Norse Myths and Legends

 

In school we always learned about Greek mythology, and I was never a fan. I think I would have liked it more if it were broken up into shorter, more digestible stories like the Norse mythologies presented in this book. Instead, we were presented with very old, large, and difficult to understand (for me, at least) stories like the Odyssey or Iliad. I always found these texts cumbersome to read and a bit confusing. After my scholarly assignments ended on the topic, I generally moved on from mythology and didn't pay much attention to it. It wasn't until I started watching the Marvel movies with Thor and playing the PS4-era God of War games that Norse mythology became visible on my radar. These movies and games are where the majority of my Norse mythology knowledge comes from, along with some side research and reading. Norse Myths and Legends is a collection of short stories about Odin, Thor, Loki, and other Norse gods. The stories are not all directly related, and can be read as individual tales if preferred. I won't summarize the individual stories here, but broadly the book can be summarized as seen below from ChatGTP:

The collection brings together stories from the Norse tradition, covering the creation of the world, the adventures of Odin, Thor, and Loki, the legendary dragon slayer Sigurd, and the final destruction of the gods at Ragnarok.

The stories fall into three broad categories:

• Tales of the Gods: The creation of the cosmos, the adventures of the Aesir, and their conflicts with giants and monsters.

• Sagas: Stories of legendary families, kings, warriors, feuds, and the consequences of honor and revenge.

• Heroes: Legendary figures such as Sigurd, whose victories and personal tragedies shape the heroic tradition.

Omega Watches

 

When it comes to watches and watch brands, I've always liked Omega. As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a sucker when it comes to watches and advertising. I was introduced to the brand via James Bond. Pierce Brosnan's Bond. Bond started wearing Omega watches in the 1995 film GoldenEye, and he has worn an Omega Seamaster in every film since. Of course, GoldenEye the game is when I really became a Bond fan and have watched every movie since playing the game. The game features the 300m diver watch on the pause menu that Bond wears in the film. 

When I decided to start a watch collection, I wanted to focus on certain watch categories with wearability. For instance, I wanted a daily dress watch to wear to work, a less dressy watch to wear on the weekends, etc. This was my focus over having a large number of watches or focusing on rare watches that interest collectors. With that approach, however, I've decided to place an emphasis on Omega watches for my collection. This doesn't mean that every watch I buy will be an Omega, as I like watches from other brands as well and Omega watches aren't exactly cheap. However, I plan on taking them into consideration when I'm thinking about getting a new watch for a certain category. This isn't just about James Bond. Bond was just my introduction to the brand. I like a number of their watches, and after buying a Seamaster Aqua Terra, I have a 300m Diver and Speedmaster Professional on my wish list. 

Beyond Bond, Omega has a rich and interesting history that appeals to me. The most appealing part of their history revolves around their Speedmaster Professional watch and its history with NASA and the moon. Since watching the 1995 film Apollo 13, I've been interested in NASA's space missions, specifically the ones that took place during the Space Race and Cold War. Omega's involvement with NASA during this time, being one of the first watches in space and the first watch worn on the moon, is super cool. 

The other part of their history that I find interesting is their involvement with the Olympics. Since 1932, Omega has been the official timekeeper of the Olympic games. With this has come a number of timing and scoring innovations, including the starting gun linked with timing and the touch pad in the swimming pool linked to timing. 

Finally, I have to mention my all-time favorite Omega ambassador. Above, I said that James Bond introduced me to Omega. That is only partially true. Around the same time that the GoldenEye game was released, one of my favorite athletes was an ambassador for Omega, cementing the brand on my radar. Of course I'm talking about Anna Kournikova.

Project Hail Mary (book & movie)

 

I'll admit, when I first heard about the plot to this story, I thought it sounded kinda silly. I heard about the movie before the book, and based on plot alone I had no interest in seeing it. The movie became a big box office success, however, which piqued my interest. Then my family purchased and read the book, and so I thought to myself that this must be a much better story than I initially thought, so I decided to give it a read. It turned out to be a really good book, and the movie adaptation was good as well. From ChatGTP:

The story follows Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher who awakens alone aboard a spacecraft with no memory of who he is or why he's there. As his memories gradually return, he discovers that Earth is facing a catastrophe caused by a microorganism called Astrophage, which is draining energy from the Sun and threatening to trigger a global ice age.

Grace learns that he is part of an international mission sent to the star system Tau Ceti, where scientists observed that Astrophage does not affect one particular star. His mission is to discover why and find a way to save humanity.

Along the way, he encounters an unexpected ally—an intelligent extraterrestrial engineer named Rocky. Despite enormous differences in biology, language, and culture, the two develop a remarkable friendship and work together to solve the mystery threatening both their civilizations.

When Grace is nearly home, he discovers that Rocky's ship is in trouble and that Rocky's species will die if he continues toward Earth. Grace chooses to abandon his return journey and rescue Rocky instead.

The Taumoeba solution is ultimately sent back to Earth, saving humanity. Grace survives but remains on Rocky's homeworld, where he becomes a beloved teacher for alien children. The novel ends with Grace content in his new life, having saved both Earth and Rocky's civilization.

The book features a ton of science, which was pretty cool to read. The way they intertwined the story in the present with his memories from the past to reveal the plot of the story was done really well. It kept you on the edge of your seat as you tried to figure out how, exactly, a science teacher was chosen to be an astronaut to save the world. I didn't know how the story would end, but I really liked that he stayed on Rocky's planet to become a teacher there. I did not see that coming, but honestly is a much better ending than having the earth die or having him return to earth, which would have required an explanation on how things changed. Overall, the book and movie were really well done and enjoyable.

Timepiece Blueprint - Year 2 - A Dress (& GADA?) Watch

As I've grown older, I find myself navigating away from chronographs and leaning more towards watches with simpler faces and less complications. Maybe I'm entering my "old man watch" phase, but honestly I just like their sleek look and find them easier to read. Additionally, I wear dress clothes most days of the week at work, and they pair more nicely with dress clothes than a chronograph. Don't get me wrong, every watch collection needs a nice chronograph (or two), but on a day-to-day basis I find myself wanting to wear a dressier watch.

A dress watch was always on my watch blueprint, though not necessarily in year two, and not necessarily this particular watch. I was searching for a GADA watch, a watch that is the pinnacle of any watch collection. GADA stands for "go anywhere, do anything", and is a watch that is versatile enough to wear with dress clothes during the week while at the same time can go on weekend adventures and not feel out of place. As soon as I discovered the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra I liked it. There is popular opinion online that it is a GADA watch, so I added it to my blueprint for this category. After seeing it in person, however, the watch is much dressier than I expected. I've thus shifted my blueprint around and made this my dress watch, opening a slot for a potentially more sporty watch. 

This watch looks and feels nice. It has a shiplap background, representing the deck of a yacht, a nod to it being a "Seamaster" model. Its large face is very easy to read, as is the date complication. The bracelet shines, and it fits perfectly under the cuff of a sleeve. I suppose you could wear it with anything, but I think it feels at home with a nice dress shirt. It checks a couple of boxes in my watch collection list as well. It's the first mechanical watch I've owned. Without going off on a tangent about mechanical watches, I've always been fascinated with their second hand movement and the complexity of how they function, so I was very excited to own one. Having owned one now for a little over a month, I will say the power reserve is a stat to pay attention to. This watch has a 60 hour power reserve listed, but I'd say it's more like a 48-60 hour reserve, making keeping it running over the weekend a challenge. Regardless, every time I wind it up and get it going, I feel like I'm wearing somewhat of an engineering marvel. The movements are just so cool. The second major box this watch checks is that it is an Omega. For as long as I can remember I've liked Omega watches. I was planning on going into my fascination with them in this post, but I think I'll save it for a subsequent post so that this one doesn't get too long. I have enough to say about Omega watches for them to have their own post.

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord (Season 1)

 

I've always enjoyed the Dave Filoni animated Star Wars shows, so I was excited for this show when it was announced. His Rebels and Clone Wars series added so much context and story to the Skywalker series, most of which was quite interesting. As for Maul, he is a character who is quite famous considering how relatively little screen time he had in just one of the main Star Wars movies, Episode 1. Despite the small amount of screen time, Maul as a character is quite complex, with a rich back story that is explained primarily in the Clone Wars TV show and extended in Rebels. From ChatGTP:

Darth Maul was born on the planet Dathomir as a member of the Nightbrother clan, a group tied to the mystical witches known as the Nightsisters. As a child, he was taken by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who secretly trained him to become a weapon of the Sith. Sidious raised Maul in extreme isolation and brutality, teaching him that anger, hatred, and pain were sources of strength.

By the time of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Maul had become Sidious’ deadly apprentice. Maul fought Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo, killing Qui-Gon before Obi-Wan defeated him by cutting him in half and sending him down a reactor shaft.

Although presumed dead, Maul survived through sheer hatred and the dark side of the Force. He ended up on the junk planet Lotho Minor, mentally broken and using crude mechanical spider-like legs to survive. Eventually, his brother Savage Opress found him and brought him back to Dathomir, where the Nightsisters restored his mind and gave him cybernetic legs.

After recovering, Maul became obsessed with revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi and also sought power independent of Sidious. During the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he built a criminal empire called the Shadow Collective by uniting groups like Death Watch and several crime syndicates. He briefly took control of Mandalore and murdered Satine Kryze in front of Obi-Wan as an act of revenge.

In Star Wars Rebels, he became a wandering, bitter figure seeking ancient Sith knowledge and trying to manipulate Ezra Bridger into becoming an ally or apprentice.

Maul’s story ultimately ends on the desert planet Tatooine, where he tracked down an older Obi-Wan Kenobi. Their final duel was extremely short, with Obi-Wan killing Maul in a single strike. As he died, Maul asked whether Obi-Wan was protecting “the Chosen One,” and Obi-Wan confirmed it. Maul died believing that Luke Skywalker would one day destroy the Sith and avenge them both against Sidious.

In Maul: Shadow Lord, the series follows Darth Maul after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as he tries to rebuild his criminal empire while surviving in a galaxy now controlled by the Empire. He believes he can operate and regain strength while working from within the shadows. However, his actions draw the attention of the Empire, who send Inquisitors to retrieve him at first, and ultimately Darth Vader comes after him. Maul is portrayed as an angry and tragic villain, rather than just a Sith assassin. He is still upset at what Darth Sidious put him through, and is mad that the world has moved on without him. While the first couple of episodes are a bit slow and without much action, as the season moved along, the plot picked up and the action got intense, especially once the Empire showed up. The animation was appealing, almost looking like a van Gogh painting in style. I haven't heard news on a second season, but if there is one I will plan to watch. 

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

 

I really enjoyed the first Super Mario movie, so of course I was looking forward to seeing The Super Mario Galaxy movie. I also think the Mario Galaxy games are some of the better Mario games, especially in the 3D category of Mario games. Thus, I was excited to see the theme of that game featured in this movie. Like most sequels, however, this movie was OK, but not as good as the original Mario movie (not the one from 1993).

I really enjoyed the throwback references to prior Mario games, especially Mario 2. Seeing Birdo and the rest of the villains from that game at the casino was amusing. I never played the Star Fox games, and thus his appearance in the movie didn't do much for me. I fired up Star Fox 64 and played the first stage. It aged as well as most games from the 64 era, meaning it was quite blocky. The characters were like bobbleheads when they talked, which was distracting. I didn't make it past the first stage. To be fair, I've never been a big fan of flying games.

Anyway, back to the movie. The other thing I appreciated was the scene towards the end of the movie when they were attacking Bowser's base. Mario and Peach are running down a pathway with rotating fireball objects in their pathway, just like in the NES-era 2D side-scrolling Mario games. It was really neat to see. Going back to Mario Galaxy, it was fun to see Rosalina (Brie Larson) and elements from that game in the movie as well. Just hearing Charlie Day's voice (Luigi) is amusing. The music in the movie was cool too. 

All of the nostalgia aside, the plot of the movie was just OK. Having Bowser (Jack Black) as baby bowser for most of the movie was a bold choice, and I don't think Bowser Jr. holds the prestige of a main villain the way Bowser himself does. Additionally, there were no ridiculous Jack Black songs in this movie to recreate the amazing "Peaches" song from the first movie. Overall, this movie is worth watching if you're a Mario fan and/or if you have kids. It's enjoyable, but doesn't quite pull off the same level of greatness as the original 2023 movie. 

Apple One & Home

 

We've been long term Amazon Prime subscribers. Due to increasing cost and perceived decreased benefits (along with some other things), we've decided to discontinue our Amazon Prime subscription. The reason I'm bringing this up here is because of some downstream ramifications that come with discontinuing Prime. When I first started subscribing to a streaming music service several years ago, I went with Amazon Music Unlimited, partially because of a discount that was received if you were a Prime subscriber. I'm not sure if we still receive a discount for Music Unlimited, but the decision to drop Prime got me thinking about switching music services as well. Generally I've been happy with Music Unlimited. However, like everything else it seems, the price keeps going up for the service. Additionally, and I'll get into more details on a future post, I had issues with the Music Unlimited app(s). We're heavily involved in the Apple eco system, and so I started looking into Apple Music. This escalated quickly as I discovered Apple One, a bundle package that includes all of the apps shown in the picture above. There are already a handful of shows on Apple TV that I watch, and there is another handful of shows that I'm interested in watching. Additionally, with Formula 1 switching from ESPN to Apple TV, there was additional incentive to pick up Apple TV again. I was already familiar with TV, but I decided to do a trial of Apple Music to make sure it would work for us. Apple News is part of the bundle, and so I decided to pay attention to it again as a potential source of news. After doing about a month trial of Music and News, I decided that it was worth switching from Amazon Music Unlimited to the Apple One bundle. On the one hand, the per month cost would go up. On the other hand, I like the Apple Music app better than the Music Unlimited app, I will watch content on Apple TV, and I'll use the News app daily. This is what I mean when I say that things escalated quickly. None of this was on my radar until one Saturday morning Sarah suggested we get rid of Prime. This decision, plus being heavily involved in the Apple eco system and the overall quality of the apps in the One bundle made the decision make sense for us.

What I plan on doing is having subsequent posts where I talk about (at least some of) the apps individually. Like I said above, I've been doing trials over the past month with the apps and have subscribed to the One bundle now for a little over a week, and so I have enough experience with them to have opinions and thoughts moving forward. The other thing I wanted to mention in this post was Apple Home. We have some lighting automation in our home, some of which is electronic (as opposed to being dawn to dusk with solar sensors). The electronic workflows were a bit of a mess, because of a mix of software being used. Some of the lights were running on Alexa, some on Belkin Wemo, and some on Apple Home. In January, Belkin discontinued support for their Wemo smart plugs, which were running all of our lighting timers. I decided that moving forward I wanted to run all of our smart home workflows through Apple Home. The app is readily available to me on all of my Apple devices, it is a nice looking and easy to use app, and Apple TV can be used as a smart home hub to help control your smart devices. Since my original go around with smart home devices, a standardized protocol called "Matter" has been developed, allowing for interoperability between devices made by different companies. This is a great step forward. For me, ensuring that my devices work with Apple Home is how I am going to standardize where I go to control my home workflows. The app is really nice, and the ability to use Apple TV as a hub is a nice feature as well.

Back In Time

 

The Back to the Future (BttF) movies are some of my favorite movies of all time. This is especially true for parts 1 & 2 (we all know part 3 is the weakest). I know that the movies can be easily criticized from a movie critic perspective (time travel logistics, Marty's lack of character arc, etc.), but I've always found them to be well written and acted and they're honestly just fun to watch. Back in Time (BiT) is a documentary on Amazon Prime (more on that in an upcoming post) about the movies and their super fans. Despite the criticisms of the movies, I think the acting and writing that the movies offer are good enough that you tend to forget about the fact that Marty's mom is in love with him or that his family shouldn't be disappearing from photographs. The first movie is probably the best movie of the trilogy, but I also really enjoyed the complexity of the second movie and the interwoven settings of parts 1 & 2. Doc Brown does spend a lot of time explaining the situation to Marty (and the audience), but it is complex and he does it in such a memorable way that the movies are able to pull this otherwise negative stunt off without too much hiccup.

The movies are obviously well known and offer a ton of nostalgia, and the documentary focuses on this nostalgia in addition to discussing the pros/cons of the movies. There's discussion of BttF tribute bands and the obvious DeLorean owners who have turned their "classic" car, a car that is only remembered because of the movies, into replicas of the time machine. All in all, all of this "noise" surrounding the nostalgia of the movies is interesting to learn about, and discussion of some behind the scenes info is fun as well, making the documentary enjoyable for fans of the movies. For me, I'll stick with periodically watching the movies when they're on TV and to a smaller, replica time machine.

F1: The Movie

 

Initially, I was on the fence about watching this movie. It got great reviews, however, so when it was released on Apple TV I decided to give it a watch. Overall I thought it was really good, with only some minor plot points that held it back. From Chat GTP:

The film follows Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a former Formula One driver whose promising career ended decades earlier after a devastating crash. Now a veteran racer competing in other motorsport series, Sonny is unexpectedly recruited by his old friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), the owner of a struggling F1 team on the brink of collapse.

Sonny returns to Formula One not as a championship favorite, but as a last-chance gamble to help save the team. He’s paired with Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), a young, highly talented rookie whose raw speed is matched by inexperience and ego. Much of the film centers on the tense mentor-student dynamic between Sonny and Joshua, as they clash over racing philosophy, pressure, and what it takes to survive at the highest level of the sport.

My biggest takeaway from the movie is that the on-screen racing action is fantastic. The racing scenes were filmed during actual F1 race weekends, and the way the action is portrayed feels very realistic. It has the best racing scenes and action that I've ever seen in a racing movie. It feels very authentic.

The plot is good enough. It's a bit of a stretch to think that an older, retired F1 driver can return to a struggling team to save the season by winning a race, but it provides for an interesting story. It reminds me a bit of Philip Rivers returning to the Colts this season. Too bad it didn't work out as well for them. The biggest thing that I didn't like was the one night stand that Brad Pitt's character had with the race engineer. It felt a bit forced and unnecessary, honestly. Additionally, the crashes were over the top, especially Pearce's crash at Monza. I also didn't like how everyone turned on Sonny after Pearce's crash at Monza. Pearce did the opposite of what Sonny recommended, crashed, and everyone blamed Sonny. Seems incorrect.

Criticisms aside, overall the movie was really well done. It has the best, most realistic racing action I've ever seen in a movie. The plot is intriguing enough, and I really like how they didn't dumb down the racing dialog. It's probably the best racing movie ever made, or at least the best one made in my lifetime. I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you're a racing fan.

A Minecraft Movie (2025)

 

Minecraft is a game that I've never played, but I am familiar with it because my kids play it. I've played Minecraft Dungeons with them a bit, but I've never played the original Minecraft game. I think if this game was around when I was a kid I would have loved it. I don't know that I 100% understand the plot in terms of what you are supposed to accomplish, but from what I've seen it is like a huge sandbox where you can build and create anything you can think of. In that regard, it feels a bit like a SimCity game except that you are not limited to city building. My kids create villages and houses and all kinds of various structures, and I've seen some very ornate builds and recreations of famous places that people have done online. That part of the game is very cool, and I certainly see why it is such an appealing and popular game.

Onto the movie. Being familiar with the game, I thought the movie was pretty good. It was certainly entertaining. Again, if I were a kid and into Minecraft I probably would have loved the movie. The addition of Jason Momoa's character as a burned out but macho high profile gamer from the '80s certainly added a lot to the entertainment value of the movie. Jennifer Coolidge was only in a few scenes but stole every scene she was in, as she tends to do. Of course, Jack Black as Minecraft Steve was great as well. 

This movie has become hugely successful, and with the success of the recent Mario Bros. movie, I really hope Hollywood continues to make good video game movies. I know that video games have been made into movies in the past with various levels of success, but the truth is that there are a lot of video games that tell great stories and have beloved characters. I'm hoping the success of A Minecraft movie and the Mario Bros. movie keeps the momentum going for future game-based movies. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Zelda movie. Additionally, I've played a few famous gaming series for the first time in the past year that have movies that I've never seen that I wouldn't mind going back to watch. This includes Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, and Assassins Creed. I have played 100s of hours of Gran Turismo over the years (including 200 hours on GT7 alone) and haven't seen the Gran Turismo movie yet. 

An Unexpected Upgrade (Klipsch Flexus CORE 300)

 

I upgraded my sound bar in my living room just a couple of years ago to a Klipsch Cinema 600. I really like Klipsch speakers in general and overall was happy with the Cinema 600. The sound quality was excellent and it was plenty loud. It did have a few odd qualities, however. Most notably, I thought the sub made noise at inappropriate times. For instance, if an interview was being conducted and it was windy outside or the person blew into the mic on accident, the sub would thump. Unfortunately turning the volume down on the sub didn't help much. Additionally, periodically the electronics would do funky stuff like turning the volume up when you were pressing the down button. Again, overall I was happy with the sound quality, but there was a small part of me that wondered if I could've had a better sound bar for the same price. The odd ends and outs weren't enough for me to replace it, however, especially since it was only two years old. 

I know a guy who is a sound engineer at Klipsch, and that relationship has been very lucrative in terms of getting new Klipsch products. He has been working on the replacement for the Cinema series of sound bars, the Klipsch Flexus CORE and he gave me an entire system to "test". What's cool about this is that the Flexus CORE 200 is already out and available to buy, but the surround sound speakers I'm testing I've had a full 4 months before they will be available to the public to buy. I'm happy to report that the Flexus CORE soundbar is better than the Cinema sound bar that I had in every way.

The first thing that I noticed when I got it was its size - it is huge! It's nearly 4 feet wide and weighs around 30 pounds. I'm the type of person who equates weight of electronics with quality, and the Flexus CORE is markedly bigger than the Cinema bar. The width of the bar fits nicely in front of my TV as it stretches edge to edge of the screen. This bar adds Atmos up-firing speakers, something the Cinema bar did not have. I was always a bit jealous of not having Atmos. When I purchased the Cinema bar in 2022, adding Atmos speakers to a soundbar was quite expensive, so I decided to bypass this feature. I have Atmos in my basement theater setup, and while I think Atmos speakers are the least impactful speakers in a surround sound setup, they are still a nice feature to have. 

In addition to having Atmos, this bar has full surround sound as well. I could've expanded the Cinema bar to have surround sound, but never did. It was only a 2.1 system, with a separate sub (as mentioned above). I never really wanted surround sound in my living room, to be honest. I always wanted to keep the setup simple, and not have to mess with the wiring and such. Since this bar came with surround speakers, however, I felt like it would be a waste not to use them. Unlike the sound bar itself, the surround speakers are quite small and were easy enough to setup on a small shelf. They connect to the sound bar wirelessly, and thus just needed an outlet close by for power. They look a bit like the cylinder shaped Alexa devices in terms of size (though these are square). Having the surround sound is a nice bonus feature which does add to the overall experience. I also like that the surround speakers also have Atmos upward firing drivers as well, giving the full 4 speaker Atmos experience (something my basement theater does not have). 

Klipsch has a partnership with Onkyo, and the Flexus CORE features Onkyo electronic components. This is a very good thing, because while I love the sound of Klipsch's speakers, I have had more than one experience with wonky electronics in other Klipsch products. Additionally, I've had two Onkyo AV receivers and have been happy with both. In addition to improved looks and expanded capabilities with surround and Atmos, the Flexus CORE bar just works better than the Cinema bar. The sub no longer thumps annoyingly at unnecessary times. The volume control is much better as well. The Cinema bar was too loud, even at the lowest possible volume setting. The LED screen showing the volume and input is fantastic as well. It is large and easy to read, and when it is not needed it goes black, leaving the sound as the only indication that the bar is working. It's not that the Cinema bar was bad, but the Flexus CORE really improves on every aspect. I'm much happier with this bar and it is one that I would more confidently recommend. 

Addendum: I thought this was a Klipsch Flexus Core 200 bar, but it is actually a Flexus Core 300 bar. What is super cool about that is that as of the time of this post (and addendum on March 6, 2025) the Flexus Core 300 is not available to the public. It is completely in testing phase right now.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) (Remastered)

 

I've wanted to watch this movie since it came out, but it wasn't available on any of the streaming platforms that I subscribe to, and oddly wasn't even available to rent. It finally started showing on TV, and my DVR picked it up. It follows Egon Spengler's (Harold Ramis) grandkids as they move into a small Oklahoma town that is (surprise!) haunted by a demon. In the process of fighting the demon, they discover who their grandfather was and his relationship to the Ghostbusters.

This movie is pretty decent on its own, meaning if you've never seen the original Ghostbusters movies it is still worth watching. However, it if full of references to the original movie, and thus is quite a bit of fun to watch for fans of the original movies. These references peak at the end of the movie, when the original Ghostbusters appear to help Egon's grandkids fight the demon, including a hologram version of Harold Ramis, who unfortunately passed away in 2014.

The other star of the show was the famous Ecto-1 car. The recent Lego version of the Ecto-1 I built was based on the car in this movie, which includes some interesting upgrades compared to the car from the original movies. I was delighted when, in a scene chasing a ghost down the streets of the small town, the kids drop a remote controlled ghost trap from the trunk of the car. This trap and the ability to drop it out of the trunk are featured in the Lego version of the car as well, which is super cool.

As if this weren't enough Ghostbusters nostalgia, I also had a chance to play Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered, albeit briefly. Originally debuting in the PS3 era (and was early enough in the PS3 life cycle that it also debuted on the PS2), it was later rereleased in a remastered version for the PS4. While the game features gameplay that is a bit clunky and cumbersome, it has a ton of Ghostbusters nostalgia, which I found amusing. Unfortunately, shortly after I started playing it was removed from the Playstation Plus library, so I didn't get too far into the game.

Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1

 

If there is one thing I remember as a kid, it is that I was a huge Ghostbusters fan. I had the action figures and headquarters, a wearable proton pack, halloween costumes, etc. You name it and I had it if it was Ghostbusters. The funny thing is that I don't really remember watching the first movie. I've seen it several times, but don't remember watching it as a kid. Was I even allowed to watch it? I think it's rated PG but it was 1980s PG, which typically includes smoking and cursing and sexual references. I've had my eye on the Lego Ecto-1 set since it was released, and so I was excited to receive the set as a gift from Sarah and the girls. It is 100% pure nostalgia. 

This version of the Ecto-1 is based on the car featured in the 2021 movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Admittedly I have never seen the film (though I have it on my DVR waiting to watch). This set was a lot of fun to build. With 2,300 pieces and 1.5 feet long, it is a big set. I've enjoyed building the larger car Lego sets, and this one was no exception. I find the details with the steering and various moving parts interesting. They also tend to be some of the less tedious sets. The size of the car makes it perfect for display at the top of my entertainment center, on the other side of my center channel speaker. It really ups the nerd factor in the basement.

New Sound System - Part 8: Dolby Atmos (5.2.2)

 

The so-called chef's kiss was placed on my new sound system over the Thanksgiving weekend when I added Dolby Atmos enabled speakers to my home theater. This caps off a two year process of upgrading my components or adding new components to my downstairs home theater. Previously, I had a stereo setup that essentially never got used. I now have a full surround system that is used every time I use the TV. I also upgraded the TV and receiver to handle 4K video. The Atmos-enabled speakers shown above were the final upgrade, and I now consider the project finished for the foreseeable future except for possible minor tweaks (see the upcoming My State of Mobile Gaming posts as an example).

Dolby Atmos is a type of spatial audio that adds sound above the listener for overhead effects. The standard is to have two rows of speakers in the ceiling that beam sound down towards the floor. I was not interested in the construction that would be required to thread speaker wire through my drywall and mount speakers in my finished ceiling. Instead, I opted for Atmos-enabled speakers. The wedge shaped speakers sit on top of my floor standing loud speakers and beam sound upward towards the ceiling. This allows the sound to bounce off the ceiling and back down towards the floor and listener, akin to Bipole surround sound.

I was really excited to add Atmos to my setup. I felt like it would "complete" my theater and make it as modern as possible. Unfortunately, I don't think I can tell one bit of difference after adding the newest set of speakers. I even turned the relative volume on the speakers to +3 (all of my other speakers are at 0 except for my rear surrounds which are at +1). I just cannot hear additional sound coming from them. My basement is not an ideal room for surround sound speaker placement. It is one large open room that is interrupted by a staircase. I tend to sit in the back left corner, which is also not ideal as I am really close to the left speakers and really far from the right speakers. I also have a really large center channel speaker. So large that it won't fit in front or underneath the TV. Instead, it sits on top of my entertainment center, just a few feet from the ceiling. I suspect that both my off-center sitting position and the sound from the center channel filling the upper air of the room are contributing to my lack of awareness of the Atmos sound. With the awkward room it will be difficult to adjust the placement of the speakers much, so I feel like I'm locked into my current setup for the time being. With that being said, I definitely don't think the Atmos enabled speakers detract from the theater experience. Maybe with some fine tuning I can enhance the effect of the speakers.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3

 

The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are some of my favorite films and characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Needless to say I have been looking forward to watching this movie since it came out on Disney+. While there seems to be a plethora of mediocre MCU movies recently, Guardians 3 received decent reviews. 

The movie focuses on Rocket's back story. Essentially he was the subject of a series of experiments to create the perfect race of people for a perfect civilization. He becomes injured, and in order to save him the Guardians must find his creator. This leads them on an adventure to a variety of mucous-filled weird worlds. They meet up with an alternate version of Gamora, who no longer remembers Peter or the rest of the Guardians due to the events of the Infiniti War. 

With Rocket being injured, he spends almost the entire movie on life support, unable to speak. This is a major negative, in my opinion, as Rocket is one of the more entertaining members of the Guardians. And with Gamora having no memory of the Guardians, that means two of the core members are essentially absent from the movie. There's still plenty of banter and comedy, however, especially between Dax and Mantis, and even Nebula has several scenes that were amusing. 

Rocket's back story is a sad one, and unfortunately involves animal cruelty and experimentation. This is also a bit of a downer. All of this is to say I kind of felt "meh" about this movie. I didn't dislike it, per se, but I also didn't love it. It's probably my least favorite movie of the 3 Guardians films, though a part of me thinks I need to watch it again to give it a fair chance. The typical banter between the members was my favorite part and at least made the movie somewhat of an enjoyable watch.

Barbie (2023)

Barbie became a huge movie success in 2023. While my girls aren't huge Barbie fans, they do have a decent amount of Barbies and play with them periodically, so were interested in the movie. In general this would have been a movie that I would not have been interested in at all. However, because of its success it was constantly in the news, being praised for how good it is. Video game and geek news site IGN even named it their movie of the year. The entertainment featured on IGN is typically the same stuff I'm interested in, so with their endorsement, I decided that I would go ahead and watch the movie with my girls as well. The movie stars Margot Robbie, which helped with my decision as well.

The Barbie characters live in the perfect Barbie world, where much like the toy doll, Barbie holds every job title imaginable and women rule the world. Barbie is the president, the construction worker, the doctor...you get the point. This is what the world looks like from their perspective. The funny part about this is that in Barbie's world, Ken is a nobody. He fights with the other Kens for Barbie's attention, and while she is willing to hang out with them, in general couldn't care less about Ken. In a very funny scene, Beach Ken gets into an argument with the other Kens and they try to stage a "beach off". It's such juvenile humor, but even typing this sentence has me laughing thinking about it.

Barbie begins to notice that she is getting cellulite and that her feet are flat. In order to figure out what is going on she must travel to the real world. Here she realizes that women do not hold every position and instead exist primarily in a patriarchy. This is a tough reality check for Barbie. Ken, on the other hand, thrives in the real world and becomes obsessed with horses and macho guy stuff. He returns to the Barbie world and brings his real world machoism with him, becoming somewhat of a villain until the Barbies are able to restore order. 

Despite featuring toys that I have zero interest in, the movie overall was quite enjoyable. Plenty of laugh out loud moments and it has a good overall message. My only complaint is that it becomes a bit slow and sappy at the end. This is minor, however, as the rest of the movie is quite enjoyable. On a side note, I didn't realize Will Ferrell was in the movie until I watched it. Will has been playing the same character for what feels like 20+ years now, the loud and obnoxious adult, and yet somehow it never gets old. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

 

Ant-Man is definitely a movie I watched just because it is a part of the MCU. It got mediocre reviews and Ant-Man isn't exactly Spider-Man. The first half of the movie isn't very good. The second half is decent, however. Since the end of the Infiniti War, we've heard about Kang the Conqueror and how he was going to be the next baddie in the MCU. The second half of the movie heavily features Kang in his true form, which was great. At the end of season 1 of Loki, we are introduced to He Who Remains (HWR). HWR sits at the end of time and controls variant timelines through the Time Variance Authority, an organization he created. HWR is a variant of Kang, and in season 2 of Loki HWR is featured prominently. The problem is that in season 2 he is an 1800s scientist variant form of HWR named Victor Timely, who in no way seems powerful or scary. The second half of Ant-Man changes this. We get to see how powerful Kang really is, and it is scary. Not only is he personally strong, but he is capable of returning if killed, as he has an army of Kang variants. For the first time, we see how strong Kang the Conqueror really is.

The real question moving forward, however, is was this all for nothing? HWR dies in season 2 of Loki while trying to fix the Time Loom. The actor who played HWR and Kang got into legal trouble and was recently dropped by Marvel and Disney, so the character's future is up in the air. Some speculate that HWR's death in season 2 of Loki was Marvel's way of writing him off, even though Victor was just a variant of HWR, so theoretically more of him exist. More to come on the future of Kang in the MCU, I suppose, but seeing him in true form against Ant-Man was the highlight of the movie for me.

Modern Headphones

 

For the longest time I had no use for a nice set of headphones. However, as my TV consumption increased it became increasingly apparent that a nice set of headphones would be useful. I had been using a pair of entry level gaming headphones that my brother bought me. They are fine for gaming for me, but they are wired which was cumbersome to deal with when watching on an iPad and made it impossible to use them for watching shows on the TV. Once I figured out that I could connect a pair of headphones to the Apple TV via Bluetooth, I began looking for a nice wireless pair of headphones.

I started looking at gaming headphones first. I was hoping to get a pair that would work for both gaming and TV & music. I probably could have found a pair that would have worked for me. However, most of the wireless gaming headphones used a dongle to connect to the console, and I was concerned that I would have connectivity issues when trying to connect just via Bluetooth (which possibly is untrue) so I ditched the gaming headphone idea and just looked at regular headphones. Besides, I don't use my gaming headphones often and when I do the Turtle Beach pair that I have works fine for me.

After doing some research, it seemed like the $300-$400 price range is where most of the top rated wireless headphones sat, which is a lot. I picked out 3-5 different models within this price range, and settled on this set of Sony headphones. I would have likely been fine with any of the models, honestly. I like Sony as a brand, however, and I thought this pair was one of the better looking sets. It also was one of the higher rated headphones as well. 

Since I have purchased them, I have used them to watch TV on both my iPad and Apple TV, as well as listen to music. This is the first pair of noise-cancelling headphones I have ever owned, and I must say the technology is pretty awesome. After connecting them to a device, you can literally hear the sound in the room switch off. If I want to hear what Sarah is saying, I just put a hand over the left ear cup. If I want to pause what is on TV, I simply take the headphones off my head. And not having to fumble with the connection wire is a major plus as well. The audio quality and connection controls are really awesome. This is by far the fanciest and most advanced pair of headphones I've ever owned.

Operation TV Swap: Part 5 - ...The Bad, and the Ugly

Operation TV Swap has been a success. The improved picture is noticeable, especially for 4K content, and the sound of the basement theater has been upgraded as well with the addition of a second subwoofer and new rear channel surround speakers. The project hasn't been without its negatives, however. This has mostly been in the form of odd video gremlins.

One of the main reasons for this project was to upgrade my system so that it could handle the video output of the Playstation 5. This includes 4K video with high dynamic range (HDR) and a variable refresh rate (VRR) up to 120 hz. Not only does this require a TV that can handle such video (and in my case, a receiver as well), it also requires HDMI cables that follow the newest 2.1 standard. This all seems simple enough. Little did I know that there would be options where I have to tell the TV I want it to use VRR. I assumed if the TV could handle VRR it would do it automatically. These options are the source of some of my video gremlins, I think. 

I have my PS5 and my Apple TV connected to my AV Receiver, and then it passes video from both sources via one HDMI cable to the TV. The TV has 4 options for the HDMI connection: basic, enhanced, Dolby Vision (a proprietary HDR version), and VRR. In order to take advantage of the Playstation's VRR, I have to place the HDMI option on the TV (and interestingly there's a similar option on the receiver as well) to VRR. Doing this allows for 4K HDR with a VRR and locks the TV into gaming mode. After getting the system connected, I very quickly experienced video gremlins. The most common gremlin is audio without video, and usually occurs when switching from the Apple TV to the PS5, or vice versa. What is displayed on the TV when this occurs is the default screen the TV has when you switch to an input but nothing is playing. I can hear the PS5 in the background, but the TV acts as if it isn't receiving any video. I have had a few other issues, such as playback errors from various streaming apps and the dreaded HDCP error. These have been few and far between, and honestly I think this is more of an issue with the app itself rather than an issue with my setup.

I quickly suspected the audio without video issue was related to the HDMI settings. For a few weeks I played with the various settings. Having an AV Receiver involved makes it twice as challenging to troubleshoot, because it has its own settings to adjust as well. The only setup I found that didn't cause the issue was to dial back the settings on the TV and receiver to their most basic, which allows for 4K video but not 4K HDR or VRR. I ran the setup like this for a week and didn't experience the issue once. The problem with this, however, is that it completely negates the entire reason behind the project. Thus, this was not an acceptable solution. 

After messing around with this for the better part of a month, I decided to go back to the settings I wanted which is VRR in gaming mode. This takes advantage of the Playstation's capabilities while allowing me to watch movies in 4K HDR. I don't mind being locked into gaming mode while not playing games. Honestly, I think it is one of the better viewing modes on TVs. I have my upstairs TV on gaming mode as well. I occasionally experience the audio without video situation, but it has a simple enough fix: toggling between inputs on the receiver. It's a minor inconvenience that is far outmatched by the advantage of having a better picture. 

Operation TV Swap: Part 4 - The Good...

Its been a little over a month since I initially set-up my new TV and AV Receiver as part of Operation TV Swap. This has given me plenty of time to test out settings and experience the new hardware with various media types (games, movies, sports, etc.). I will give my thoughts on each component of the upgrade below.

• The Sony Bravia OLED TV looks fantastic. It got really good reviews, although not quite as good as the LG, which consistently was mentioned as the best OLED. This was mostly because they are a bit brighter. But from my point of view, where this TV is in a basement not competing with much ambient light, and from being used to watching Plasma TVs that are not known for their brightness levels, this Sony is plenty bright. I've even at times turned down the brightness, but currently I have it on max brightness on game mode. Additionally, believe it or not, this is my first experience with 4K. I think the upgrade in image quality to 4K is the most noticeable upgrade for me on the new TV. It is especially noticeable for movies and PS5 games. I've always liked Sony TVs, and this is no exception. Before the Plasma era Sony was my TV of choice.
• I felt a bit like my arm was twisted into getting a new receiver to accommodate the video quality upgrades. This component was the one I was looking forward to the least. With that being said, I like the new receiver quite a bit. If nothing else, I appreciate having updated on-screen menus and options. My biggest complaint is that it is the quietest receiver I've ever owned. In the grand scheme of things, however, it doesn't really matter if you watch TV at a volume level of 45 instead of 35. It still gets plenty loud to do the job. I stayed with Onkyo for the receiver because I was happy with my previous Onkyo and since the same company owns Onkyo and Klipsch, they are optimized to work together, which I like. There were a handful of receivers that had the features I like in my price range, and I probably would've been happy with any of them. 
• Technically the new Klipsch Reference bookshelf speakers were not part of Operation TV Swap, but due to delays, they arrived around the same time as the other upgrades so I will include a brief discussion here (they have their own post). I purchased these speakers to replace my previous bookshelves so that they would match all of my other Klipsch speakers. My previous Cerwin-Vega speakers were purchased 20+ years ago and so were quite old, despite never getting much use. While I wanted all of my speakers to match, I was not expecting the sound upgrade that I got. In my dedicated post to the speakers, I was a bit on the fence on the upgrade to sound quality. After spending a bit more time using them, I can safely say they sound better without a doubt. They're much louder than my previous speakers, which in my mind is an upgrade in quality. My previous speakers were so quiet it was often times hard to tell I was even using surround sound. That is not the case with these new speakers.
• I'm still unsure how much value adding a second sub provides to my setup as a whole. I put my new, larger sub in the front corner. I had to put my older sub in the back corner, which is not ideal. I think the whole setup would sound better if both subs were upfront, but I simply didn't have any space upfront to place a second sub. I have the second sub turned down quite a bit so that it doesn't blow you out of the room. I haven't encountered any negatives to having a second sub. If anything it is a minor improvement, but probably not a necessity. It was a free upgrade for me, so overall I'm happy with it.
• Besides upgrading the Basement Theater, the other big improvement that Operation TV Swap accomplished was upgrading my living room TV. After using my 42 inch Panasonic Plasma for 15 years, all of a sudden it seemed small. I was able to move my old 60 inch TV from the basement to my upstairs living room. Jumping from a 42 inch TV to a 60 inch TV is a massive increase in size, and it took me a couple of days to get used to the bigger TV in that space. After the short adjustment period, however, I quickly got used to the bigger TV and no question it is better to watch TV on a larger screen versus a smaller screen. I can now more easily see it from the sunroom as well, making a pseudo duel screen setup in the sunroom. The only negative of the whole situation is that now that I've experienced what a modern TV can do with OLED and 4K, it kind of makes me want to upgrade my upstairs living room TV to a newer model. More to come on that at some point I am sure.

Overall Operation TV Swap was a big success. No question it massively upgraded the Basement Theater, and improved TV viewing in the upstairs living room as well. However, it hasn't come without challenges and technical issues that I am still battling with. I will explore the bad and the ugly in Part 5 of this series.