Populasian: May 2023

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

告五人 - Accusefive

告五人 (Accusefive) is my current fave on Spotify. I've had them on repeat for a few weeks. I think I'll move off soon, but really enjoying their 3 albums and multitude of singles. Their most famous song is most likely 愛人錯過 (Somewhere In Time), which I goto often. Also humming the chorus and bridge to 愛人錯過 is very common.

I generally don't listen to as much music at my current age. I was a everyday programmer when I first started working and would spend hours a day with ear covering headphones just coding away. I miss those days of being able to load up my Winamp playlist that went for days. These days in middle management, I spend too much time in meetings to listen to music. Since I got Spotify over Amazon Music last Thanksgiving, I've generally felt that Spotify does a better job of providing Mandarin Pop music to me than Amazon did. However, when it comes to the webplayer on my laptop, Amazon is way better. Mobile app is a push in my opinion. 告五人 does not have much pressence on Amazon Music at all.

Just glad that I stumbled on them as they've been around for a bit. I need to Shazam more stuff in the future. I use to be more into KKbox, but its a bit of work to keep up from Los Anageles. Included a couple of of their more popular songs. I remember first hearing 爱人错过 when 张碧晨 & 萧敬腾 sang it on 我們的歌3, but didn't look it up. Shame on me. Better late than never as the saying goes.

Friday, May 5, 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - 星際異攻隊3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (星際異攻隊3) is an 2023 film. The movie stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, and Sylvester Stallone. As the title suggest, this is the third Guardians movie. James Gunn returns from exile to finish the trilogy. This is also the 32nd MCU film. The current Guardians cast say that this is their ending. Let's see who survives this movie and continues on in the MCU.

The Guardians have now bought Knowwhere and are building it out. Adam attacks and does a lot of damage. When they finially stop the rampage, Rocket is seriously injuried. While trying to save him, they find that they can only do it if they find out who made him. The Guardians set out to find his maker and try to save him. Can they save Rocket and keep everyone alive?

This was a ride and than some. Hard to believe that the James Gunn era is over. And Gunn went out with a bang. Since Vol. 3 comes out so long after Vol. 2 and the events of the Thanos, it feels like they have bonded. And at the same time, it feels so different than Vol 2 and Endgame GOTG. We see a bit from the Christmas special, but it only bridge GOTG from Thor to Vol 3. You have to have a bit of MCU GOTG knowledge to know where they are at now.

The movie itself has a bit of everything. This one has lots and lots of flashbacks, mostly from Rocket. but of others too. When set up many sob moments because of how cruel Rocket was created. It also has plenty of "family" moments meant to draw sobs. I wonder if I will be so teary eyed on repeat watches.

Some of the headlines have been that this is best MCU movie since Endgame. This movie was maybe the closest you get to the feeling you had when you watch Infinity War and Endgame. The recent MCU movies of phase 4 and 5 have been good, but it does not have that awe luster that phases 1, 2, and 3 brought out of you. Old school MCU and this may be the last one of that sort. The movie belongs as part of Phase 3.