Populasian: January 2025

Sunday, January 5, 2025

燦爛的風和海 - Begin Again - Currently Watching

燦爛的風和海 (Begin Again) is a MangoTV series that I began watching on Viki recently. I have not caught up to the current airings yet and mostly will never. I do not know if I will finish this series. I started watching because I have enjoyed the last couple of Elvis Han modern series. This one seemed to fit the bill again.

I like that they seem to be going through the Greater Bay Area of south Zhong Guo.

It does get into some slow character development periods, but finds its way back to the advancing the story.

Check it out.

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Current Streaming for 2025

I have had many streaming services over the last few years. Generally, I get them at discounted prices to try them out. But I always go back to same ones over and over again. Here are the ones I use the most.

Netflix - Currently have started many J-Dramas. Most used by all the family
Prime Video - My OG streaming, but its hard to find things on here
Youtube TV - Since I got off Spectrum, this my main way to watch NFL and local news
Viki - I have had both free and paid version. Generally at least two series started a month here
IQIYI - The UI is the worst to deal with, but has many things Viki does not
Vudu - My old UltraViolet library here along with other things bought at a discount

What I discontinued (or did NOT renew)

Max
Peacock
Starz
Paramount+ (with Showtime)
Disney+
Hulu
Apple TV+
Tencent (WeTV) - The things I want to watch show up on Viki a week or two later
AMC+
MGM+ - got 3 months free recently from a FireTV Stick purchase
NBA League Pass - I had it during the Jeremy Lin years only

My kids do not watch traditional media or local news at all. Not sure how they stay informed. But I don't feel that much more informed with the local news either.

Since I do not have Disney+ anymore, I will not follow its generally terrible release schedule.