Here's what I did during the month of July, a lot of movies, games and anime episodes
So, itās been a while and blogposts have been a bit scarce, but I am back
again to share my personal usage data information with the world to see.
Basically gaming and podcasting, and also some movies and a whole anime show this time around.
Podcasts
I listened to 79 hours of Podcasts!
Into The Aether was the definitive winner this time around thanks to
itās 15 hour long bonus episode: Games of the Decate 2000-2009, as well as
their 7th season premiere about the Nintendo GameCube. These are some
absolute behemots that I listened to in a matter of days, and it was
glorious. I highly recommend to start with either if you are a crazy person
who likes games.
Trash Taste has been super fun lately with episodes were they just
rate random stuff, the most popular games, the best anime, the GOATs of
Things and such. Listening to their banter is very fun even though I lose
quite a bit of brain cells sometimes.
NPC: Next Portable Console is a new podcast that talks about portable
consoles and gaming setups, from the Miyoo Mini Plus to the PSVita and
stuff like that, itās really enjoyable and if you like Into The Aether,
Brendon Bigley cohosts this one as well!
The usual subjects remain present, such as Revolutions, Late Night Linux,
the Rest is History and Dungeons and Daddies.
Anime & Shows
Hajime No Ippo is one of the classics of anime, maybe the
quintessential boxing anime to watch. I binged the whole 76 episodes on
Netflix in a matter of days, and I was absolutely hooked by it.
There is this classic trope of āmain character just gets stronger and
stronger and wins in the endā, but I think this gets a lot more nuanced
than that. The whole cast of side characters is quite charming as well. The
whole show is a lesson on perseverance, never giving up and building
yourself to be the best you can be.
Ippo is a remarkable character who keeps improving himself through hard
work, it was extremely inspiring for me even now, I am definitely reading
the manga soon. It even got me to excercise more often as well! I highly
recommend it.
Manga
Blue Lock was a bit left behind for me, I think my general interest
in sports has rosen up since I played soccer a few times last month. This
series keeps evolving in interesting ways and the arc Iām reading seems to
be close to the end! I am at chapter 251.
Shadow Star is my latest addition to the reading list. I found it due to a short. The art is kinda outdated and I find the pacing strange. I think itās a weird mix between Pokemon and Evangelion, with a typical shonen protagonist that finds a āshadow dragonā and is now entangled in a conspiracy, where she meets other kids with their own dragons and goals, and the government is also trying to understand what those beings are and keep the whole thing a secret.
Donāt let the cute artstyle and the āpower of friendshipā facade fool you. The fun and optimistic protagonist ends up facing some rather dark situations, with horror and sci-fi elements I didnāt expect, itās rather intriguing.
DanDaDan is about to get an anime super soon, so I am trying to catch
up and be up to date with the manga as soon as possible. I am at chapter
121.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is maybe my favorite manga to read on rainy
and chill days. I only read 2 or 3 chapters when the mood is just right, I
donāt want this manga to end, it is so good and so cozy. It is just
fantastic. I am at chapter 58.
Movies
Justice League: Doom was a movie I already knew and got spoiled on
ages ago due to YouTube Shorts and videos about Batman being cool, but I
still decided to give it a watch and yeah, itās cool!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem came out last year and
follows the artstyle of Into the Spiderverse with their own twists on
things. This movie looks incredible and itās also super ugly at the same
time except for the turtles themselves. The character design of everything
else is almost like John Carpenterās The Thing and somehow it all fits for
a kids movie? The animation was top notch and it was an entertaining story.
It does have a bunch of random pop culture references which may age poorly
in 5 years, but they were quite funny to me.
The Equalizer is an action movie with Denzel Washington and it is
indeed an action movie. I quite enjoyed the action moments, lots of over
the top shots that somehow land. I was in the mood for this kind of stuff
and went for it, it doesnāt beat John Wick, but itās cool.
Safe House is another action movie with Denzel Washington in it, itās
a spy-thriller conspiracy kinda thing where Ryan Reynolds is after him but
ends up on his side because the CIA has dark secrets and stuff. Kinda
predictable but still fun.
Games
Metroid Fusion is wonderful, I already finished it and wrote my
review of it last month, so go check it out!
PokemĆ³n Unbound looked like something fun to continue after Metroid,
so I gave it a shot and decided to keep going! It is a completely original
story built on top of Pokemon FireRed. It has tons of quality of life
improvements and options, and like 7 generations of Pokemon to catch. I
have played it for 10 hours somehow and Iām on my way to the 3rd gym.
Final Fantasy VI just made a surprising comeback. After losing my
save file years ago, I had started the game a few months ago and played it
for a bit over 2 hours, then forgot it until recently. I played 4 hours of
this game once again and I am having a lot of fun. I remember some bits of
the story and I was worried they wouldnāt hit the same, but honestly this
game still managed to get me engaged with the plot and the characters. I am
having fun!
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is yet another game that I returned to after not playing it since last year, this game is so fun and I decided to just do some more quests on it and advance a bit of the story. Some new plot moments are happening and Iām starting to see why people like this so much.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was kind of lost for a couple of
weeks for me, but I still managed to play 3 hours in a day and also in
short bursts later on. I have been exploring a lot of the world map after
beating a boss that is basically telling me to explore every corner, so I
shall keep doing it!
Minecraft is still a joy to play in 2024, and a server I maintain for
friends got new life after another member joined. We play on and off from
time to time and July was a big month with lots of activity. We had our
first encounter with the Warden and it was complete madness. We died and we
didnāt beat it, but we managed to escape with our items!
Hyper Light Drifter is beautiful, but I kinda forgot about it for
months. Thankfully a friend of mine came over and we continued the journey
in local multiplayer for like 3 hours. It was fantastic, we found a lot of
secrets and found bosses to fight against. I think Iāll still take my time
with it for another bit though.
Device usage
My phone usage ramped up a bit, and my laptop usage was not as high as before. I didnāt read of use my Miyoo Mini Plus as much, and the RG35XX SP does not track activity time on it, so hereās what I got.
Phone usage
I used my phone for 190 hours.
YouTube for 39 hours
Discord for 32 hours
WhatsApp for 19 hours
Tusky for 18 hours
Facebook for 17 hours
Signal for 11 hours
Firefox for 7 hours
Mihon for 5 hours
Laptop Usage
I used my laptop for 53 hours.
Firefox for 37 hours
Minecraft for 3 hours
Alacritty for 2 hours
Final thoughts
This month I did a lot of stuff where I didnāt use a device quite a bit. For example I swapped the shell of my PSP in about 4 hours, and I played soccer a couple of times during the weekend with friends, I even rode a stationary bike weāve had since forever while watching Hajime no Ippo. So I was quite satisfied with everything I did this month, except I didnāt read or write as much, hopefully August changes that!
