Hunter x Hunter (2011) REVIEW

Amongst the many things I've been doing with my "free" time was watching an anime called Hunter x Hunter. This anime is, as almost all animes are, adapted from the manga original. It depicts a boy, named Gon, and his travels to find his father, put very simply. The story is based in a fantasy world where Hunters are people who pursue treasures, money, rare items, amongst other things. In Gon's travels, he meets other Hunters and their stories intertwine into something bigger overall. If I were to genre-ify this anime, I'd say its Superpower/Adventure/Action. The first run of the anime aired in 1999. However, in 2011, Hunter x Hunter was rebooted to better follow the manga. Apparently, the 1999 version deviated from the manga quite a bit. Regardless, I decided to give the 2011 version a try since it sounded like my kind of manga.


CHARACTERS

Like all anime, Hunter x Hunter has characters that resemble other characters from other manga/anime. However, I thought that the character design was still good. I will admit, one of the reasons why it took me so long to start watching this anime was because I was not impressed with how the main characters looked (having only looked at the poster). Boy was I wrong. While the characters look simple (in the beginning), the whole backstory and character as a whole more than make up for the lack of "design." There is a bountiful amount of interesting characters in the anime, some pretty creative in my opinion. Character development and backstory was also well done. I personally don't like spending a lot of time on a character's backstory, but I thought Hunter x Hunter found the sweet spot between too little and too much. You slowly learn about each character's backstory and yet you never stop learning all the way to the end of the series.


STORY/PLOT

This is probably the most important reason why I enjoyed this anime. The description of the anime that I read from the anime site I watched all the videos didn't make it sound very interesting, but it was interesting enough for me to give the anime a shot. At first, I wasn't intrigued by the concept of Hunters. Like most people, I think of hunters as those who hunt deer and other animals for recreation. However, I was surprised to find that I was hooked from the very beginning, and that the Hunters in this anime are pretty different from what I initially imagined. There are a few episodes throughout where the pace felt kind of slow, but they were few and far between. The story is broken down into arcs every 20 episodes or so, with 7 arcs, totaling 146 episodes. This prevented the whole plot from seeming too drawn out, while giving something fresh to feast on. As with all animes I like, there is a constant sense of mystery, wondering what will happen next. You will follow the main characters and watch as they grow and develop. I've always been a sucker for any storyline that involves the main character, or even just characters, evolving and developing into a better version of themselves. Of course, you can't forget the  involvement of super powers and action.


MANGA ADAPTATION

Unfortunately, I can not comment on how closely the 2011 version of Hunter x Hunter follows the manga as I have not read the manga at all. I know this is an important factor for people who are fans of the manga. However, I would recommend fans of the manga to give it a shot since it was rebooted precisely to be a more accurate adaptation of the manga.






OVERALL IMPRESSION

This is, to this day, the only anime that is over 100 episodes I've ever finished. It pleasantly surprised me with how capturing the whole story was. The creativity was there. The action was there. As always, I'd recommend watching the anime in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. Too many times I've tried watching an anime that is dubbed in English, and too many times have I wanted tear my ears out from how horrible it sounds. In my opinion, this is a definite watch for a diehard Hunter x Hunter fan. Heck, this is a definite watch for anyone interested in anime.



Rating: 9/10

Back Again!

Unbelievable. I'm back on Blogger! This is probably the billionth time that I've attempted to make a comeback and blog consistently. Regardless of that sad fact, I am currently attempting to write again. A lot has happened since my last blog post (of course). One major change has been graduating college, FINALLY. I am now the proud holder of two degrees that I'm very happy to have accomplished. Since graduating, life has been interesting, yet uneventful in a way. I went on a long vacation to LA, Hawaii, South Korea and Taiwan during the summer to fulfill my need for one last lengthy vacation, before I slave away and have no time to vacation anymore. Other than that, my life has been mainly consisting of sleeping, eating, gym-ing, and studying for my licensing exams (of which I have already passed one thankfully). I've also watched a lot of anime, dramas, and read a lot of books. Since nothing else really happens in my life these days, I'll be talking about some of the books I've read and some of the anime/dramas/shows I've been watching. I'm happy to be back writing as I do actually enjoying typing away. I just hope I can actually keep it up now that school is officially over for me (barring any future return).

President's Day 2014

It's a holiday that I didn't realize was coming up until 3 days ago. Today was President's day - a holiday where we celebrate the men who led our beloved United States of America from its inception in 1776 until today. To most of us however, it is a day off from work or school. I wanted to take advantage of the rare clear sunny skies today and get some errands done. I ended up at this new coffee place that has only been open for 3 weeks. It was located in the heart of downtown Providence in a building that used to be a strip club. Now it's a new, modern, artsy hotel. While the menu is simple here, the concept behind this particular coffee shop is quite unique. The aim is to give customers a different coffee experience each time they walk in. Instead of using the same coffee roaster all the time, Bolt Coffee Company uses different coffee roasters from around the states. Coffee beans can range from Indonesia, to Ethiopia.
It was a little difficult to find this place at first, since it like's kind of hidden around the corner of a building, but the sign is big enough that you wouldn't miss it if you were specifically looking for it.

The interior was designed in a pretty modern way, with an outdoorsy edge to it. The owner and manager of the shop, Brian, is very friendly and looking to make conversation with customers. As with most places, getting to know the owner makes the place all that more attractive and comfortable. The coffee itself was delicious. However, if you're more of the type to like Starbuck's specialty coffees like lattes and caramel macchiatos, you might not enjoy the coffee here as much. There is no sugar added at all to these coffees so they will taste bitter to anyone who does not have an acquired taste for quality coffee. Brian brews the coffees right in front of you and does a beautiful job of making the finished result look, well, beautiful. Instead of your typical skim, 1%, whole, soy milk options, Bolt only has two options: whole or hemp. 

whole milk mocha

Now for me, I've never tried hemp milk before, but Brian told me it would be the next best option for someone who is lactose intolerant. I tried both whole milk and hemp milk mochas today and I have to say, hemp milk is less creamy and perhaps less tasteful than whole milk. Some people prefer hemp milk because it's healthier and that is certainly alright. Either way, the mochas were delicious. Brian does also offer brown sugar cubes for those of you with a sweet tooth. I have yet to try the pastries they offer there, but like their coffee, Bolt brings in a variety of pastries from a variety of places. If you're looking for quality coffee, this place is a must try. I definitely see myself coming back again.

hemp milk mocha (I added the smiley myself)

Happy Val-.... Single's Awareness Day!

First post of the New Year! Oh wait, it's already mid February. Well, it's still the first post of the New Year for me. A lot has happened since start of the new year. I've already gone through one more of my rotations and am on my second to last one. Valentine's day has come to pass. I hope everyone had a good time with their Valentine. As for me, my Valentine gave me a rose as you can see from this picture:

I wasn't prepared for the rose as you can tell. For all you singles like me out there, keep charging forward. All you need is yourself on Valentine's day anyways. Treat yourself well. We may all go through hard times emotionally every now and then, but we can make it through. Until next time, live laugh and love people.

I'm Back! (for now...)

Winter is here. Snow is falling. I'm back on my blog because I have some extra time on my hands. Though I must say, I really don't have that much extra time as I have some stuff I SHOULD get done during this "break." A lot has happened since my last post. A lot of good and a lot of bad. It's interesting that so many new emotions or events happen as I get older. It just comes to show that you never stop learning - you never stop experiencing new things no matter what age you are. I will once again (for the billionth time) attempt to post somewhat consistently during this break, maybe even recapping what has been going on with my life recently. Like I said, a lot has happened, but for now, it is about time for me to sleep. I leave you with a highly narcissistic updated picture of myself. Goodnight!

~ so highly narcissistic ~

Mental goals

If there was a way to stop myself from thinking about things that I shouldn't be thinking, I definitely would. It's not really something I "shouldn't" be thinking, but rather something that would be healthy for me not to think about. Knowing this, I'm living a pretty unhealthy life. A pretty unhealthy "mental" life? Either way, I shouldn't let these thoughts consume my life. Usually friends, work, TV, books get my mind off of these thoughts, but there are reminders everywhere. Funny thing is I think that there's no way to get over these thoughts until I just...get over them. Let things go. Easier said than done though. It's a chronic disease in my opinion, and it's eating away at my quality of life. I have to overcome this somehow, someway.

Vanishing Point

I guess I’m really sick and tired of this. It’s starting to get really tiring and it is taking toll on my person as whole. Sure I don’t always think about it. Sure it’s probably a part of normal human life. Sure I’m still young and there’s still a lot of time. Knowing all that doesn’t change the way I feel, the way my heart feels. Some people can look at what this part of my looks like on the outside, but it is just that – superficial. The part that really matters is what is actually going on. Maybe I’m only able to see the ones that have what I want. For all I know, I could have involuntary selective sight – although the pairing of those two words seem like an oxymoron.

People say that things in life happen for a reason; and so I ask, what is the reason for this? I know that this is only one aspect of my life, but to me it is just as important as the others. My life, is still my life. One can have one thing, but not have the other. Happiness comes in different shapes and forms to everyone, but most manifest in a way where people are satisfied with what they have. People who are not satisfied with what they have, tend not to be happy people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very very happy with almost every part of my life. I’m very very grateful to have the life I have right now. I’m just not completely happy. I want that one thing that keeps escaping me time and time again. It’s only been three years since I last had it, but it’s left such a deep hole that I can’t seem to patch up. They say that no one can have everything they want in the world, does that mean I can’t have this? Will life continue to cheat me every time I seem to get close to a chance to patch the hole up? I guess only time can tell. The only problem is, time is passing too quickly, the opportunities vanishing along with it.

Long emo post – finished. 

House Hunting

Because almost all of my rotations are located in Providence, I am pressed with the necessity of relocating. I'll be honest, I've never really had to search for a place myself before. I've been spoiled with living on campus and having friends ask me to live with them before. With my ex-roommates moving to other places, I am now on my own to find a place to live. After some research and asking around, I found out that craigslist is a common search tool for college students/graduate students/young professionals looking for a place to live. My situation is complicated since I'm looking for a lease that starts in September, but won't last a year. Most places look for possible future tenants that will be signing a year lease. Not only that, I will not be in the area or in the country during July, which is when most places that have leases starting in September begin to show up. To make matters worse, I won't be back in the area to take a tour of these places when I get back to the states in August. This leaves me with the only option of searching for a September lease right now. Combine this with my current rotations schedule (8-4 Mon-Fri), my summer class schedule (6pm-9:45pm Mon-Thurs), and my work schedule (9-2 Sunday), and you have a very very tight space to find a place to live in for the coming academic year. Regardless of this tight schedule, I'm trying my best to make do with what time I have. So far I've actually been able to find a few places that seem like livable places to me. As with most people, I'm pretty picky with choosing where I live. This includes price, cleanliness of the interior, and location among other factors. I've only been able to see the inside of one place so far, but I do have appointments in the next few days to see other places. Hopefully I'll find a place that just blows my mind away. Hopefully I'll find someone who will be willing to accept me as soon as I make it known that I'd like to sign the lease. I don't want to be left with a bunch of places visited, but none actually accepting me as a new leaser. All I can say is, wish me luck.

Game of Thrones

What the heck has just happened? This week's episode of Game of Thrones has left me (and practically half the world and all of Facebook) shocked. Before last night, I was 2 episodes behind due to my busy schedule. However, I set aside some time to catch up, mainly because there was such an uproar on Facebook and among my peers. I knew something was up, so of course I HAD to watch it. While I expected something big to happen, I didn't expect something THAT BIG to happen. If you're a fan of Game of Thrones and you haven't seen this week's episode, you are truly missing out. I would say that this episode changes everything. What baffles me even more is that this episode wasn't even the season finale. Next week's episode is the season finale. The producers and writers of the show can only do last week's episode justice by introducing an even more surprising event in the season finale. There is no way something big won't happen in the season finale. Five more days. Five more days until all hell is let loose.

Work De-Tox

To whomever it may concern,

Recently I've started my clinical rotations for my last year of pharmacy school. This means I am basically working as an unpaid intern for credit at different places 6 weeks at a time. Each place is supposed to be geared specifically to a place where pharmacists have a role (i.e. hospital, retail pharmacy, ambulatory care, etc). Before rotations, I worked around 18.5 hours per week and thus had a pretty steady inflow of reasonable income (for a student at least). With rotations taking up 8 hours per day (8am - 4pm) and night classes taking up around 4 hours more Monday through Thursday (6pm - 9:45pm), the number of hours I work has dropped drastically. It doesn't help that the pharmacy I work at closes at 7pm on weekdays and 6pm and 2pm on Saturday and Sunday respectively. This leaves Saturday (9am - 6pm) and Sunday (9-2pm) as the only two days I have available to work. I personally chose to work Sunday since I wanted Saturday to relax from a long week. I can't work both Saturday and Sunday since other people need hours at my pharmacy as well (I can't hog all the hours). This leaves me with a total of 5 hours of paid work per week. You can also say that it is around a 75% decrease in income per week.This immediate change in income inflow is leaving me with money withdrawal. It's ironic that I happen to be spending a lot more money now compared to when I was actually getting more money. It's pretty depressing to think about how long it would take me to make back what I spent now compared to how long it would take to make it back back when I was working more. In another perspective, something that would have taken me one week to make back, now takes me 4 weeks to make back. Anyway, enough of my rant. This income/work de-tox is really leaving me some quite serious withdrawal symptoms. I either get used to this now and learn to understand that I won't be able to spend as much money as frequently (since rotations will be going on until May 2014) or I just continue on with my life as usual and find myself broke very soon. I'd say I should go with the former, but for some reason I feel like the latter is most likely to happen. Wish me luck.

Sincerely,
A Soon-to-be-broke College Student

Inferno by Dan Brown - a Book Review

Known for his works The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Digital Fortress, and many more, Dan Brown has come out with a new Robert Langdon mystery/puzzle novel that took years of research and writing. With such anticipation for another thrilling book, most people will go into reading the book with high expectations. Just as well, fans of Dan Brown will probably enjoy the book regardless, not looking to criticize but just to read for pleasure. I fall into the latter category of readers, but still, I will dive into a review.

To start, I read that Dan Brown spent a couple of years travelling to all the places mentioned in the book and did extensive research about all statues, art pieces, and buildings in the book. As per usual, there is plenty of historically known pieces of art and architecture that play important roles, sometimes central roles, in the plot. Brown doesn't disappoint here as I enjoy being introduced to multiple pieces of history. All historical pieces were smoothly integrated into the whole storyline.

The whole book is based mainly on Italian poet Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of his Divine Comedy epic poem. The book is based in Florence, Italy and Brown basically takes you on a tour of famous historical buildings in the area. All the buildings, paintings, statues, and stanzas from Inferno intertwine into one big puzzle that, once again, Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon has to solve in order to survive. You actually gain a pretty good history lesson about Dante's works and his personal life, but not in a boring way like sitting in a high-school history class. Comparing to The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Inferno contains less symbology puzzles and more word puzzles. At first I was a little disappointed at this, but I got used to it eventually. Despite the lack of symbol puzzles, there were plenty of other types of puzzles to peak your curiosity and stimulate your thinking.

Moving onto prose, the story flowed smoothly just like all of Brown's other books. Each chapter is a few pages long at most, keeping the pace of the story fast and interesting. Again, you get the story from different point of views following the timeline of the plot. Brown also throws in a few twists and turns throughout the whole book, the most coming at the end. This leads to perhaps my only concern about this book. While the whole plot might have, and probably was, thoroughly planned and thought out prior to Brown actually sitting down and writing the book, there seemed to be way too many twists appearing the last 100 pages of the book. This almost makes the whole story seem a little unrealistic. However, in the end, it did not detract from the overall impression I got from the book. I was still well engaged in the book, often not being able to put the book down even though I definitely had to go to sleep. This is a good read for Dan Brown fans and anyone looking for a good summer read.

Rating: 8/10
While this book was engaging and interesting like all his other books, I still feel that The Da Vinci Code was a better read. The overboard number of twists near the end of the book and slight lack of symbols caused me to rate the book less than a perfect 10. 

People

Sometimes I don't understand certain things. Sometimes I don't understand certain people. People can be so confusing. I guess that's what makes this world so interesting to live in, but this interesting is not a "good" interesting. If only people in this world can learn to not believe all the gossip and just form their own opinion about people themselves. It's good to be warned about people, but we shouldn't take things people say about other people as the creed. Instead it is good to take it with a grain of salt, and then see for yourself. Too many times have I seen someone skewed in such a way, only to be exactly the opposite of what was said of them. I have become a victim of gossip plenty of times, and I can say that it is so upsetting and annoying what people can say about you sometimes. Friends who seem so close sometimes believe what other people say, when they should know you better and believe you to be who you are, not what other people say you are or what you've done. End rant.

E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D.

I feel so exhausted. I always forget how much energy you expend when you drive. You wouldn't think that sitting in a car moving your arms a little every now and then would cause such exhaustion, but oh does it do it well. I drove from Kingston, RI today to Agawam, MA to pick up some friends from Six Flags New England. From there I drove us directly to Minado Sushi Buffet in Natick, MA, which is another 1 hour away. Keep in mind that I haven't gotten out of my car yet at this point. Finally after eating a ton of sushi and looking like a 9-month pregnant lady, I drove us all back to Kingston, RI which took around 1.5 hours. After all that, I was finally able to drive to my house, which is like 20 minutes away from where my friends live. If you add that all up together, it totals to around 5 hours of driving and around 250 miles... all of this starting at 4pm. Yes, I am exhausted.

Good news is that I am very happily full.

Staying Busy is a Good Thing

I can't believe that it's been 2 full months since I've last had a chance to post something. It baffles me that throughout my 12 straight semesters of college, my very last "academic" semester (meaning involving lectures and exams) is by far the hardest and busiest. I don't think I've ever experienced so much work stuffed into such little time. Add this with the most hours/week I've ever worked, and you got an overwhelmed college student (at least most of the time). However, the good news is that I'm pulling through just fine. People say that things always happen for a reason, I believe that this is exactly the case. I've learned so much about time management skills and my capabilities as a student and as a professional.

I think it's always important to remember that you yourself are capable of so much when you really put your mind to it. Sometimes we have to be forced into a situation in order to realize how much we can actually do. For those of you choosing to take it easy by taking the minimum amount of classes (and the easiest), I challenge you to challenge yourself. In the end, I realize that I would be bored with all that free time, had I chosen not to double major and work as many hours. I'd probably end up procrastinating to the max, while my brain rots on things that don't help me advance personally and in life. This doesn't mean that you should force yourself to be busy all the time, leaving no time to relax, but it is good to be busy most of the time. You will most definitely find yourself getting more things done than you've ever thought you could get done in the allotted time.

Busy-ness

These past one and a half weeks since the semester has started have been hectic to say the least. While I usually organize and prepare well enough so that I don't get hit fast and hard by the immense workload a school semester might bring, I wasn't prepared enough this time. Things aren't all the way horrible, but they can definitely be better. I find myself a little more behind than I'd like to be at this point. In fact, I wasn't planning on being behind at all. Instead, I should be ahead of the game. I should have work done two weeks ahead of time. I should have studied everything that has been taught so far, and then some. However, that is nowhere near where I stand right now. I can only hope to take this weekend (before Superbowl Sunday) to catch up as much as I can, and continue to move forward. Work doesn't wait for life.

Tired

The semester has just started and I am already reeling from lack of sleep. However, this is just a temporary thing since I had some unexpected work come up last night, causing me to get just 3 hours of sleep. I should be able to correct my sleep schedule tonight. All I got to do is get my butt to bed right now. Expect a "real" new post soon, featuring one of my drawings. Get excited (since I haven't drawn in a while." Toodle-doo.

Magazines

Aside from reading books, I spend most of my reading time dedicated to reading magazines. A lot of people I know don't really read magazines, which baffles me. I find that magazines usually talk about everyday stuff and contain heaps of helpful information. Not only that, there are so many magazines tailored to specific topics, that you can practically find a magazine on all of your interests. Since I am a busy college student, I often don't have the time to really read through all the articles in each magazine, let alone read all the magazines that look interesting. So I have chosen a select few that are worthy of my set-aside "reading time."

VS.

For Mens Fashion I like to read either GQ or Esquire. These two magazines are by far the most popular Men's Fashion & Style magazines in the US, and rightfully so. They usually contain a big article on whoever graces the magazine's cover for the month, and other medium-length to short articles on world issues or anything dealing with men's style. They often have tips on how to wear certain types of clothing, as well as what is trending right now in the male fashion industry. Both of these magazines also touch on issues or concerns of male readers of the magazine. The only drawback I see of these magazines, mostly GQ, are the clothes that they endorse or use on their models. For a college who isn't making the big bucks yet, the prices of the articles of clothing GQ uses are way too steep for my budget. They feature name brand clothing at retail prices that are probably still expensive to the average working class male. However, we can still look at the style these magazines use, as there are now many clothing companies that make and sell clothes of similar style for a much cheaper price (i.e H&M, 21Men). If you're into men's fashion, these two magazines are worth looking into.

For magazines other than Mens Fashion, I usually read some tech magazines and some entertainment and news magazines. I like WIRED magazine for my tech news as they have interesting articles with a more artsy design and layout. Time magazine is of course on my list for news magazines I occasionally read. I like Entertainment Weekly as an Entertainment magazine, to get me up to date with current movies or television shows, as well as upcoming media. As for other magazines, I haven't really ventured out that far to really recommend any. I have read Car and Driver and it is a good magazine. However, I haven't read another car magazine, so I have nothing to compare it to. Consumer Reports is a good "magazine" if you want to compare top products in certain categories (i.e. cell phones). Well that's its for magazines. If you have any magazines that you enjoy reading let me know!

Disclaimer: I will not read any Women's Interest magazines (i.e. Vogue, Cosmopolitan, etc.) as I have no interest in that stuff. So please don't recommend those. Please. Pretty please.

To Re-Watch or Not

It's come across to me recently that I personally don't like to watch a movie or tv show that I've seen before. I know that when I was a little kid, I would watch some of my favorite movies again just for fun. I guess I liked to see my favorite heroes triumph over and over again. But years later, here I am now - mostly only wanting to spend my time watching movies or shows I haven't seen before. I, for some reason, find it boring to watch things I've already seen before. Though, I guess I can't be completely on that side of the coin either. I sometimes do feel like watching movies where I don't remember most of the things that happen, i.e. Iron Man, the LOTR series. Even then, after watching it again, I will put it away and not watch it for a long long time. Most of the time however, I do not feel the urge to watch something again. Perhaps someone can shed the light on why you or other people constantly watch movies that you've already seen many times. I don't find anything wrong with it. I'm just curious as to why people will spend their time watching something they've already seen and know the outcome of what, rather than watching something new.

Homeland

Yes, I know. I have started watching yet another TV show. I keep hearing great things about this show, from friends and family, even critic sites such as metacritic.com and trakt.tv. Seeing that almost everyone likes this show, including critics, I thought I would give i a try. I'm only able to watch the first episode tonight due to time constraints, and I wasn't that drawn into the show quite yet. The only thing motivating me to continue watching tomorrow or later on whenever I get a chance is the fact that it is so highly praised. The so-called mystery of the whole show hasn't presented itself to me. In fact, everything seems clear as day to me. Perhaps that's actually one of the intriguing facts about the show. Maybe, in future episodes, what I thought to be true and clear as day, becomes clouded and more mysterious. I guess I will have to see. Overall, I was a little disappointed in this pilot episode. I thought pilot episodes were supposed to be the most interesting and enthralling since the objective is to captivate readers and leave them wanting more. This show is lucky it has such a big following, or else I'd probably be moving on to another show already.

TV Shows

During this break, I've had a lot of time to catch up on some TV shows I haven't been watching. I've also been able to start some shows that I've been wanting to start for quite some time. There are still a bunch of shows out there that I want to catch up on and start, but here are a few of the ones that I am actively keeping track of/watching right now:

Merlin

Just like the name, this British TV series follows the life of the famous wizard Merlin from when he first enters Camelot. I just finished season 1 out of a total of 5 seasons and it doesn't disappoint. Since the first season was done in 2008, the CG can be a little fake at times, but I have faith that it will improve throughout the seasons. I was sad to hear that season 5 was the last season of this show, since I would have liked to have seen Merlin grow older and wiser - but what can I say? I've only just finished season 1. Maybe the series will time skip with each season. Anyhow, if you love magic and fantasy, this TV show is worth your time. If you like the legend of King Arthur and all that jazz, it is even more worth your time.

Lost Girl

Funny thing about this drama. I started watching it because the main character is a Succubus, a mythical creature who feeds on men by seducing them and having... sex (I know what you're thinking). While my intentions on watching this drama were not innocent at all, that isn't exactly what pulled me into it. This TV show is more than just sex, sex, sex. In fact, it's kind of cool in how it creates a more realistic world where humans and other mythical creatures co-exist. Well, most of the humans don't know of all the creatures, but nevertheless it combines both worlds. I know this sounds like Twilight or just like other monster-creature-human world spin-offs, but it is quite interesting. The "monsters" that they've included so far (I'm only in the middle of the first season) aren't the typical monsters that everyone knows about. For example, have you ever heard of the Kappa or the Aswang (that's funny to say)? Probably not. This show incorporates mythical beasts from many different cultures and twists it to fit into the show. Genius. If you're looking for something better than Twilight and love mythical creatures, this show would work well for you. Oh, it also doesn't hurt to look at the pretty cast either.

Alphas

I was so sad to hear that his show might not have a 3rd season coming up. This show was one of the shows that I started watching near the beginning of my break. If you miss Heroes, this show might just fill that void for you. It's similar to heroes where it explains humans developing superhuman powers by evolution. The storyline is intriguing and the superpowers seem to have a more thought-out reasoning. Instead of the power of invisibility, it is the power of enhancing the ability to recognize one's blind-spot, so that you seem invisible. It's really ingenius reasons for superpowers like these that hooked me about this show. I literally couldn't stop watching this show until the huge cliffhanger at the end of season 2 left me wanting more. I really hope Syfy renews this series for another season, because I am absolutely dying to know what happens next.

Arrow

First off, this show surprised me. It's a CW show, and if you know television, CW shows usually focus on the look of the actors rather than the quality of the acting and the show. However, this show is actually pretty good in both aspects. Let's get this out of the way first: yes, the actors and actresses are all exceptionally good looking. Aside from that, this series is actually based on the comic book character "The Green Arrow." This character and show is kind of a mix between Batman and Robin Hood. Even though I have not read the comics myself, it seems like even fans of the comics are praising the show. This HAS to mean that the show is good. Currently I'm waiting for the mid-season premiere since I am all caught up with this show. It's a very new show and is in the middle of it's first season. As of right now, character build-up is proceeding pretty well. There is a lot of action and a pretty intriguing storyline. Definitely a must watch if you're a fan of the comics and a fan of super-hero like tv shows. You should also watch it if you like to look at good-looking people. Did I mention that already?

The Walking Dead

If you don't know about this show already, you are dearly missing out on some good @$%#. Fans of horror and fans who hate horror can enjoy this show. I myself am not a big horror fan, but this show just grabs you and puts you at the edge of your seat. This show is based off of The Walking Dead comic by Robert Kirkman and to my knowledge (even though I haven't read the comics) it does it justice. It follows the journey of a group of survivors after a "zombie apocalypse." The acting is superb and the storyline very intriguing. The author is known to not be sentimental about killing of main characters, so try not to get too attached to any one person. This show always has me at the edge of my seat, wondering what will happen next. It isn't as scary as you think. The show has it's suspenseful moments and sudden loud noises typical of the horror genre, but most of the time you will know when the zombies are coming. The focus is more on how the group deals with certain adversities and unforeseen circumstances. This show is a must-watch for everyone.

Suits

There are so many TV shows out there nowadays about lawyers. Every big network has its own show about lawyers, if not multiple shows. This one however, stuck out to me. It follows the career of a new paralegal and his boss, a big shot lawyer. This show combines the right mix of comedy and seriousness. The acting is superb and storyline keeps you interested. I still can't quite put my finger on why this show really grabs my attention. It doesn't have the "action" like most of the other shows I like do. However, it's just so interesting. So far, this is the only show about lawyers that I actually do watch, and even my friends who are studying to be lawyers enjoy this show. This show is just that good. I haven't been able to watch the second season of it yet, but I will definitely do that before my break ends. Season 3 of Suits is already around the corner, and I don't want to be behind when that happens.

Sherlock

Another UK show. Another great show. If you're a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, this show definitely portrays him in an awesome way. What's awesome you say? This show actually goes through and shows how Sherlock deduces things and solves crimes. You have all your classic characters with Watson and Moriarti. The acting is great (can't go wrong with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman the Hobbit) and I think that the filmography is very unique and artistic. It is to my liking, though not sure everyone will notice how artistic it really is. There is a lot of witty british humor in this series, as well as a really gripping storyline. If you're going to watch this show however, you will have to sit through episode lengths of about 80 minutes long (straying from the typical 45 min without ads length). You are in return rewarded with only 3 episodes to watch per season. As of right now, there are only 2 seasons, with the 3rd season coming out sometime in 2014 (why do I have to wait so long??). Definitely watch this one if you like mysteries and british humor.

Revolution

This show reminds me of a mix between the Hunger Games and The Walking Dead. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where there is no longer any electricity. There are bandits everywhere and people have to scrap by with what they have. Guns are scarcely used anymore and people resort to swords and crossbows. There is a lot of action, which is just what I like. The acting is alright, but not over the top good. The storyline, however, is what keeps me watching. I've seen a lot of post-apocalyptic shows or movies and this one just seems to have something a bit different about it. There's a mystery as to why the power went out, and that mystery keeps me watching. This is definitely a show you should check out when you have the free time, but there are probably other shows out there that might be better worth your time. Still, you shouldn't pass this one up.

Game of Thrones

Epic. Just epic. Based off of the famous book series by George R. R. Martin, this HBO series is just amazing. Acting and filmography is exceptionally good. Definitely has some great action and CG. Fans of the fantasy genre will absolutely fall in love with this TV series. You don't even have to read the books to enjoy it. I myself haven't read the books, but I have heard from friends who have, that the show sticks to the book pretty well. It is set in a fictional world during "medieval" times and bears a striking resemblance to the Lord of the Rings, yet it is also vastly different. I'm a big fan of the Lord of the Rings, and this show would please any person who is a fan of the Lord of the Ring books and movies. Similar, yet different. I absolutely love this show, yet here I am waiting for what seems like forever for season 3. The end of March can not come any time sooner.




So there are plenty of other shows that I have watched and haven't caught up with yet, but I haven't returned to watching those in a long time. Many of those shows are great shows as well, but I will talk about them later. If you've made it this far after reading all of my awesomely great semi-reviews (sarcasm there), congratulations. Let me know if there are other shows that you find good that I should watch, or if you have any comments about any of the shows I have listed here. My break is coming to a close soon, and with that, the amount of shows I will be able to start and keep up with diminish drastically. I will try, however, to keep watching shows that I really like. Happy watching everyone.