What I Watched: April 2019

My semester is winding down, and I've been spending more time procrastinating studying for finals and finishing projects. For April, my big priority was watching things on Hulu over Netflix. I've already watched most of the movies that interest me on Netflix and wanted to see if Hulu offered anything different. They unfortunately didn't on the movie front. However, they had a ton of shows I didn't know about that I've since added to my watch list.

A few years ago, I finished Saved By The Bell and was always kind of disappointed how it ended. When shows follow the characters over their high school years, it's neat to see how things end up afterward in college and the real-world. That's where the various Saved By The Bell spinoffs come in, like Saved By The Bell: Hawaiian Style, Saved By The Bell: The College Years, and Saved By The Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. I found all three of these on Hulu and spent one of my weekends this month finishing them. The College Years was my favorite but the others had the same charm/ridiculousness of the original show. Also on Hulu, I watched Napoleon Dynamite season 1. I loved the movie when I saw it years ago and never knew it was turned into an animated show. The movie is definitely superior. The only other show I finished is Luke Cage season 2. I just wanted to finish it for the sake of finishing it and didn't enjoy it all that much. I wasn't a huge fan of the first season because of the dull villains and side characters. As far as new shows I'm watching, I started The Umbrella Academy and am a few episodes in at this point. I'm not too compelled to binge it all, so I'll probably watch an episode here and there over the summer or something.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, Netflix doesn't have many movies that I'm interested in watching. This led to a somewhat lighter movie watching month for me which I'm okay with. This isn't a movie, but I did watch Kevin Hart Irresponsible, his most recent comedy special. It wasn't my favorite of his comedy specials yet it did have some funny parts. The two best movies I watched this month were Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Spider-Man is my favorite superhero so I was really excited to see this animated movie about the Spider-Verse. It had a very different animation style that could be a little jarring at time. The plot was great though, and it was neat to see all of the different varietions of Spider-Man. After hearing about The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for years, I finally got around to watching it along with the second one. The second one was terrible, but the first one was an entertaining teen drama. I was surprised to see actresses from some of my favorite shows in it, like Blake Lively from Gossip Girl and Alexis Bledel from Gilmore Girls. It's one of those movies that isn't the highest quality in the world but still manages to be enjoyable.

That's all I've got for this shorter April post. There's not much on my radar for May so who knows what next month's post will entail. Thanks for looking!

Quick Impressions: Illumn Stainless Steel Micro Keychain Pen

I've been going through old blog post drafts recently and found that I never finished this one. I suppose it's better late than never. Last summer, I ordered a Valiant Concepts keychain pen from Illumn, and they accidentally sent out this pen instead. Since I had the chance to handle it for a day while I waited to get the information to return it, I thought I'd give my very brief impressions on it. It isn't listed on their website at all which confuses me. If they have these on hand, I don't see why they wouldn't want to sell them. I believe it's just called the Illumn Micro Keychain Pen. I wouldn't recommend trying to track it down. I much prefer the Valiant Concepts pen.

As you can see below, it's a slightly different design than the Valiant Concepts pen. Instead of being completely straight, it gets a bit wider towards the front grip section. You'd think that would make it more comfortable in the hand, but I still prefer the Valiant Concepts one. Something about the Illumn pen looks and feels off to me personally. I don't like that circular ring in the middle of the pen. Oh and the quality was great too.

It wrote as it should and uses the same refill as the Valiant Concepts pen. It's pretty much the same concept, where you twist the body to get the pen exposed, just with a different design. I have no clue how much they went for since I can't seem to find them listed anywhere. I'd still recommend the Valiant Concepts keychain pen if you want a tinier pen that is comfortable to write with. Thanks for looking!

Benchmade 707 Sequel Thoughts

I've always wanted to try out a Benchmade 707 Sequel and was lucky to find one last year on Instagram for a great deal. It's probably one of my favorite Benchmades I've tried, behind the Mini Griptilian. It's a shame Benchmade discontinued these because it's a solid mid-sized EDC option. 

The simple design works extremely well for EDC. I haven't had any quality issues with it either which is what I've come to expect from Benchmade. 

The Sequel has a 2.95" 154CM blade. That's the perfect size for an EDC knife. I really like 154CM, but it doesn't seem to be the highest end steel anymore. Despite that, this knife has been a great slicer. The thumb stud works as it should but is slightly too close to the handle for me. I usually have to open it slowly with my thumb instead of flicking it. If you want to flick it, you have to be very deliberate about getting your thumb under the thumb stud if you want it to flip cleanly. Since it's such a slim knife in width, I do get that Benchmade only had so much room to work with. I'll take the slimmer knife any day because of how much better they carry.

The handle is perfectly done! It's the perfect length for me as I can fit a full four-finger grip comfortably. The aluminum scales with the G10 inlays look nice and feel good in the hand. There are surprisingly no hotspots anywhere on the knife. I normally don't like any sort of inlays, yet the G10 provides some extra grip without looking crappily done. The aluminum is more of a matte finish that feels like nails on chalkboard if you hit it just right. My only slight complaint is the color since you all know I love my colorful knives. Benchmade did a sweet limited edition blue version in 2017 but now they're ridiculously priced on the secondhand market. The Axis lock is a ton of fun to play with and functions as it should too.

I've got a split arrow clip on here which carries very well. Thanks to how light (2.6 ounces), thin, and slim the knife is, the Sequel carries like a dream. I barely notice it when I carry it in the waistband. 

When these were still being sold, I believe they went for about $140. That's what you normally see Benchmades go for, though I don't think it's an amazing value. You pay a premium for Benchmades so that price was probably in line with their other knives' prices.

The 707 Sequel is a great knife in a compact package. I don't have any major complaints. I wish Benchmade hadn't discontinued them. It reminds me a lot of the Ontario Rat 2, as it seems a lot smaller than it is while you still get a mid-sized blade. It performs very well and has phenomenal ergos. If you manage to track one down, I highly recommend it! Thanks for looking!

My College Gaming Setup

Besides knives/EDC, one of my other main hobbies is playing video games. I mostly do handheld console gaming, like on the Nintendo Switch/3DS, but I also have a PS4 I play quite a bit. Last year I did a video of my setup at college and figured I'd do an update post since I moved to a different apartment.

My whole setup takes up the top two shelves of a taller bookcase. My TV isn't anything fancy, just a tiny Insignia TV that's probably 19". I sit pretty close to the TV when I'm gaming anyways due to how I've set up my room, so I don't mind the smaller size. Once I graduate, I'll probably upgrade to a real 50"+ TV. 

In front of the TV is a newer addition to my setup, the NES Classic. I've wanted one ever since they came out and was lucky enough to finally get one for Christmas. I hate how hard Nintendo made it to find these when they were originally released. It has all sorts of classic games, but my favorites are probably Kirby's Adventure, any of the Mario games, and Excitebike. It's a great deal for all the games you get. I definitely recommend it!

The second shelf just has my PS4, two remotes on a charging stand, and a bluetooth speaker. I sometimes use the speaker to listen to music as I'm gaming. Mostly I just like that it adds a pop of color to an otherwise boring black shelf. My favorite PS4 game at the moment is Spider-Man. I played it most of my winter break and loved the graphics and story mode. It's so fun to go swinging around the city. The amount of detail the designers put into it is crazy. That's it for this one. Thanks for looking!

Fenix UC02 Thoughts

Over the years, I've tried a few Fenix flashlights but none of them ever seem to stick around. That's going to be the case with this UC02. I was mainly interested in this light because of the fact that it's USB rechargeable. It's a good option if you're looking for a keychain light.

The micro USB rechargeable aspect is extremely convenient. I'd much rather charge my flashlights then have to buy new batteries all the time. I've started switching all my lights to USB rechargeable ones and buying rechargeable AA/AAA batteries for the rest. It's a huge cost saving and much better for the environment. There's an LED indicator that glows red when the light is charging and then switches to green when it's done. It doesn't take more than an hour to charge from when it's dead. It doesn't come with a charger but most of us already own several anyways.

The tiny size would make it perfect to throw on a keychain. It comes in just under 2" at 1.7" long. I wouldn't want to carry it on its own for fear that I'd lose it. You can manage to use it one-handed, though having it on your keys could give you some more to grip onto. The machining does help give you some extra grip as well. It's got an aluminum body and is great quality. I've had quality issues with Fenixs in the past, so I was surprised to have no issues with this one.

It's a twisty light where twisting it all the way gets you the high mode (130 lumens for 25 minutes) and twisting it until it turns on gets you the low mode (10 lumens for 3 hours and 50 minutes). Those are good outputs for this small of a light. The beam is more of a hotspot with a whitish tint to it. I've been impressed with the performance and would feel confident in having this as my main option. 130 lumens is more than enough light for my EDC tasks. I hated the UI at first since I'm so used to having to twist on/off to switch the modes for twisty lights. With this light, twisting it all the way for high and partially for low makes a lot of sense. There's an audible click once you switch modes which helps distinguish between them if you somehow couldn't notice the difference in the output itself.

As you can see, the whole light can come apart. The biggest annoyance with that is when charging, the head of the light will be loose while the body is plugged in. This means there's a potential to lose half of the light if the head rolls away somewhere while you're charging the other half. A lot of USB rechargeable lights use this type of design which makes no sense to me. I'd rather see companies make it so the head only unscrews to the point where the USB port is exposed. The UCO2 uses a 10180 battery which I'm sure you can also buy if you'd like extras for some reason.

Price wise, these go for about $25 which is fair for what you're getting. A 130 lumen light that is this compact is well worth that price. They come in a few different colors, like blue, black and various stainless steel ones. Of course the purple is my favorite!

I do like the light's performance and size, though I hate the fact that you have to detach the body and head to charge it. It's a good value for what you're getting and is definitely one of the better keychain sized lights I've tried. Thanks for looking!

My Thoughts On Spyderco's Amsterdam Meet 2019

I've been constantly refreshing Spyderco Forums to see if there's any news on the Para3 LW. A thread about the Amsterdam Meet that happened last month caught my eye. SpyderCollector did an overview of about 10 new knives coming eventually which I figured I'd give my thoughts on. Here's some links to the Spyderco Forums thread, SpyderCollector's website, and YouTube channel for video overviews on these knives. SpyderCollector did a great job covering the event so big thank you to him for such great photos/overviews!

I'm more excited about the direction Spyderco's going than I have been in years past. A common theme seems to be turning their popular models into lightweight FRN varieties. I'm all about that since FRN knives are my absolute favorite for EDC. There's definitely a lot of exciting stuff coming if you're a Spyderco fan.

First off, the one I think is the most intriguing is the wharncliffe Dragonfy. I've had a couple Dragonflys over the years but always end up selling them. Wharncliffes are some of my favorite blade shapes, so this version looks awesome. Spyderco's done a few wharncliffe varieties of their popular knives (Delica/Endura), and I'm glad they've done the same for the Dragonfly. I may try to pick one up if they come in different colors.

I never have been impressed by the idea of the Efficient, but this small Efficient looks right up my alley. This version has a blade around 2.5" long with a wire clip. The blade-to-handle ratio looks slightly off, though I still think I'll try to pick one up whenever they come out.

I don't hear much about BaliYos anymore so I was kind of surprised to see Spyderco updated it. I've always wanted to try one out, maybe this version will be my motivation to pick one up.

The Dragonfly is getting an Emerson Opener variety too which I don't think is all that necessary. The wave looks a little ridiculous on such a small knife. I wonder how popular these will end up being.

If you like bigger knives, the next few ones will probably be much more interesting to you. 

The Police 4 is being added to the lightweight lineup. It's got a 4.37" blade and should be nice for those that are already big fans of the Police 4. It doesn't interest me, but again, I like seeing more and more FRN options.

Going off of the popularity of the mid-sized Native, there's a larger one coming too, the Native Chief. It's got a slimmer and longer blade than the regular Native that comes in around 4". It looks nice, but I never need a knife this big in my EDC.

Not only does Spyderco plan to make a smaller Efficient, they've also got a larger Efficient, called the Emphasis, in the works. The Emphasis looks way better proportionally with a 3.58" blade. Spyderco seems to be making the Efficient lineup similar to the Ambitious/Tenacious/Persistence lineup in terms of small, medium, and large sizes. That makes sense since it's their most recent value folder series.

For those that think the Delica is too small and the Endura is too big, here's the Endela. The 3.38" blade is a nice in-between size to the Delica and Endura. The handle looks a little fat to me compared to the width of the blade. This is one I'd never want to pick up either.

Last but not least, the Sage 5 LW. I've never tried any of the Sages and probably never will. It looks like it has a different FRN pattern, 3 inch blade, compression lock, and wire clip. Personally I think the handle looks way too long for only a 3" blade. I'm betting it will be quite popular though.

That's about it for this post! Are you excited for any of these? I'm really happy Spyderco is starting to do more FRN knives. These are all just variations of their already popular models, so I hope there's a lot more new designs in the works as well. Thanks for looking!

Benchmade 380 Aller First Impressions!

I'm checking out this Benchmade 380 Aller on loan for a few more days and wanted to do a quick first impressions post. When I saw these on Blade HQ, I liked the size though the price tag of $136 seemed high. It's nice to see Benchmade finally doing some smaller knives, but I don't think it'll be the knife for me.

I'd probably classify it as a tiny knife with its 1.6" blade. That's still a decent enough size for lighter tasks as a backup knife. It's a friction folder which I don't believe Benchmade does too often. I'm personally not too big of a fan of friction folders. For an EDC knife, I'd much rather have a locking knife or a slipjoint. I see friction folders as more of a collection/show piece. It has been easy to open and close one-handed. The blue accents throughout the knife look awesome!

This is also one of those multipurpose knives, coming with a prytip/screwdriver on the end and a bottle opener on the tab used to open the knife. One other reason I don't like the friction folders is because of how far out the tab used to open the knife sticks out. With the tab also functioning as a bottle opener, it's much pointier than other friction folders I've tried. That means it's been stabbing me when I carry it in the waistband. I'd imagine that issue would still persist if you carry it in the pocket (maybe not as noticeable though). You can remove the clip and carry it loose in the pocket if you wanted. The clip is very wide since it was designed as a money clip. I hate the clip, and if this was my knife, I'd instantly remove it. With it being a blockier knife, the ergos aren't the most comfortable. I can fit a 3.5 to 4 finger grip on it. As of now, I can't see myself recommending it and don't see that changing over the rest of the week. Stay tuned for a more in-depth video and blog post coming soon! Thanks for looking!

WE Roxi Thoughts

After hearing so many great things about WE knives, I've finally got my hands on one, the Roxi. I've had this on loan for a few days and while I like the smaller blade length, it'd never be something I'd actually want to carry. It's a smaller knife that carries more like a mid-sized one thanks to a very wide blade and a heavier weight. I'm impressed with the quality and materials. It's just not the knife for me.

The Roxi is a collaboration between WE and Todd Knife & Tool, whom are both companies I've never had any experience with. When you're paying over $200 for a knife, you should expect top notch quality and that's exactly what you get with this knife. The design is visually appealing with the wharncliffe blade, though it doesn't necessarily translate well to my hand. I love the stonewashed finish, and the WE pivot is a nice touch too. There's also an all-blacked out version and a blue/bronze titanium if the stonewashed is a little bland for you.

Getting onto the blade, you're getting a 2.6" M390 blade which I've been impressed with. M390 is a good steel and has performed as well as I'd expect. The wharncliffe blade is perfect for EDC tasks and comes in a nice middle ground size as well. It's not too big and not too small. My biggest gripe with the blade though is how wide it is. It makes it a pain for me to carry in the waistband but I'll get to that a little later. The Roxi does run on a ceramic ball bearing pivot though the action isn't the best in the world. You have to get a good amount of pressure on the flipper tab or you'll just get crummy half flips. I usually just throw a ton of wrist action at it since it doesn't fire all that hard. The flipper tab itself is a nice size and has good placement, but the action is on the weaker side for whatever reason. It kind of surprises me for a $200+ knife.

The handle leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. It's a nice size for my smaller hands (I can fit a full four-finger grip with the choil), yet it feels very boxy towards the end of the knife. The edges of the handles aren't rounded, so everything feels very squared off/blocky. The titanium scales are fine but not my absolute favorite. There is jimping along the spine of the knife that helps with grip. The framelock is solid with no blade play in any direction.

With the wider width and heavier weight (3.81 ounces), this isn't one of my favorite knives to carry. Wider knives always dig into me more in the waistband, and this one is unfortunately no exception. The clip is good and has some interesting cutouts on it too. It is only right-hand tip-up which works for me.

The Roxi goes for $242 on Blade HQ which I couldn't personally see myself spending on a less than perfect knife. You're getting nicer materials with the M390/titanium handles though that's pretty standard in any $100+ knife. Even if I liked the knife, I think $242 is kind of a stretch but that's just me. It is neat that it comes in a zippered pouch with a cleaning cloth.

Ultimately this knife just isn't my cup of tea since I hate chunky knives. I get why people love WE so much, but if you're like me and aren't into the titanium craze, there's so many better knives out there. I'm happy I got to try it, though I won't miss it once it leaves my hands. It's at least nice to see that WE did a smaller knife, even if it doesn't really carry like a small knife. Thanks for looking!

What I Read: March 2019

I'm reading more books than ever this year which has been a ton of fun. I was on spring break this month and finished studying for a career related exam, so that definitely helped boost my reading. I read a lot of good books/graphic novels and finally found my first 5 star book of the year!

I ended up reading 16 graphic novels this month. The gems of those were definitely the first four books of the Dog Man series (Dog Man, Dog Man Unleashed, A Tale of Two Kitties, and Dog Man and Cat Kid) by Dav Pilkey that all got 4/5 star ratings. I grew up on Captain Underpants as a kid, so it's nice to see the author doing other series. The art is cute, and the plots are always ridiculous/entertaining. Some of my other favorites (rated 4/5 stars) were Book Love by Debbie Tung and Bully Wars volume 1. Bully Wars had great art/colors and a fun premise where bullies are pitted against each other to become the sole bully of a school. Book Love is more of a memoirish graphic novel about someone that loves to read which I found to be very relatable. Some other ones that I thought were good but not great (3/5 stars) were Umbrella Academy volumes 1-2, The Backstagers volumes 1-2, and The Little Prince by Antione De Saint-Exupery. The Little Prince is a classic children's book that I've heard a lot of good things about. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It has a good message and cute art as well. All around, I haven't read this many awesome graphic novels in quite a while. Hopefully I can find some gems in April as well.

Getting into books, I read a lot of things that have been adapted for movies/TV shows, like Bird Box by Josh Malerman (2/5), Dumplin' by Julie Murphy (3/5), You by Caroline Kepnes (2/5), and Moneyball by Michael Lewis (2/5). I'm normally the type of person that prefers the book to the film adaptation, but that wasn't the case with any of these. Bird Box was written by a singer of a band, and you can tell writing is not his strong suit. The writing was very choppy with mostly very short sentences instead of varying sentence structures. Dumplin' is just a YA romance that was quick/fun to read but nothing spectacular. I also read a spinoff novel from the same author, Puddin', that I also rated 3/5 stars, though I think I liked it more than Dumplin'. I watched Moneyball a few years ago (which I loved) and finally got around to reading the book. It was too bogged down by unnecessary stats and didn't have the personal perspective I was hoping to hear. Lastly for this batch, You had a somewhat interesting premise where a bookstore worker becomes obsessed with this girl, and their relationship is nothing short of dramatic. My biggest gripe with it was how cringely written the characters were. The Netflix show is much more enjoyable than the book.

I finally found my first 5 star book of the year, Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon. After reading a lot of celebrity memoirs/lifestyle/cookbooks, I always find them to be hit or miss in terms of the actual content. This book was a neat blend of memoir, recipes, and lifestyle tips on decorating/fashion. It's not necessarily things I'll go implement in my own life, though I enjoyed hearing her perspective. The recipes are actually things I want to try to cook, and there were lots of nice photos throughout. Another one I enjoyed was I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (4/5), a true crime novel all about the Golden State Killer. This was a cold case for awhile before the killer was finally caught at the beginning of last year. Since the author unfortunately passed away before it was published, the writing was a little disjointed at times. Still, it was well-researched and interesting to read.

This post is getting long enough, but I also wanted to mention some average and disappointing reads for me. Some of the averages ones (3/5) were Anthem by Ayn Rand, Assume The Worst by Carl Hiaasen, On The Come Up by Angie Thomas, and The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking. Huge letdowns were Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff (1/5), Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (2/5), Elevation by Stephen King (2/5), The Lost Art of Reading by David Ulin (1/5), and The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner (1/5).

I'm up to 97 books for the year with 40 of those read this month. This is by far the best start I've had to a year since I started tracking my reading. My goals for April are to finish all of the library books I've got checked out (probably 10 between physical and ebooks) and continue reading some of my own physical books. Thanks for looking!