The Lost City (2022)

Fun, entertaining.  I haven't watched a good romantic comedy movie for a long time.

Sandra Bullock was so beautiful.

Channing Tatum had a dumb face, which was a big plus for this movie.

Brad Pitt, oh so handsome.

Daniel Radcliffe was hilarious as a villain.

Together all four seemed to enjoy making this movie together.  The acting was great.  They played off each other nicely.  There were real character growth and development.  Then there were the sexual innuendos that made me giggle 😄

Married Life / 婚姻生活, #4

I woke up this morning to find an entire gallon of milk in the freezer ⁉️

Math Teacher claimed there was no space in the fridge so he put the milk in the freezer.  There was plenty of space in the fridge if he had just pushed things around and rearranged a little bit.

The milk had become a block of frozen ice.  It could've been a murder weapon!

I learned a new science fact.  If an unopened bottle of water was left in the freezer, it would explode.  Apparently not frozen milk ice.  It was fine.

The gallon took 4+ hours to thaw 😐

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

I was so surprised.  A few hours before the movie, I thought, hmm, who would the villain be?  I watched only one trailer, and I didn't see a villain in there.

SPOILERS!

It turned out to be Scarlet Witch!  Shock!

Like Shang-Chi was a complete Hong Kong martial arts movie trope, Doctor Strange 2 was a complete horror movie trope.  Witches, zombies, evil book, crawling out of mirrors, blood everywhere.  I don't watch any scary movies because I get scared easily, but mix horror into Marvel sci-fi action movie, I totally enjoyed the gore and violence.

The only thing I didn't like was, I felt I needed to watch a lot of Disney+ shows to understand Marvel movies now.  I didn't know how Scarlet Witch got the evil book; I didn't know she turned evil; I didn't know how she knew the young girl could open dimensions.  It used to be just watching the Marvel movies were good enough.  I hope this is not a trend, because I don't have the money nor time to invest in TV shows.

Spring-Rolled Asparagus

Ingredients:

• Spring roll wrappers
• Asparagus
• Butter
• Garlic powder
• Italian seasoning
• Black pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Steps:

1. Add the garlic powder, the Italian seasoning, and the black pepper onto the butter.  Melt the butter in the microwave oven.
2. Lay one piece of spring roll wrapper flat.
3. Brush the butter mixture on the wrapper.
4. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the wrapper.
5. Put one asparagus* on the wrapper.
6. Roll up the wrapper.
7. Fry the rolled up asparagus.  OR
8. Bake the rolled up asparagus in toaster oven until crispy.

*If skinny asparagus, put two.  If thick asparagus, one is good enough.

I did not use salt because I felt the parmesan cheese was salty enough.

I do not like frying food at home so I baked them.  Delicious bar snack!  Made me want to drink beer 😋🍺

Wrapped Asparagus

Book PROMOTIONS!!! Golden Week Sale!

FROM THIS DAY FORWARD will be free on Amazon 4/30 ~ 5/4!!!

FROM THIS DAY FORWARD

Book 1 I TAKE THEE and book 3 TO HOLD & TO CHERISH will be discounted at $0.99!!!  Boost my sales and leave good reviews!!!

Thanks a million to everyone!

05 May 2022 Update:  For the last two hours of the promotion, FROM THIS DAY FORWARD was #1 in Paranormal Vampire Romance category!  Last two hours of the promotion meant it was 10pm ~ midnight at Amazon's Pacific Standard Time.  So unfortunately nobody knew about it, but I know!!  Thanks everyone for the support!  More promotions coming soon! 😘

#1 Paranormal Vampire Romance

16 May 2022 Update:  Got another five-star rating for I TAKE THEE!  Received a three-star rating and two five-star ratings for FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, the very first ratings!  Thanks everyone for the support!  More promotions coming soon! 😍

Moonfall (2022)

I lost interest half way through the movie.  Math Teacher thought it was enjoyable so I hung in there to finish it.  Nothing especially stood out.  The human drama was mediocre.  The sci-fi explanation was confusing.

Aomori Trip

The plan:  Shinkansen to Aomori, spend a weekend at the city and Hakkoda Ropeway. Then Shinkansen to Hachinohe, spend a weekend at Towada Lake and Oirase River.

Reality:  Earthquake derailed the Shinkansen to Aomori.

• Scratched Shinkansen.
• Scratched Hachinohe.
• Scratched Towada Lake.
• Scratched Oirase River. 

Flew to Aomori.  Took the bus to Hakkoda Ropeway.  High wind.  The Ropeway wasn't operating.

• Scratched the ropeway and hiking at the top of the mountains.  By the way, the ropeway was operating the day before and the day after.  Just not the day when we were there.

Walked around in nothing but snow for 15 minutes.  Googled and found an open-air museum called Sannai Maruyama Site back in the city.  The museum was about Japanese prehistoric heritage.  I thought, ok, let's do some education.

THE OPEN-AIR MUSEUM WAS CLOSED DUE TO COVID!!!  It would be re-open two days after we left.

• Scratched education.

Took the bus back to Aomori Shinkansen Station.  One of the bus stops on the way was the Sannai Maruyama Site!  Effing thing was taunting us!  The museum looked awesome from outside!  😡 

• Scratched the Shinkansen Station.

Not one store was at the Aomori Shinkansen Station.  Walked half an hour to the closest mall because it showed a sign to Starbucks and McDonalds.  No such things at the mall.

• Scratched coffee and burgers.

Took the bus to Aomori Train Station.  Visited the pier.  The pier was in despair.  The best things were the Nebuta Museum and the A-Factory souvenir complex.

Aomori Pier

Nebuta Museum

Aomori was a dying town. There were barely anybody on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. Math Teacher thought we were getting mugged because we walked down dark alleyways, but of course we weren't getting mugged because it was Japan. Went to an Italian restaurant and an Indian restaurant. We were the only table the entire time we were in there. Not even takeout orders. I felt bad. Both restaurants were high quality. I hope they survived.

Overall, Aomori was only good for half-day trip.

TO HOLD & TO CHERISH

TO HOLD & TO CHERISH, book 3 of The Wedding Vow series, is published!

TO HOLD & TO CHERISH

ALWAYS FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED!

This is sequel to book 2, FROM THIS DAY FORWARD.

This is prequel to book 1, I TAKE THEE.

Confusing?

The timeline was book 2 => book 3 => book 1.

Morbius (2022)

I didn't see this one.  The only trailer I saw featured Beethoven's Für Elise.  A Sony movie featured classical music?  Morbius wasn't a classic story.  It meant the movie was so low budget that it couldn't afford real music.  It had to use classical music where Sony didn't need to pay copyright.

Then I thought maybe I should see the movie since it was about a superhero vampire; I could write it off as research expense.  Then the reviews were really bad; I'd rather spend the time at home editing my story.  Math Teacher insisted on going; so he went to the movie alone, again.

Math Teacher's review:  It wasn't THAT bad as long as people suspended any belief.  Don't think too hard about the superhero's abilities, either.  The plot line was simple; a superhero and a villain used to be the superhero's best friend fought to death.

Don't Look Up (2021)

This was the only Oscar-nominated movie that I saw in 2021.  It was a good movie, but not Oscar-worthy. The story was too true.  It hurt too much watching it.