Spacewocket
It means nothing but it sounds good.

Westworld – Season 2 & 3

There is no doubt about it, Westworld is probably the best TV show we’ve been watching over the past few years. While the second season brilliantly brings the western story to an end, the third season completely blew my mind in a Blade Runner kind of way.

Warning, what comes next contains a few spoilers.

When the android that was created to be abused for entertainement in a theme park manages to break free, it puts its new found freedom and very existence at risk to free human kind from the chains of its own condition.

I wanted to share my thoughts about simulation theory, but philosophical skepticism is pretty heavy and I gave up half way writing about it.

I just think that the androids in Westworld and mankind in our reality have a lot in common.

Androids don’t have the power to get out of the loops for which they’ve been created.

You could argue that, unlike androids, we’re free, we can escape our loops and change our lives. But, could you really say, from one day to another: I quit my job, my family, I let my half-paid house behind, I walk into a train and go to live in Paris? While some people manage to escape their loops, most people don’t. Our routines create a false sense of security that pressure us to stay who we are until the end.

I know, this is heavy stuff but that’s what Westworld got me thinking and those thoughts aren’t from yesterday, wasn’t the entire punk movement built on the anti “work-consume-die”?

The Best Possible Date

Finally a release date that’s perfect for Soforah and me. First, it’s far from the heat of the summer. Second, it’s only a month away from our end-of-the-year holidays. For once in a long time, Blizzard’s timing and ours seems to match perfectly.

But this isn’t only the best release date possible, now is also the best moment in a WoW player’s life… We’re only a few weeks from the pre-patch, the new expansion is around the corner, the hype is going up, there are news every day, Blizzard releases shorts to introduce us to the new lore, we even have a book to read.

Since I started playing WoW, I hear people say that Blizzard is going down or that World of Warcraft is dead. To me, it seems that what’s changing the most are the players, because Blizzard still provides amazing entertainment and I’m proud to be part of it.

Harry Potter rerun

Every summer, Sardoken and I love to rewatch all Harry Potter movies during the annual mind-numbing heatwave. This year, no exception. There we were hanging in the couch, suffering the scorching temperatures, trying to alleviate our pain by watching one of our favourite movie series. After all this time, still as magical as ever.

Instead of ranting endlessly about the heat, here’s one particular scene with my favourite Hogwarts teacher, professor Slughorn:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JBwu5Wqg1jM

ACNH made me do it!

After a very unpleasant experience with Pixelmator Pro, followed by an OKish experience with Affinity Photo, I finally subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud. After all these years screaming that I would never pay a monthly fee to use a software, why did I finally do it?

Well, it wasn’t a comparison spreadsheets on Reddit, no Sir… What truly got me are the Lightroom presets for Animal Crossing made by creative folks like Saturn and quinn on Twitter. Yep, you read it correctly: I now pay 12,00€/month to Adobe because I want to make my Animal Crossing screenshots look cute.

After a few days of using the combo Lightroom/Photoshop on my Mac, my Ipad and my Iphone, I’ve learned a few things:

  • Adobe softwares are the most intuitive, I found back my PS automatisms faster then it took me to develop new ones on any other software;
  • If you read online comparisons between Photoshop and its alternatives, you don’t really do it for the results. You do it because you don’t want to pay a monthly fee and you need to be comforted in the idea that you won’t be using Adobe softwares anymore;
  • 12,00€ is cheaper than the enamel pin I buy from Etsy each month (now, I’m convincing myself).

The Sinner – Season 3

It’s weird to think that this TV-show was originally planned for a one season limited TV series, yet here we are watching the third season. Normally, Chris and I aren’t fans of psychological drama at all, we even cut movies in the middle because we can’t stand it but, for The Sinner, we gladly made an exception. This season was like a cat and mouse game between Detective Ambrose and his antagonist, Jamie. Like Chris said, it looks like Ambrose is shaking Jamie like a bottle of champagne and the cork is about to pop any minute. That’s the exact reason why we came back for more, who wouldn’t wanna see the outcome?

The main quote and plot throughout this season could make one hell of a subject for discussion, yet I’m not going to go there because when I get philosophical, I don’t know where things will end:

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche

Legacies – Season 1 & 2

Hope Mikaelson, the daughter of a werewolf and a vampire, attends the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted and learns to use and control her supernatural abilities. IMDb

As a great fan of The Originals, I was ecstatic when I heard that there would be another spin-off of the infamous Vampire Diaries. Werewolves, vampires, witches, and demons are some of my favourite subjects so, this was perfect for our week-end dinnertime TV-show. Even though, Legacies is less deep and serious as The Originals, I absolutely love it. The Salvatore School reminds me a lot of Harry Potter, so beautiful and cozy, I sometimes wish I could live there. One down point was the ridiculous appearance of “the necromancer”, but he was easily overshadowed by some great episodes like the 80’s flashback, and the epic fight against the Grinch on Christmas.

Danielle Rose Russell is a complete badass as Hope Mikaelson, both her and Alaric Saltzman are my favourite characters of the TV-show. I just hope that it won’t take too long before season 3 will come out since a lot is on hold with the whole COVID situation.

Radio Mirror Park

We had to wait the middle of August to get some real summer, but it’s finally here. It’s time to slow down, eat cold pasta salads, drink ice cold coffee and enjoy the blue sky.

If you’re searching for a good playlist for times like these, Rockstar Games provided it a few years ago in GTA V. Among all the in-game radios, my favourite is Radio Mirror Park. It features a lot of soft fresh synth-pop titles that are perfect for the morning coffee or a lazy stoner afternoon at the swimming pool.

The last title of the list – Heartbreak by Age of Consent – has been our favourite song several years in a row, but there are many excellent titles that we still discover years later. As usual, it is an Apple Music playlist, not only because I’m an Apple slave, but also because it’s the best streaming service (this opinion is a fact, totally).

Unsolved Mysteries

The iconic series UNSOLVED MYSTERIES is back. Fusing signature elements from the original series with contemporary immersive, character-driven storytelling. (source: IMDB)

To be honest, I didn’t know that it was a reboot… We watched it during our July holidays and we had a great time. I think that the narrative and the camera work are what’s making this show so entertaining.

Ok, we’re mysteries fans and we love to come up with our own theories about what happened, but this show is as much about the way the story is told as it is about the actual mysteries. Don’t take this the wrong way, some mysteries made us curious… But it just can’t rival with cases like the murder of Teresa Halbach, which, to this day, remains the murder mystery I am the most curious about.

Anyway, if, like us, you enjoy to have your curiosity piqued with mysterious unsolved cases, this show will surely entertain you. Good news: there will be a second part with 6 more episodes!

5 PM

One of the greatest features of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the hourly tune. While we love all musics from the game, our favourite is 5 PM. This smooth jazz tune with a touch of 70s bass is an instant shot of good mood.

The Order – Season 1 & 2

Cute teens werewolves fighting off cute teens witches on a beautiful university campus… As if every word in this sentence wasn’t enough to get us hooked, they had to invite special guests like Ian Ziering and Jason Priestley. Honestly, I hope that this show gets renewed for 10 more seasons because it makes our week-end lunches so enjoyable.