further ado, my track-by-track review. No Closer to Heaven - The Wonder Years Brothers & - 70/100 I don't particularly have strong feelings on this track, if you can call it that. It's really just a buildup to Cardinals, which serves and feels like the real intro track to this album anyways. Cardina...

      You know what? A surprisingly good film. I'll admit, I've been holding off on this film for basically a month, and frankly the premise didn't leave that much of an impression on me. It seemed a little gimmicky and I don't watch or read many things based on Stephen King's work so that wasn't a draw. Then the movie starts off and you can't help but get a hesitant feeling watching what is supposed to be a group of teenage boys look clearly into their 20's, evoking distinct imagery of for better or worse, 2000's era (and before) high school media which commonly employed this technique (I'm looking at you Glee) . Even still, I must admit like the boys in the film it managed to trudge through, keeping me well entertained and my eyes glued to the screen, even as temptation crept in to check my phone every once in a while. So how did it do all of that? Let's talk about it.     First of all, your enjoyment of this film hinges entirely on your ab...