Weekly Geek Outs - 09/16/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• Supergirl

I finally got the opportunity to start watching this show since it came onto Netflix recently. It is a mixed bag for me. I appreciate the optimistic, fun tone of it, but it has some cheap costumes and effects, and also has some frustrating plot holes or just glazes over a lot of stuff. It feels like the show also has some hardcore Superman envy. A lot of the plot points seem ripped out of a Superman 101 class versus trying to make the show its own thing. It overall doesn't compare to The Flash for me, which I enjoy the most of the current slate of network superhero shows (Netflix's Jessica Jones and Daredevil still give Flash a run for his money, see what I did there?). I'm hoping it will improve by the end of the season, as I have a few episodes left to go (I can't wait for the Flash crossover!). I'm hopeful also for the transition of Supergirl over to the CW next season. Maybe they'll know how to better handle it from their current experience with superhero shows.

• OJ: Made in America

I've been watching this mini docu-series on Hulu after hearing good buzz about it since it premiered a little while back. Another great entry in ESPN's 30 for 30 lineup, this in depth, multi-part look at the career, life, and trial of OJ Simpson as well as the time and world that shaped him. I highly recommend it. It is very thorough, and while at times it can feel like it is going down tangents, it all comes together to weave the complex fabric of society that influences us all. This article is a great (albeit long) companion to the series. You get a full context on everything, and it really gets you thinking. Check it out! 

• Maryland Craft Beer

My partner and I recently went to a local arts and craft beer festival near us and it was a lot of fun! We got some neat locally made goods and drank a lot of beer (and water, gotta stay hydrated!). There is definitely a flourishing scene here just like there was back up in Maine. While I haven't find my choice beer yet, I always have a good time meeting with locals and talking about beer. I look forward to continuing with this new hobby and searching for my new favorite local brewery and beer!

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Geek Outs - 09/09/16

Greetings!

Here's what is on my mind this week:

• Casual

I've been checking out some different shows to stream on Hulu lately. A lot of them happen to fall within a similar category of darker relationship comedy. Casual is one that I've watched the first season and about half of the second. I don't think I'll continue. It just isn't interesting to me. It isn't poorly done, it is just sort of boring and predictable. It also isn't that funny but it bills itself as a "comedy" I feel like. It is more dramatic more often than not, which isn't bad, but it isn't a good drama to me either. It might be worth checking out though, since comparatively it is one of the better Hulu Originals.

• Difficult People

Another Hulu Original, Difficult People is by far the worst on this list. I've only been able to get through a few episodes since it has been very hard to watch in the sense that I just think it is a bad show. It isn't offensive or anything like that, it just misses the mark for me. It tries really hard to be funny and to do bits about whatever is going on, but it doesn't work. It seems like a lot of critics like it, but I haven't heard many other people talk about it.

• You're the Worst

I stumbled into this show via some good buzz online, and it is easily the best new show I've found recently. It follows two anti-relationship young people as they fall into dating each other. It is funny, has heart, and confronts important topics like depression. It just came back for season 3 on FXX, and I look forward to continuing with this one. It is definitely worth your time to check out. Seasons 1 and 2 are both on Hulu.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Geek Outs - 09/02/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• 11.22.63

I shamefully finally finished watching this show on Hulu this past week. I put it off for way too long since I was initially intrigued way back when I caught the first two episodes. Unfortunately, the show didn't improve much for me. It built up to the culminating moment and I felt it like it didn't pay off at all. I liked the time travel story and thought James Franco did well, but overall it was pretty underwhelming, which was a real bummer.

• Newseum

I'm going here this weekend with my partner and making another day trip out of it exploring more of our DC home. I'm thinking we'll hit up somewhere for lunch and another local brewery. There is so much to do in this city, I don't know if we'll ever even scratch the surface of it all, especially with Baltimore, Alexandria, Annapolis, and the surrounding burbs to get to as well!

• Sustainability

I was recently appointed to the company-wide sustainability committee for my job. I'm very excited about this opportunity and to become more involved at work. It is something I'm really passionate about and want to do all I can with this new effort to help my company be as environmentally conscious as possible. It felt pretty validating too to be honest. I always appreciate the small wins like this, and it came pretty unexpectedly so it was a nice surprise.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Geek Outs - 06/03/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• DC

I've been living in the Greater DC area for almost a month now, and since I've only visited here a few times previously, I'm excited to explore with my partner. We've gone to some places for drinks, visited some museums, and are planning to do much more. We're grateful to live in an area with more going on as well as being closer to friends and family. Stay tuned for more thoughts from our adventures!

• Happy Endings

This show was recently put on Hulu in its entirety, and I enjoyed watching it back in the day when it was on. I've been rewatching it with my partner and we've both really been liking it. It was a fun, clever, unique show with smart and silly humor. It was right up my alley and it is always great to share things I love with my partner. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good comedy to watch through.

• Work

My new job has been picking up lately, which has been both a good and a bad thing. Good because I'm excited to do the work and get more involved helping our students as well as my team. Bad because it has taken up more of my time and energy away from the blog. I haven't been able to write as much as I like, nor have I been able to come up with new ideas to write about even if I had the time and energy. I know I just need some space and I need to make the time after I adjust to all the change that has been going on in my life. This blog means a lot to me so I want to keep it going. I appreciate folks patience with the lack of fresh, new content.

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Hot Tub Time Machine 2

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is the 2015 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine 2, starring Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Adam Scott.

Following the moderate success of the oddball original, in true Hollywood fashion we got a sequel that no one asked for (five years later no less) that suffers from the law of diminishing returns. I enjoyed the first Hot Tub Time Machine (HTTM) enough to apparently have me be curious enough to check out the sequel, which is now available to stream instantly on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Part of my curiosity comes from enjoying time travel stories, the other part comes from enjoying self-aware comedies, which seem to be having a moment right now with stuff such as the TV show Community and the Jump Street movies to name a few. This is certainly not as good as either of these two examples, but it was still a decent movie with a few good moments. I am a big fan of Adam Scott (especially his work on Parks and Rec) so he was a draw to check this out as well. He is a bright spot in his supporting role, and the main cast holds things together pretty well too. The plot of movie is where everything falls apart.

The crew sort of meanders their way through the film, not having much urgency or direction. The premise of them being in the future versus being in the past gives some space to play around, but they also stumble in their sense of logic since they only go ten years into the future but the world is a dramatically different place from where they came. I get that we have a lot of technology coming out all the time, but some the leaps HTTM2 makes are silly, but that isn't really the point of the film already short on logic (we are traveling through time in a hot tub after all).

I'd recommend this movie with reservations only to folks who like me, enjoyed the first one to some extent and enjoy (most of the time) these sorts of comedies. I would not have liked it as much if I had to pay straight up for it as a rental or at the theater, but for something to just put on and enjoy without having to think too much, this is a solid option.

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Top Five

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is 2014's Top Five, starring Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson among a stellar ensemble cast of comedians and actors.

Top Five follows a sort of dramatized version of reality, where Rock's character Andre Allen, is a fictional mouthpiece for struggles common to Rock (and surely other comedians and actors like him), such as authenticity, integrity, creativity, and addiction. It feels very similar to the movie Funny People, or the television show Louiein certain respects. Other entertainment industry shows like Extras (or the several others out there) also hold a lot of thematic similarities to Top Five, just to get a flavor for this movie since it feels so unique to me. While it falls into a pantheon of other great shows and movies, it falls a bit short for me in the end.

The movie as a whole is pretty funny. It's not uproariously hilarious, nor is it unfunny, it has some humorous moments, and was a pleasure to watch, but it could probably be better billed as a "dramedy" (drama + comedy). Allen struggles with alcoholism, his personal motivation for where his life is going, people taking him seriously, and relationship woes. Rock imbues the character and his struggles with a reliability and his unique swagger, so it makes the proceedings engaging enough to watch.

All of the other actors in the movie shine in their brief roles. Tracy Morgan, Michael Che, Jay Pharaoh, Gabrielle Union, and Leslie Jones specifically all hold their own, and Dawson is fantastic as her character, reporter Chelsea Brown, accompanies Rock's character around for most of the film. There are also some really fun cameos later in the film that made the whole viewing experience even better.

I'd recommend folks check this movie out, especially if you're a fan of Chris Rock and/or comedy as an art form. It explores issues that I found interesting and I think others like me would as well.

You can stream Top Five right now on Hulu and Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 08/21/15

Greetings!

Here's what was going on in my world this week:

• Doctor Who, Season 8

I've been dragging my feet checking out the past season of the much beloved Doctor Who, and recently checked out the first couple episodes of season 8 (now on Netflix), which are the first episodes with the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi. I've already been experiencing Doctor Who fatigue last season. While the special episodes with Matt Smith were enjoyable, the show as a whole had been frustrating for me. I think I've grown tired of Steven Moffat's storytelling and am still preferring the David Tennant era above all else. These new episodes haven't done too much to impress me yet, which is sad since I do love the premise and universe, but it is just getting to be a tad boring and shallow to me now. I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for from the show, but what I'm getting now isn't it. Perhaps smaller stories would be better than the bombastic, huge scale plots that seem to be every episode nowadays. I'll keep with it for this season I think but I may put Doctor Who behind me to venture off with some new shows.

• Seinfeld on Hulu, A Retrospective

I recently finished the entire nine seasons (!) of Seinfeld on Hulu, which took me several weeks. Only a few episodes of the series were completely new to me. I had seen many of them in syndication somewhere but it was still cool to watch this classic sitcom from start to finish to further appreciate it and it's impact. If you have never seen an episode, I highly recommend you check some of it out on Hulu. They've curated some of the classic episodes of the series as well so you can view the series strategically.

• Fall Move In

Much of my time currently has been (and will be) consumed with trainings, building prep, and opening at my institution. It's a stressful yet exciting time to welcome new and returning students as well as their families to campus for the start of a new academic year. I may need a break from blogging next week with everything going on, but I hope to meet you back here again once things settle down.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 06/26/15

Greetings!

Here's what was going on in my world this week:

• New Student Orientation

This past week has been our summer New Student Orientation at my institution. It's always a fun, exciting time welcoming new students to college and this was the first time I've been able to go through the entire process here. I even helped plan and track everything ahead of this week, so it was really nice to be able to see everything come together. A great NSO can go a long way with paying dividends for the upcoming academic year. If we really a good job getting our new students excited to come to our institution, properly prepared, and generally just feeling like they have support for this big life transition, we can retain more students and have them thrive instead of just survive. I see myself easily (ideally) transitioning to a position with orientation in the near future. It's just so much fun as well as important for the rest of the institution's operations.

• Spider-Man Casting!

I was really excited to see the news this week that we finally have our Peter Parker/Spider-Man casting for the new Marvel Cinematic Universe iteration of the beloved character. Tom Holland will be portraying the webslinger, and since he is a relative unknown, there isn't much baggage coming for the actor, which is good. He has the look and physicality down, so I'm intrigued to see if he has the comedic chops, which is so important for the character, especially go along with the current vibe of the MCU. I'm we'll see much more of Holland ahead of his debut in Captain America: Civil War in May 2016.

• Seinfeld on Hulu!

Seinfeld is one of my favorite shows of all time. I've seen most of the 171 episodes of the show, but I know there are some I've missed. Hulu now has the entire series streaming as of Wednesday, June 24 (only for their paid subscribers). It brings so much more value to the table for people paying into their service, and now, with a Showtime add-on on the way, it is continually proving to be a solid competition (or companion like I do) to Netflix and the other up and coming streaming services.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 05/01/15

Good day to you!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• Seinfeld

I love the show Seinfeld. It is a classic television sitcom that stands the test of time. As such, I was pretty excited when it was announced that Hulu will be bringing the complete series to their streaming service beginning in June. I feel like I still haven't seen every episode so I definitely plan to slowly burn through them all to relive my favorite moments and appreciate the series as a whole. If you haven't seen the show before, definitely check it out on Hulu when it's released.

• Summer!

The end of my first academic year as a full-time professional is drawing close, and as such, I've been thinking about how I want to spend my summer. I'm sure it will be a mixture of work and fun (as I tend to like for my down time) but I want to take in all that I can while I have the opportunity here in Maine. That means trying to venture out to Canada, seeing more of New England, and continuing to appreciate the local offerings here in Maine as well. I hope I can get to it all while also planning and preparing for the next academic year. I have high hopes but I believe I can do it!

• Sustainability

I've been working with our campus-wide sustainability committee here at my institution, and it made think about how we make change happen at a institutional level. My perspective on it is that it really can be difficult and time intensive, which needs to be acknowledged, but the efforts of committees like ours need to be strongly supported in more than just lip service and pats on the back to make us all feel good. We need broad support and we need financial support to make things happen. We can do a lot with changing behaviors to make a difference, but for sweeping, lasting change, we need to reform a lot of infrastructure, which costs money. While making sustainable changes gives the opportunity for a return on investment, the initial cost needs to be made, and I feel stifled by that concept most times. I also am impatient and have a sense of urgency for fixing the problems that surround us everyday (that I feel may not be shared by others at times). These are just some stream of consciousness thoughts I've had after going to these meetings for a few months.  We have just started this work on our campus, and we feel very far behind already, and then it feels like we can only move at a snail's pace. It's frustrating but I know you have to start somewhere, so I'll do my best to be patient for now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Streaming Media & The Democratization of Content

I consume my fair share of streaming content. Between Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, Songza, Spotify, and YouTube, I get a lot of my entertainment this way and rely on it every day. It's the way of the future with new original content coming out on some of these services as well as them being an important tool for discovering different content that would otherwise go unnoticed. This is why I'm a big supporter of these platforms. They democratize the consumption of content, allowing for more people to enjoy more awesome things whenever they want and however they want. I see that as a pretty positive thing. Unfortunately there are some critics out there and especially with death knells like net neutrality lingering out there which threaten the thriving ecosystem of the Internet, I feel now is as good a time as ever to reinforce the positives of streaming media services.

Access

As I mentioned before, people are now able to enjoy whatever they want, whenever they want. This could mean that I can watch news on the train, silly videos in bed, or listen to podcasts when I work out. This empowers people to be more informed, relaxed, and makes things like commutes or long drives more enjoyable and bearable. I don't see anything wrong with that! Obviously we all can't binge Netflix all the time, but we now can consume quick bits wherever we are so that we stay connected to what is important to us.

Variety

With the wide open access of content available currently, it is amazing the incredible diversity of content that is out there. Small, independent music, television, and podcasts can reach a wide audience or even just simply connect with their niche of fans. Whatever the topic or genre of content, there is sure to be an audience for it and there isn't an establishment saying that it doesn't track well with the mainstream. We can all be our weird, fun, uniquely authentic selves and it's okay!

Community

A big part of this that I enjoy is the community I see online around YouTube channels, Spotify playlists, or even niche television shows (like Community, House of Cards, Sleepy Hollow, Orange is the New Black, Arrow/The Flash, or even Scandal) where every piece of new content is an event and is talked about, shared, and remixed, mashed up, or fan art is created inspired by it. It's great to see passionate people come together to connect over their mutual love of something. It can be huge for a lot of us lonely geeks and nerds out there who may feel like we are alone in enjoying whatever we're into. It's important to find others to geek out with!

Streaming media services are here to say, regardless of what people like Taylor Swift say or hopefully whatever comes of the net neutrality decision. Support your favorite independent content, share awesome stuff you find with friends, and keep streaming my friends!

Thanks for stopping by!