This is the quadmonthly happiness report for February 2022.
Our company motto is “Read. Play. Watch. Listen.” And, then, of course: “Write About It.”
“Read”
Since the October 2021 update, the following books were completed:
- Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon, by Keith R.A. DeCandido (urban fantasy/media tie-in)
- Big Damn Hero (Firefly #1), by James Lovegrove (science-fiction/media tie-in)
- City of Bones (Harry Bosch #8), by Michael Connelly (novel/detective fiction)
- Nemesis Games (The Expanse Book #5), by James S.A. Corey (novel)
- Final Crisis, by Grant Morrison (author) & lots of artists (DC Comics) (comic book)
- Hawkeye: Kate Bishop: Vol. 1: Anchor Points, by Kelly Thompson & Leonardo Romero (comic book)
Currently Reading:
- Nameless: Season 2: The Lost Soul of the City (Book #1), by Dean Koontz (digital novella)
- The Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene (nonfiction/physics)
- Doors, by Ed McBain (suspense thriller)
- The Covenant Rising, by Stan Nicholls (fantasy)
- Eternals, by Neil Gaiman & John Romita Jr. (Marvel) (comic book)
Yes, I’ve been reading the Brian Greene book for what seems like forever. I even believe that he is writing down to my level, but it’s still some difficult material for me to get through while retaining any knowledge of what I’ve read.
Looking Forward to Reading:
- Einstein: his life and universe, by Walter Isaacson (biography)
- The Demon-Haunted World: science as a candle in the dark, by Carl Sagan (science)
“Play”
Since October, the following video games were completed:
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (currently on hiatus: had to make room for Mass Effect again, and this one just wasn’t moving me)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (similar story—I intend to return to it eventually)
- Cuphead
- Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order
- NBA 2K20
- Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (sorta replay)
Currently Playing:
- NFS: Heat
- Marvel’s Avengers
- Mass Effect 2: Legendary Edition (semi-replay)
- Far Cry Primal
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2 (semi-replay)
Looking Forward to Playing (* means I already own):
- Arkham Knight (replay)*
- Mafia III (replay)*
- Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War*
- Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (semi-replay)*
- Far Cry 6 (I mean, Giancarlo Esposito. How could I not?)
- Marvel’s Midnight Suns
- Marvel’s Wolverine
- Spider-Man 2
“Watch”
This category gets subdivided into “Television” and “Movies.”
Since October, the following television series were completed:
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Seasons 1 & 2 (Disney +)
- What If . . . ?: Season 1 (Disney +)
- In the Dark: Season 3
- Man Down: Series 4 (final)
- Lucifer: Season 6 (Netflix) (final)
- Seinfeld: Seasons 1 & 2 (rewatch)
- American Horror Story: Season 1: Murder House
- Sex Education: Season 3 (Netflix)
- Bosch: Seasons 6 & 7 (Amazon Prime) (final)
- The Walking Dead: Season 9
- Manifest: Seasons 1 & 2
- Supergirl: Season 6 (final)
- Stargate SG-1: Season 5
- Jack Ryan: Seasons 1 & 2 (Amazon Prime)
- Hawkeye: Season 1 (Disney +)
- The Blacklist: Season 8
- Shameless: Season 11 (final)
- The Wheel of Time: Season 1 (Amazon Prime)
- F is for Family: Season 5 (Netflix) (final)
- The Expanse: Season 6 (Amazon Prime) (final)
Currently Watching (TV Series):
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 (rewatch)
- The Walking Dead: Season 10
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 3 (Disney +)
- Manifest: Season 3
- Seinfeld: Season 3 (rewatch)
- The Blacklist: Season 9
- The Flash: Season 8
- The Book of Boba Fett: Season 1 (Disney +)
- Stargate SG-1: Season 6
- Cobra Kai: Season 4
- Ozark: Season 4 (final)
- Big Mouth: Season 1 (Netflix)
I will finish watching Buffy S3, Star Wars: The Clone Wars S3, Manifest S3 and Cobra Kai S4 within the next two weeks. Onward and upward.
Looking Forward to Watching (TV Series):
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seasons 4 thru 7 (rewatch)
- Seinfeld: Seasons 4 thru 9 (rewatch)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Seasons 4 thru 7 (Disney +)
- Stargate SG-1: Seasons 7 thru 10
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 4 (Amazon Prime)
- The Orville: Season 3
- Foundation: Season 1 (Apple +)
- Jack Ryan: Season 3 (Amazon Prime)
- The Walking Dead: Season 11 (final)
- Moon Knight: Season 1 (Disney +) [3/30/2022]
- She-Hulk: Season 1 (Disney +)
- Secret Invasion: Season 1 (Disney +)
- Ms. Marvel: Season 1 (Disney +)
- Loki: Season 2 (Disney +)
- What If…?: Season 2 (Disney +)
- Manifest: Season 4 (Netflix)
Since the last update, the following movies were completed. For clarity’s sake, I’m breaking these down into subheadings.
Features:
- Taken (2008)
- The World’s End (2013)
- Mr. Right (2015)
- Train to Busan (2016)
- Honest Thief (2020)
- Black Widow (2021)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
- Red Notice (2021) (Netflix)
- Don’t Look Up (2021) (Netflix)
- Eternals (2021)
Documentaries:
- The Howlin’ Wolf Story: the secret history of rock & roll (2003) (documentary)
- Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop! (2014) (documentary)
- Tig (2015) (documentary)
- Everything and Nothing (2016) (documentary)
- The Creepy Line (2018) (documentary)
- Behind the Curve (2018) (documentary)
- Not a Game (2020) (documentary)
- Marvel: Behind the Mask (2021) (documentary)
- The Beatles: Get Back (2021) (documentary)
Stand-Up Comedy Specials:
- Jim Jefferies: BARE (2014) (stand-up comedy)
- Theo Von: No Offense (2016) (stand-up comedy)
- Jim Jefferies: Freedumb (2016) (stand-up comedy)
- Craig Ferguson: Tickle Fight (2017) (stand-up comedy)
- Neal Brennan: 3 Mics (2017) (stand-up comedy)
- The Age of Spin: Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium (2017) (stand-up comedy)
- Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle at Austin City Limits (2017) (stand-up comedy)
- Jim Jefferies: This is Me Now (2018) (stand-up comedy)
- Amy Shumer: Growing (2019) (stand-up comedy)
- Jim Jefferies: Intolerant (2020) (stand-up comedy)
- Dave Chappelle: The Closer (2021) (stand-up comedy)
If a comedian appears on this list multiple times in the same quadmonth, that generally means that I enjoy their work.
Currently Watching (Movies):
- The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) (Netflix)
- Michelle Wolf: Joke Show (2019) (stand-up comedy)
Looking Forward to Watching (Movies):
- Tombstone (1993) (rewatch)
- Super Troopers 2 (2018)
- Wonder Woman: 1984 (2020)
- Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness (2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
“Listen”
Since October 2021, I’ve listened to the following recorded works in their entirety. Mostly rock albums, but that’s not really a surprise to people who know me.
- Kind of Blue (1959) Miles Davis
- A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) Vince Guaraldi Trio
- Let It Be (1970) The Beatles
- Master of Reality (1971) Black Sabbath
- Machine Head (1972) Deep Purple
- Montrose (1973) Montrose
- Dark Side of the Moon (1973) Pink Floyd
- Rush (1974) Rush
- Wish You Were Here (1975) Pink Floyd
- Jailbreak (1976) Thin Lizzy
- Agents of Fortune (1976) Blue Öyster Cult
- Leftoverture (1976) Kansas
- Bat Out of Hell (1977) Meatloaf
- Spectres (1977) Blue Öyster Cult
- Let There Be Rock (1977) AC/DC
- Hemispheres (1978) Rush
- Overkill (1979) Motörhead
- Down to Earth (1979) Rainbow
- Allied Forces (1981) Triumph
- Fire of Unknown Origin (1981) Blue Öyster Cult
- Signals (1982) Rush
- Defenders of the Faith (1984) Judas Priest
- Night Songs (1986) Cinderella
- Them (1988) King Diamond
- Kings of Metal (1988) Manowar
- Painkiller (1990) Judas Priest
- Badmotorfinger (1991) Soundgarden
- Ten (1991) Pearl Jam
- Metallica (1991) Metallica
- Core (1992) Stone Temple Pilots
- Tigerlily (1995) Natalie Merchant
- Californication (1999) Red Hot Chili Peppers
- The Essential Red Collection (2004) Sammy Hagar
- City of Evil (2005) Avenged Sevenfold
- Snakes & Arrows (2007) Rush
- That Lonesome Song (2008) Jamey Johnson
- The Sound of Madness (2008) Shinedown
- Fire in the Sky (2010) Saxon
- Stereoside (2010) Stereoside
- Beyond Magnetic (2011) Metallica
- The Hunter (2011) Mastodon
- Firewater (2011) Whiskey Myers
- The Way Life Goes (2013) Tom Keifer
- For All Kings (2016) Anthrax
- The Atlas Underground (2018) Tom Morello
- Ordinary Man (2020) Ozzy Osbourne
I’ve also listened to the following podcasts for the first time.
- The Abingers – an MCU podcast (with Brandon, Clinton and Emmy)
- Listen Up A-Holes – a Marvel Cinematic Universe Podcast (with Lani Diane Rich and Joshua Unruh)
- Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
- Felicitations! (with Felica Day)
- Buffy and the Art of Story (with Lisa Lilly)
- Buffering the Vampire Slayer (with Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo)
- The Problem with Jon Stewart
- Everything Fab Four (with Kenneth Womack)
The next quadmonthly report will be filed in June 2022.
Until then . . . (with apologies to Frasier Crane) Goodnight, Seattle, and good mental health.
firewatersite 