My Cultural Diet

And yes, I’ve had “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” going through my head ever since.

I’m not a huge fan of maki rolls, but the tempura coating on their Hawaiian roll was *chef’s kiss*. The Itchy Salmon is also excellent. Added bonus: My kids loved it.

There’s a reason why this is considered one of the world’s best zoos. Highlights include the aquarium and the “Asian Highlands” exhibit (complete with red pandas and snow leopard).

I know Zio’s makes good pizza, but it doesn’t really travel well for takeout. Plus, they got our order wrong this time.

I liked this volume OK, but more importantly, it got me hyped for volume two.

Is there such a thing as a too-sarcastic Ryan Reynolds? This might be it. I had high hopes going into this, given that it was by the same team that gave us 2021’s Free Guy — which was honestly way better than it had any right to be. But while The Adam Project is enjoyable enough, it wasn’t as interesting, novel, or enjoyable as Free Guy.

My second time through the campaign. Enjoyed it even more, especially the gorgeous art design. I’m left wanting more, in both good and bad ways.

It pains me to rate a Jackie Chan movie so low, but compared to the first Police Story, this one feels underwhelming. The cafe and playground brawls are still topnotch Jackie action, though.

I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Sometimes, you just want to watch a beefy protagonist who has no qualms smashing bad guys’ heads in while dropping one-liners. This more than fills that bill. Bring on season two!

This cautionary tale about technology run amok is joyless and heavy-handed, two words I never thought I’d associate with a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film.

A top-notch Cold War thriller in every possible way. One of those movies that I could watch almost any time.

I haven’t read the original book but I enjoyed the movie, which felt like it mostly earned its big, melodramatic heartstring-tugging moments.

Very enjoyable nature documentary series on Disney+. Stunning footage + Will Smith’s humor and charisma = A winning combination. I also wrote about it for Christ and Pop Culture.

I really want to rate this higher, but it just doesn’t embrace the weirdness of Tsutomu Nihei’s manga as much as I would like.

I was a big fan of The Martian, and this feels very much of a piece. One of those sci-fi novels that makes you feel smarter while you read it. And yes, I’ll totally watch the (inevitable) movie.

I loved so much about this game’s aesthetic (design, Japanese Breakfast’s soundtrack), but unfortunately, it was nigh unplayable on my poor ol’ Xbox One S. The lag was so bad it gave me headaches. Did not finish.