I Got Ahead of Myself Before 2024

The Bedford Building Clocktower closes in on 1 O'clock —Taken with an iPhone 8 

So I thought I could manage to get a decent portion of writing done on the second journey to Boston before the new year, but I find myself organizing the photos in Scrivener instead. I decided to use the program to both sort through the material and write the post out proper—similar to my process with the video game reviews—as opposed to writing it all out in Blogger like I did with the first trip.

I'm glad I chose this method since it will help me re-trace my steps alongside a hint of Apple Maps—which helped in documenting my first Boston outing. 

In sum: This is the last delay on recounting this excursion and will be the first major post for the year—and for January*.

Wishing you a a happy and prosperous New Year! Let's go 2024! 

Update as of January 29th, 2024: It will be the first major post of the year, but in early February because I waited until last minute. Although if I manage to finish it by the 31st, I'll delete this line.

Resurfacing from the Wreckage—Ink for December 13th, 2023

It does look like I'm taking the book out, but it's the other way 'round. A slight fumble in submerging the Shipwreck in question— Taken with an iPhone 8 

I took a small walk down to the mini-library this afternoon and finally returned Shipwreck Lane to its stacks. With the poll results tallied, I now have another romance book to read for Valentine's Day: Ali Hazelwood's Love, Theoretically.

Thank you again to all of you who reblogged the previous post and participated in last week's poll! 

I set up a deadline for myself to have this book read, with a review written and posted on or around Valentine's Day—admittedly, I only mentioned said deadline in the Mastodon poll.

This will not only provide me with ample time to read the book, but also allows me some breathing space for the rest of December—outside of the travel blog post on September's Boston trip. I'll probably spend some of that spare time finishing Clark Collis's You've Got Red on You, which documents the making of the Shaun of the Dead film. Simon Pegg was one of my favorite comedic influences in late high-school with Spaced. I bought the DVD boxed set at Borders after school on a whim, binged through both seasons and found myself being drawn to the wholesome nature of the entire show—the direction, sets, and the way the characters embraced their own quirkiness.  

Also, as for Shaun of the Dead, I got around to watching it last month and well, I loved it!  

Other things I've been Distracted By...

I'm not someone who usually watches Twitch streams these days, but between Banjo Guy Ollie doing one out of the blue in October alongside LoadingReadyRun's 20th Anniversary Sub-a-Thon, the streaming website was the place to be. In my case, it was the iPad app where all of the action happened—outside of occasional chat glitches, I think it does a pretty good job of playing the role of terrestrial television. 

There was also the annual Desert Bus for Hope charity livestream last month which was a lot of fun! Many of the highlights including supercuts of popular segments are over on their YouTube channel—I enjoyed waking up to some parts of "Keep Talking and Nobody Bricksplodes" alongside the call-in with the folk group, the Longest Johns. 

On the podcast front, there's Leighton Night with Brian Wecht which has now become a permanent part of my podcast rotation. This is partly thanks to the CheapShow episode I mentioned in the last post alongside Leighton Gray's GDC talk—or rather those were the initial hooks that convinced me to give Leighton Night a listen. Shortly after, I decided to pick a few shows from their backlog. There were a couple of them with Paul Gannon, one with video essayist Sarah Z, another with producer and writer Abby Russell, and last one I picked out of the archives was with stand-up comedian Chris Grace.    

It's hard to describe the show, but it reminds me of when I used to read Boing Boing during my community college and university years—when Cory Doctorow, Xeni Jardin, and Maggie Koerth-Baker used to post on there. In sum, it's a glimpse into today's Internet with fun hosts who make a podcast informative, chill, and ultimately fun!

Other distractions...

• Continuing with podcasts, the Channel 84 Variety Show's doing an advent calendar where each day they discuss an item, event, or tradition related to Christmas in a segment they call "Bin it or Keep It". 
• I've also been on a Red Letter Media kick for a couple months, courtesy of a Noiselund remix. I particularly enjoy Half in the Bag which blends brief comedy skits with in-depth discussion on films.
• There were also the recent Doctor Who specials and it was great to have David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I did a brief, spoiler-free review of the first special over on Mastodon. I might expand on that next year.
• With games, it's been mostly a mix of Mario(s) and Minecraft. The latter of which was inspired more or less by my second cousin's visit in August. 

That's all from me this evening! Have a wonderful week!       

Yearning for a DNF Option on Goodreads and Some Housekeeping With Another Delay

I won't bury the lede for what goes without saying—the travel blog for my late September Boston trip will be pushed back to next month. Not going to set a specific timeline for it this time because, admittedly, I did not work on it at all last month. This was, more or less, similar to why I delayed the Goldeneye book review back in August. Even with the holidays looming, I'll do my best to pace myself accordingly so that I can properly work on the post and eventually get it online. I had a full tumblr of Yerba Mate earlier today and almost forgot how it helps in motivating me to write—it's probably the best thing about this week's cold snap.

I did think about the other book I planned on reviewing in December and I thought, instead of possibly marking it as a "Did-Not-Finish", saving it for February. This will give me an opportunity to give it a proper read and, well, finish it...

...but as November went on, I started thinking of other ideas. With an official tie in the poll I did months ago, I technically didn't need to review The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane. The truth of the matter is, I added it into the queue to impress someone locally. It would have help me further acquaint myself with a genre that I don't usually read, but the problem is with the writing—how the characters are written, the narrative's tendency to mesh opposing tones together, and so much "telling" instead of "showing". 

I have my Mom to thank for pointing out that I picked out what is usually considered a typical romance novel—at least here in the States anyways. She recommended other romance novels that having better writing including Red, White, and Royal Blue, and Love Theoretically. The former happens to have an audiobook version, which now sits on my Libro.fm wishlist waiting for me to drop a credit on it.

I'm going to set up a poll tomorrow after I publish this post to see if I should continue on with Shipwreck Lane or change course and read one of the other books instead. Or, with the fourth option, I could play through a visual novel in the same literary genre. You could blame a particular episode of CheapShow for this, but it was Leighton Gray's talk at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) that made me think about giving this game a shot! 

I'll be posting the polls in the usual places, Twitter and Mastodon, like usual. Although it will probably end up being the last one for the former considering how that guy's essentially run the network into the ground and that's putting it lightly. 

Mastodon on the other hand has essentially become my online home, social media-wise aside from Goodreads (and StoryGraph). That won't change for the for the foreseeable future, especially as the Fediverse gains traction alongside other services taking advantage of the ActivityPub protocol—there's an article from the Verge that explains it a little better alongside Cory Doctorow's recent DEF CON talk. 

That's it for now! Hope you all have a good weekend!       

Swapping Places

Just writing to note that I'm switching the ETAs for the review of Shipwreck Lane and the second travel blog on Boston. I'm planning to work on the latter within the next couple weeks and I'm aiming for mid to late-November to have the post up on the blog. 

Ideally, the book review will be for December, but it's been a challenging read. There's work and the usual excuses that I mention every time this happens, and while I've made decent progress on the book itself, it's been difficult to pick it up.

Admittedly, a part of the challenge is the it's the print copy. I'm not afraid to share online that I'm reading it, but I'd probably get strange looks at the local Starbucks or on a bus ride somewhere. That's minor though...

I briefly mentioned this on a Mastodon post with my Friday reads for October—more or less the month's reading list—but the writing makes it a rough ride at times. The comedic and narrative hooks also seemed off to me at times resulting it weird shifts in tone.

The book may be more or less "not for me" at this point, but I do plan on finishing it and reviewing it though. (No, it won't be like a Kermode-ian rant.)

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Summer Plans Made Too Late and a Birthday Weekend Update

There's a lot of covering up of pass details, but I can assure you that Hikau, the Robot is a fun game. —Taken with an iPhone 8 

There were a couple of things I wanted to try out this summer that, unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to do—the major one being a trip on the local water taxi.

This was on me for buying a season pass way too late into the season (Mid-August)—and finding out that the taxi's hop-on hop-off service only operates on Saturday and Sunday. My Dad was working on the deck over the summer and since we both managed to frequently get Saturdays off, I wanted to be present to help him when he needed it—especially when the heat managed to break. 

The other one was a Grub Street virtual class and they had some really neat ones including one on writing unlikeable characters and a scriptwriting workshop. I'm not worried about missing them—I feel like they'll come up again regardless of season. 

However, I do have one day trip left back to Boston to start off the birthday weekend—and to properly close off summer. This trip is going to be a little different and will be more of a proper downtown tour. I'm going to post the highlights as I go on Mastodon—with later crossposting to Twitter*—and will probably do a longer blog post about it later on next month. 

What else? 

Shipwreck Lane will be a review for October. I might sneak a poll in next week to see what game I should review before the end of the year. 

Hope you all had a good summer! 

*I no longer use Twitter on my mobile devices, meaning that I don't log into Twitter as much as I used to.   

Islets & Islanders—An All-Accommodating Getaway Package

Even if I took this photo in mid-May, I enjoy having an early sunrise in the summertime. Not so much the late sunsets though for some reason. —Taken with an iPhone 8 

Summer and I do not exactly get along. Sure, there may be more opportunities for adventure and spectacle with a local fireworks show—unrelated to US Independence Day—but it is the extensive heat that sours what is otherwise a low-key season. Walks were something I would usually avoid in summer more or less because, well, I usually end up in a aura of moisture about ten to fifteen minutes in—sometimes after I make it across the street. While it might be a bit of bummer, the little things like a Dairy Queen Blizzard treat,  or going to a family reunion at a lake house make the season worthwhile. The ideal summer image of a tropical island vacation also sounds promising with two games making up a vacation package of easy-going fun.

One of many quirky and lovable characters who reside in the sky islands. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode) 

The first stop in this vacation cruise is a journey to the skies where a chain of once-connected islands lies scattered across the clouds in Islets—a game developed by Kyle Thompson for Armor Games Studios. The official website describes the game as “A Surprisingly Wholesome Metroidvania” and, while I think it fits the adventure to a tee, it also does not do the game proper justice. Even if I was alternating between this game and Tears of the Kingdom back in June, I found Islets to be a vibrant and refreshing change of pace. This starts with our main character, a warrior mouse named Iko, who sets forth on a journey to join the sky islands together again and he is far from alone as a competing warrior, an overzealous show-off named Snoot, manages to tear down Iko’s boat by merely revving his own airship. Once Iko crashes onto the lush green plains of Northstable Island, his quest truly begins with a simple tutorial and some low-fi beats from the game’s composer, Eric Thompson.

The controls are very easy to get the hang of—even if I sometimes forgot I could do forward rolls—and the power ups are the usual standard metroidvania fare. Players familiar with Hollow Knight will recognize the double jump and Islets's own approach to wall-clinging abilities where Iko can just climb straight up to the top. When Islets does its own thing, though, it does so it a cool fashion from arrows that can create contrails for platforms to airship boss fights which feel like something out of Cotton, Darius, or Turrican. 

The big innovator which fully gives Islets that refreshing change of pace is the exploration itself. While Iko might not have the expansive move set of someone like the Knight, the act of reconnecting the islands acts a series of power-ups to encourage backtracking. Each time I added an island back to the chain, the journey back through them almost felt like new with additional pathways sandwiched between adjacent ares instead of a mere trek around the map. The visuals themselves, while not as detailed as Hollow Knight or Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, still breath life into the aerial archipelago and the characters who fly about them and the hub town, Sky City. If the links between islands are like powers-ups, the characters and how they develop act as pieces of lore, in which denizens tell Iko about landmarks and points of interest.

An unexpected highlight of Islets, which puts some arcade-like action into a Metroidvania. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode)  

Even for a game that makes simplicity shine in everything from world-building and character development to gameplay, there are some rough patches of turbulence—mostly in the form of boss battles. While I found it really cool that said bosses and normal enemies had projectiles that were easy to see—and simple tells of attack prep with a few exclamation marks—the big behemoths felt like they took forever to defeat. Even if these fights get tedious after awhile, the sword-fighting does not feel out of place. The variations between the difficultly levels are not much to write home about either—the more difficult the setting, the stronger the foes are. They also develop more complex bullet patterns between each tier, but it feels more subtle with the most notable difference being in the first boss’s second phase with both easy and normal modes being completely identical.   

The last little niggle deals with Islets own version of health and ammo bonuses—a roulette of additional perks which range from the afermentioned to adding extra power to every other attack and in-game currency you can use in Sky City for other perks. This is another one of Islets’s neat twists to the metroidvania formula and most of them are not that difficult to obtain. The ones that pose some trouble seldom require extreme coordination or reflexes, making Islets easy to fully complete. As for the rewards, even if there is a choice whether to play it safe with a health increase or risk it for gold, the variety in choice sometimes varies greatly. The incremental increases offered both with said pickups and the Sky City stores might prompt players continuously go for the former, but considering how easy it is to gain funds, there is some breathing room. 

Islets might lack the palm trees of a tropical beach resort in both in the literal and figurative sense, but it is still a metroidvania that manages to both accommodate newcomers and challenge the pros simultaneously.

This island reminded me of Windwaker while I was building the mills and cities. I couldn't help but think of Windfall Island. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode)

The next destination is a proper cruise from one island to the next where the cities, tourist attractions, and even the agriculture turn the vacationer to a full-time construction worker in Islanders—an indie game developed by Grizzly Games. Unlike the intense focus on finances, budgeting, and proper zoning in similar titles like Sim City, Islanders focuses more on just developing the procedurally-generated islands into livable spaces while aiming for a high score. Each island requires a certain amount of development and points before the player can start an expedition to the next one and the key to a quick getaway is, well, zoning by building type. Each building can benefit from either adjacent structures—like mills and fields—or by the surrounding resources, which can significantly bolster the score. Even if a player reaches the expedition cap, they can still continue to further develop the island with fountains, parks, and towers among other options. 

Even if the sessions can be short—usually between one to two hours—Islanders has quite a bit of depth with its gameplay with situations that require some out-of-the-box thinking. There may be islands where the game provides you with multiple wooden piers (or plateaus) in order to make up for the lack of land mass. Some locales might even provide you with major buildings and exclude the smaller producers—think sawmills without lumberjacks or mills without fields. Even particular buildings like the Shaman’s Hut involve some pixel-perfect placement to get the highest amount of points possible, and to make up for the reduction if there is a mansion nearby. 

This deceptively simple gameplay loop kept me enthralled with Islanders with each session I played while the 3D visuals and music evoked that relaxing island atmosphere. There are both tropical and snowy islands alongside many interesting geographic variations which help keep the game fresh. For those who just want to get creative, the game also includes a “sandbox mode” that takes the scoring system out completely. Both modes make Islanders into a game that embraces the best aspects of summer—a laid-back day at the resort with a crossword puzzle and piña colada. (Other drinks are available.)     

Top: Another one of my favorite builds in Islanders, featuring some of the 
Bottom: A tour guide contemplates a price hike in Islets. —Both Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode) 

From sky back to the seas, the full vacation package contains a duo of pick-up-and-play titles that manage to balance both challenge and difficultly. Islets might have boss fights that feel like in-flight delays, but the journey across and between the sky islands provides a fresh take on metroidvanias for veterans and newcomers alike. The follow-cruise with Islanders suffers the opposite problem with (sometimes) short sessions, but the gameplay is engrossing enough to keep the momentum. Whether you are big into metroidvanis or want the therapeutic experience of constructing an island city without noise pollution, this vacation package has you covered! 

Islets In Sum: Brave Mouse Discovers New Technology. Epic Monsters Still Rampant: 8.5 out of 10 

Islanders In Sum: Urban Development at Its Ideal (Albeit Brief)—Tranquil and Deceptively Easy: 9.5 out of 10 

Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic—Gaming Memories are Forever

Probably my favorite cover in the entire Boss Fight Books series— Taken with an iPhone 8  

I was barely seven when Goldeneye came out on the Nintendo 64 and the only opportunity I had to play the game would not be until a few years later when I slept over at a friend’s house. We booted up the game in the late hours of the morning and, while my memory is a bit vague about what levels we played or whether his Dad rented or owned the game, we spent two hours having a blast in multiplayer. With the game now a part of the Switch Online games catalog, I was able to experience that same joy again through the single-player campaign…after I figured out the updated control scheme. Yet, it is the story about how the Goldeneye 007 game came to be which made me appreciate it even more with a recent addition to the Boss Fight Books lineup. 

Written by English professor, Alyse Knorr, Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic is a book that provides an in-depth historical account into the how Rare developed one of the Nintendo 64’s legendary titles. There are two editions to this specific book—a regular paperback and a deluxe hardcover with design documents, pictures, and even a bonus chapter on how they developed the game’s soundtrack—and I backed the the latter during their Kickstarter campaign. No matter what edition you buy, Knorr’s in-depth account of both the game’s development and the James Bond franchise itself remains the same. Everything surrounding the Goldeneye 007 game gets through coverage—the history of Rare and Ultimate: Play the Game, what led to them and Nintendo claiming a license to Ian Fleming’s suave spy in 1995, the James Bond games which came after, etc—and the chapters dedicated to a specific aspect of development feel very much like an extended, behind-the-scenes feature for a film or television show. If you are wondering what the secret to Goldeneye’s memorable multiplayer was and how it came to be, or how they worked on the in-game models and animations, Knorr has you covered.

If you want to know how Grant Kirkhope and Graeme Norgate managed to make the iconic James Bond theme fit onto an Nintendo 64 cartridge, you will not be able to find it in the standard, paperback edition. It felt weird to me that there was a bonus chapter smack dab near the end of the book between the one on multiplayer and the other on the Nintendo 64’s struggles during Goldeneye’s development alongside how the team dealt with the violence in the game—with feedback from Nintendo and even MGM. The transition between them does not feel abrupt or awkward, but the absence of Kirkhope and Norgate’s contributions did not make any sense to me. If I instead decided on the standard edition, it would be the only setback to an otherwise well-detailed account.

The drawings, diagrams, and even reference photos do feel like a nice bonus feature with the deluxe edition. For someone like me who only had brief experiences with the game, it was cool to put faces to names, see how particular places and actors transitioned into in-game models, and how the menu’s manila folder UI developed into the file select and mission briefing screens. Players passionate about gaming history and development will be spoiled rotten with motion capture models, sketches of in-game areas, original design documents outlining what Goldeneye would be, and so much more. Both these additions and the bonus chapter combined make the deluxe hardcover feel more like the definitive edition of Knorr’s book, making it worth the US $29.95 price tag—double the price of the standard paperback at US $14.95.  

Even so, every edition of Alyse Knorr’s Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic does the game justice in the same Boss Fight Books style—where personal narrative weaves itself with academic rigor. Compared to the other books I enjoyed—Matt Margini’s Red Dead Redemption and Gabe Durham’s Majora’s Mask—Knorr’s own experiences not only entwines itself into the stories of Goldeneye’s development, but compliments them gracefully. Her love for Goldeneye shows in both her personal experiences, and her own research and interviews with the development team. Anyone interested in the history of first-person shooters, gaming in general, or just fondly remember playing this game will find themselves with the perfect martini of a book—shaken, not stirred.   

In Sum: A love letter to a classic, late 1990s video game that goes above and beyond, but somewhat blows its cover with an extra chapter in hardcover that, while still thoroughly researched, would work better in both editions. Even so, it's a rich dossier—4 out of 5 Stars   

Boss Fight Books does sell the deluxe hardcover as an e-book for US $11.95 (at time of writing) in case you are interested in both the bonus chapter and the additional design documents, but do not want to shell out US $30 or prefer reading it in a digital format.   

A Quick Little Update...

I'm just popping to note that—as more or less per usual—I'm pushing back the Goldeneye book review a smidge. I'm going to shoot for this weekend to have it finished, written, and posted here. 

I'm not too far from the finish line, but August was a bit rough, work-wise, so I ended up distracting myself (and decompressing) with the usual method of playing Switch games and catching up on podcasts. Thankfully, I think I'm at the tail-end of the stress and I'm off for the next two days so (ideally) everything should work out!

Everything else remains unchanged...for now. 

An Unexpected and Welcomed Visit—Ink for August 5th & 6th, 2023

I had a cousin visit my parents' house with her three kids on Monday—she was initially in the region for a family reunion, but decided to stop by before heading back home—and we had a lot of fun. The highlight of the visit though was her son, my second cousin/nephew, finding out where the "video game room" was—it was mine, of course—and then I had the honor of introducing him to MsMadLemon and Banjo Guy Ollie since he was passionate about Minecraft. 

I linked the above video in a recent Mastodon thread—where Maddi shows off her railway system and ends up getting chased (briefly) by an Enderman—and when that scene with that shadowy creature happened, he was laughing up a storm. We checked out some of the other videos in the playlist as well including an earlier video where she explores a nearby cave, another prior video where she starts her Minecraft journey, and her tutorial on building a Hamam, before switching over to playing Street Fighter II on my Genesis/Mega Drive Mini where he ending up winning with two full bouts. 

Before that, and alongside Ollie's synth cover of the Minecraft theme, I attempted to introduce him into the Nintendo Force magazine...initially with the issue containing my Hypnospace Outlaw review. I think he was more mesmerized by the screenshots from Kris Randazzo's review of Fight Crab though—and I don't blame him! :-)

I did show him other issues of the Force—the recent one with Pikmin 4 on the cover (Issue #66), then the Eastward review from issue #56, and the one in which Metroid Dread graced the cover (Issue #55). I think he enjoyed reading them and he also talked at length about the E.M.M.I. robots in Dread since he owned those very same Metroid amiibos I mentioned previously.

That, and he was entranced by Ollie's Metroid covers—he requested the ones of Brinstar and of Kraid's hideout, while I had him guess the one for Phendrana Drifts since he had Metroid Prime Remastered on his Switch. 

All in all, it was a lot of fun and I was glad to see my cousin again after not being in touch for years. She was the person who recommended the university I ended up graduating in which, even under all the stress, is something I'm still grateful for to this day. She also ran a couple blogs in the past decade but sadly, they're both inactive and offline so I don't have any links to share. I can say from memory—and Kristin, if you're reading this, I hope I remembered correctly—that her first blog dealt was thought-provoking and dealt with sociological matters. 

Speaking of Relatives...

You can now listen to the Derek James tapes in their original, and cleaned-up, forms over on his nephew's website—Derek's nephew being Tom of Channel84. These tapes were originally showcased on CheapShow in episodes 105, 119, 140, and 278, with commentary by Paul, Eli, and Stuart Ashen (for the latter two) that helped bring these bizarre, yet lovable tales to life. I will always be fond of Derek's Bone Hoover story, not just for the sudden, comedic twist at the end but also for how he describes his journey to Cairo—I sometimes have that CheapShow episode on repeat for the commentary alone! 

I can actually imagine Derek hosting a fiction writing workshop or being famous for creative nonfiction memoirs, but I digress...

What I've been listening to recently...

I would be remiss if I did not mention MsMadLemon's latest album, Paradox. I thought about doing a more in-depth review on it, doing a track by track look similar to the one I did for Pocket Vinyl's Winter Person in 2020...and I might do so in future. What I can say right now is that this is Maddi's best work yet and the variety of synths and trackers that make up the tracks evoked a feeling similar to the soundtrack for Eastward!

There is also Lacey Johnson's latest cover album featuring her take on some of Persona 5's greatest numbers, which is also amazing of course!

But the album I thought was the most interesting was this original soundtrack from a group called Alpha Something...   

I actually owe it to Ro Panuganti for both his cover of Nee Dhaane and his playthrough of Venba for introducing me to this game that centers on Southern Indian cooking with an emphasis on family. 

Weird thing is, I haven't played it yet and as I'm writing this post, I just found out that the game is also on the Switch. This is what happens when I more or less watch YouTube solely on the iPad these days so the video description stealthily hides itself behind a tappable word. I did rectify this and downloaded the game from the eShop and I think it will be a good way to partly spend my weekend.

Much like Turrican, its a game where a cover and a soundtrack inspired me to buy the game, so here's Ro Panuganti's take on Nee Dhaane with his first try at Southern Indian cooking with dosas and chutneys...

...and that's all from me for now! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Owning up to an Unnecessary Rant—Sunday Ink for July 30th, 2023

I don't have a picture or a screenshot for this post and know how links on social media go for the first applicable image, including video thumbnails, I decided to give another video of the week to John Rogers with a thumbnail that is thematically relevant. I'll probably get around to watching it tomorrow... 

I'm not fond of using social media to complain about petty issues about the day nor do I like being too harsh in reviewing a piece of media, professionally or otherwise. Of course, we're all human and I found myself composing a thread on Mastodon a couple of weeks ago that bashed the podcast, Threedom, which I recommended in a previous blog post. I deleted the thread shortly after since, again, I felt like I was being too critical in a way that was highly unfair and projected my own cynicism onto people who might not have contempt for their audience. 

Also, I did genuinely enjoy the first episode I listened to—and for someone who is not the biggest fan of stand-up comedy, this says something! 

I think a part my reaction from the Mastodon thread in question was my own self-consciousness at barely knowing any stand-up comedians outside of CheapShow guests, Jon Oliver*, British panel shows like Mock the Week and Would I Lie to You, and of course the controversial players** in American stand-up who frequently punch down and usually promote misinformation. 

So to hear what I thought was contempt for their audience in "3 Chuckies" with (I believe) Scott's remark about how their "[...]audience should be grateful that we do this podcast standing up," and what I took to be them being privileged enough to alienate a potential audience with Lauren's remark about how if she had to introduce herself one more time on the pod then "F— you" (yes, I'm still paraphrasing) in the Threevisiting episode, "Do You Even Know Gyms", made me believe that American stand-up mostly consists of either complete jerks or those political grifters who trended on Twitter for being "against the status quo" in all the wrong ways.

I truly believe that is not the case and if you know any American stand-ups that I should watch or listen to, feel free to suggest them in the comments! 

Those remarks, though, also brought me to the MsMadLemon video that I mentioned in the Mastodon thread where, among other things, she noted about some content creators react to gifts sent in by fans. And I linked the wrong one in the thread, so here's the actual video in question...

The bit I'm referring to starts at the 6 minute mark and, while the discussion is mostly unrelated, I would still give it your consideration—alongside the follow up video. Maybe it's because of how I've been mostly drawn to indie creators—whether it's podcasts like CheapShow, or musicians like Pocket Vinyl and Banjo Guy Ollie—that I took it personally more than I should have. That remark and the Threevisiting "F— you" still rile me up when considering how every independent artist and content creator goes to great lengths to promote their work to others and appreciates their audience—even more so when considering how the community behind said work gives that admiration back twofold.       

Maybe I picked the wrong episodes to listen to when trying to get back into the podcast, but I get the feeling that the Threedom and Comedy Bang Bang style of humor is not for me. I actually considered buying the Comedy Bang Bang book that recently came out figure said style out, but my gut told me no, more or less. Other opinions are available and it goes without saying that CBB probably has some sort of community out there. 

I'll leave that ramble there and move on to more positive things...

Additional Pods in the Queue?

• Shrink the Box, in which Ben Bailey Smith and Sasha Bates do some psychoanalytic literary theory magic on television's protagonists
• The Channel84 Variety Show in which Tom and Rob geek out about whether it's sci-fi, nostalgia, television and film, or even the goings on in their own lives

I unfortunately don't have a link list so I'll leave it there for now. Have a good evening!   

An Updated Review Timeline and a Brief Amiibo Addiction—Ink for July 28th, 2023

Urban planning makes the best of geographic oddities. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode) 

I'm changing the timeline again with regards to rest of summer's reviews partly because of the usual culprit—although that's game's mostly wrapped up (for now)—but also because of one addition to the roster.   

I'm still working on reading through Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic by Alyse Knorr and should still be on target to have a review written and published here next month. Islets will also be a review for late-August (or early September), but I'm also tacking on another game which evokes the same laid-back, summer feel. It also revolves around islands with a related namesake, Islanders: Console Edition, and was recommended to me by Ivenne, a friend of the blog and the creator behind the [Un]Official CheapShow Magazine! 

I'm aiming for somewhere between 750-1250 words for the combination review and there will be scores. (Spoilers: They're both fun!)   

As for the last item in the queue, I'm aiming to read and review The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane sometime in September.    

So that's the admin done, I thought I'd talk about what the Tears of the Kingdom shenanigans hath wrought... 

Top: A Solid Cast of Links—from the 8-Bit beginnings (rightmost) to when he composed music at sea (leftmost)—with a spider-esque robot lurking nearby.
Bottom: A Better look at the Windwaker Link & Zelda alongside the princess from her Skyward Sword days. —Both taken with an iPhone 8    

One of the things I didn't expect to do while playing this game was to break out the wallet for additional Amiibo figurines. These Amiibos have a Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip located at the base designed to interact with the NFC chip on a Joy-Con or an official Switch Pro controller to allow players to further enjoy additional features with particular games. In both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, they provide a cache of resources alongside a treasure chest containing either a normal weapon or shield, a gemstone, or an exclusive piece of armor related to the Amiibo in question.

Thing is, even if they said there was a restock on Zelda Amiibos upon the game's release, I never thought to take advantage of it. Then again, I wasn't really in the market for them beforehand—I had the 8-Bit Link one already alongside an 8-Bit Mario figure, the Metroid Dread dual-pack, and Mr. Game & Watch—since most of the games I played either didn't use them or had Amiibo-only features that I felt like I didn't need. The ones I already had were close to the regular retail price that the Nintendo Life article lists for the reissued Links (around US $14.99) with the exception of the Metroid dual-pack that was closer to US $30.

But when I found the Link from Majora's Mask on Amazon for around US $38 when it scalpers usually sell it for way over US $100, I can't say no to a figurine from what is my favorite Zelda game of all time! 

Here's the thing, you don't need these Amiibos if you're looking for exclusive armor and weapons in Tears of the Kingdom. You can find chests in caves and the Depths where you can net them without having to shell out money to a scalper or braving a games store as someone over thirty looking for what could be called a kid's toy. Without spoiling anything, the trek is worth it alone no matter how you end up finding them!

...and that concludes my Tears of the Kingdom ramble. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!    

Red Team Blues—A Literary Fork in Proper Sterling

I love the book covers for Cory's books and this one is no exception! —Taken with an iPhone 8 

From Bitcoin to the Blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Web3 is a source of both fascination and scandal throughout the past decade. Yet much like the moniker itself—which advocates say is a fork of Web 3.0*—the concept behind these solely digital “artifacts” is a task that only becomes more complicated as one tries to break down and define them. With cryptocurrency in particular, there have been reporters who documented its history—Nathaniel Popper wrote an account on Bitcoin in his 2016 book, Digital Gold—but what happens when you put crypto in a fictional setting where the “coins” take center stage?  

Red Team Blues is the latest novel from science fiction author, Cory Doctorow, which is also his first foray into thrillers with a reverse-chronological twist. It is a book that gives cryptocurrency the coin toss into the world of fiction with the help of its main character, forensic accountant Martin Hench. He might have a monotonous-sounding occupation, but his career has been anything but courtesy of his “red team” approach—seeking the weak point in security systems in order to expose scams and frauds for his clients. While his career may have been low-key, this book shows him at his peak as he contemplates retirement from his $800,000 tour bus, the Unsalted Hash. Yet, he finds himself with one more gig for his old friend and client, Danny Lazer, who wants Hench to find some cryptographic keys lying around on a laptop's hard drive.

Even when he finishes that job, its not truly over and Hench finds himself under the threat of his retirement being whisked away.

Cyberpunk novels may suffer from complicated, technical prose for reasons that cannot be helped, but Doctorow managed to keep me in suspense without getting bogged down in jargon. Hench, may be more of a tell, don’t show person, but it keeps the narrative anchored and moving while keeping the technical explanations as simple as possible. Not for a moment did I feel lost in this book and having Hench and Lazer explain cryptocurrency in a discussion was a huge help—not just in explaining the concept in full, but how it drives Martin Hench’s career alongside Lazer’s. Everything that would otherwise be a complicated mess gets linked together in the closest thing to a graceful looking daisy-chain of cables.   

The same thing can be said for how this books lays out Martin Hench’s life, but substitute the shortfalls of cyberpunk with the lack of an info-dump deluge. Everything about Martin Hench’s life—his friends and personality—makes sense throughout the narrative with just his monologue and ongoing conversations alone. I ended up being invested in Hench’s personal relationships as he fought for his life and it made the ending even more satisfying.

 Red Team Blues is a novel that manages to provide a clear glimpse into the life on a forensic accountant in what would be the last book of a normal trilogy without spoiling too much, if not anything. Hench’s speciality in dealing with cryptocurrency helps break down what these “coins” really are without the need to scrawl through social media chatrooms and web forums, or reading historical accounts like Digital Gold. Both of these aspects make Red Team Blues into a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to give cyberpunk a fair shot.   

In Sum: If this were any sort of currency, it would be solid gold—5 out of 5 Stars

If you already enjoyed the book, or like Wil Wheaton, he does the narration for the audiobook! 

*Or some sort of fork from the World Wide Web whether it's Web 1,2, or 3.0.

The Shenanigans Won Out in the End...

Much like Return to Monkey Island, the uploaded screenshots won't do Islets any justice—Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode)  

Tears of the Kingdom has been my go-to game for the past couple months and, even if I did manage to do a playthrough of Islets in-between sessions, I don't think I could give a proper review to the indie metroidvania. I started writing a draft yesterday with an intro that (ideally) would transition from praising an open-world game for not having an overwhelming narrative to how Islets evokes a similar feeling for a metroidvania game, but it felt way too ambitious. It probably wouldn't make much sense either. 

I also made a post on Mastodon a couple weeks ago saying that I was on track for both reviews and, I admit, I got ahead of myself. 

In short, I'm pushing back almost everything...

• I'll have a review of Islets up by late July, meaning that I can do a full playthrough on Normal and a more in-depth one on Hard
• Red Team Blues will be a review for earlier in the month while moving Alyse Knorr's Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic back into August. (Although it could also be a late July review as well...)
• I'm still aiming for August to finish reading and review The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane for the blog alongside Knorr's book

Hope you all are having a great summer so far!  

A Glimpse Into What Summer Will Look Like This Year...

A in-depth look into the history of James Bond's Nintendo 64 debut, a cyberpunk thriller, and a Metroidvania that takes place in the sky— Taken with an iPhone 8

Sunday won again, but that was more or less me getting distracted by Tears of the Kingdom, which has been a beautiful experience that can sometimes be a little overwhelming. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but I did write a small thread on Mastodon with my initial thoughts on the game. The individual posts are all behind sensitive content filters, but the first one is spoiler-free and provides a window into my foray back into Hyrule. That, and it also highlights the way I played through Breath of the Wild along with how I approach open-world games.

I'll end up writing a few more posts on the game there as I play it, but for the next game review, we'll be going to a different set of sky islands!

Earlier into the year, I decided to sign up for the Super Rare Club, which is a service from Super Rare Games that more or less allows you to pre-order games earlier than the general public alongside a few other perks like exclusive merch. They are a company that specializes in physical games—like Strictly Limited and Limited Run—but solely focus on indie developers who might otherwise be overlooked. I've been a fan since I stumbled upon Project Warlock, which was Jakub Cislo's take on Doom that added role-playing game elements into the mix (plus magic spells). Some of my favorite Switch games are straight from Super Rare Games's physical releases—The Lion's Song and The Flower Collectors from Mi'Pu'Mi Games, Horace, Deponia (eventually in its entirety), and Dicey Dungeons to name a few. 

So when they announced Islets alongside the featured trailer, I thought that it would be right up my alley between the genre and an art style that fits itself gracefully between Hollow Knight and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. 

My plan is to do a run on easy mode first to get the full narrative experience while getting a feel for the exploration and gameplay mechanics. Then, I'll do a playthrough on normal to see how difficult the bosses and combat become to provide a (more) proper review. 

I'm aiming for late-June to write and publish the review—possibly July if I'm sidetracked by more Tears of the Kingdom shenanigans. (Although, I feel like I've made enough progress to take a little break.)  

As for the books...

There was a tie in the results between Cory Doctorow's Red Team Blues and Alyse Knorr's Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic. I though that, instead of doing a tiebreaker poll, I would read and review both books starting with Red Team Blues and then doing Goldeneye 007 with the review for the former being slated for June. I'm aiming for July for the latter...

...and I'll also be doing a review of The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane in August—or July if I finish reading it before then. 

Thank you to everyone who voted in the polls! I think this will be an excellent summer for blogging! 

A Slight Break for the Kingdom (And More Importantly Myself)

"The Machine Rises Once Again. Welcome to Turrican, Link!" —Taken with an iPhone 8

So the past few weeks have been surprisingly busy on the blog between finally deciding to write out a long overdue review, and having the opportunity to critique someone else's books. The latter being one of those out-of-the-blue moments that I'll always appreciate and, again, I'd like to thank Jaz Jazalyn for giving me the chance to read and review them for the blog. It was a good challenge and a nice change of pace for what I usually read.    

Thing is, I'm having some burnout from all the blogging so the rest of May will be more relaxed. I already dedicated some hours over the weekend to the recently released Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. which is both a therapeutic and challenging game. Of course, the figurine of Bren McGuire or the Turrican dude in the photo is from an order that, three years later, has finally made its way to my home. More on Tears and Turrican later...

I'll still do an entry around Sunday and possibly sneak in a blog post on Puffins near the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm going to be running two separate polls on both Twitter and Mastodon as to what I should review next. One will be for video games and the other will be for books so expect two long-form critiques in June*. So here's what on each poll:

Video Games

• Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom—The sequel to Breath of the Wild and the second open-world Zelda game in which the sky is the limit and then some 
• Turrican Anthology—The personally long-awaited set of games developed by Factor 5 and published by Strictly Limited that bring titles from the Amiga, Genesis/Mega Drive, and the Super Nintendo, to modern consoles
• Islets—A metroidvania from Kyle Thompson, in which an explorer traverses sky islands, looking for ways to reunite them
• Heaven Dust Collection—Two survival horror games from Indienova where you must escape either an isometric mansion or research institute

Note: For the Turrican review, I will do a brief look at the items in the Ultra Collectors Edition alongside the games themselves. 

Books

• The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms—A rom-com (of sorts) in which two women, similarly named, believe they won a house up in Maine 
• Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow—a cyberpunk thriller that focuses on cryptocurrency and global finance
• In Other Words edited by Mainspring Arts—an anthology of stories from writers across the autistic spectrum
• Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic by Alyse Knorr—one of the latest books from Boss Fight Games that takes a deep dive into a well-known 1990s video game tie-in

If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment below!  

I hope you all are having a wonderful week! 

*Or one in June and the other in July depending on which game wins the poll.

Hollow: A Love Like A Life—A Voyage Into Cosmic Romance

No glare and not as pixelated this time. Also, no overhead light. —Taken with an iPhone 8

Much like being around a crush or speaking in a public forum, I am very nervous about reviewing a romance novel for the first time. It is not even the just matter of it being outside of my comfort zone for my gender—Christine Sneed wrote some good novels which focused on relationships—but its something that I never even considered. I do not think it is a secret that love stories get a bad rap whether in literature, television, or film for presumably lackluster (or rather, generic) writing. Yet, this novel in verse has the power to change that paradigm while making my first journey into the genre go a little more smoothly than I thought.

Hollow: A Love Like A Life is a romance novel in poetry written by Jaz Jazalyn where two spirits, hailing from completely different universes, find themselves in love with one another. The laws that govern both universes, however, prevent them from properly meeting each other, which gives the illusion that their love is completely impossible. Yet, they still both yearn for each other and by the end, manage to make the best out of an improbable situation. It is not exactly a book with a happy ending, but their love is far from unrequited.  

I initially got myself lost at first, unable to make the distinction between the light and shadow spirits. I thought that it was similar to vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget, where the lack of direction was intentional, leaving the reader to decided who the spirits are in each poem. Then I read it again and paid attention to the section titles. This time, the sense of confusion faded out between the sections “Dreaming of the Light” and “Dangerous Skies”. The distinction is made clear, even if only for a brief moment, and the shadow spirit provides some clarity as to how they fell in love with each other in the poem “Strange Eve”. Their romance may be forbidden, but fate works in strange ways no matter what universe one resides in.

Once these sections pass, the difference between light and dark is rendered unclear once again as they become more enamored with each other. There is the spark of inspiration, the wish for a chance to meet, the encounters within their own dreams, followed by intensifying feelings that prompt both jealousy and doubt between the spirits. All things which, in a reality-based romance novel, may be symbolized by antagonistic characters, unfortunate accidents, and strict families among other things. Yet, there is little mention of those aspects in Hollow, which added to the tension to their relationship and lack thereof.

An aspiring reader may wonder how these spirits manage to maintain a strong bond if they cannot communicate across universes. Much of it comes across as inferred telepathy, and one poem titled “Infinity” suggests that one does end up imitating the other. Another set of poems near the end of the novel suggest that their telepathy ends up manifesting itself through text messages and social media posts. This would be the closest thing to them properly meeting each other, meaning that whatever secret language they use evolves throughout the narrative. It may not make sense, but Jaz Jazlyn puts the same level of ambition into making their relationship work as she did to ensure that no account was left behind in vVilrRuUsS’s large-scale apocalypse. That level of dedication makes this supernatural love story into something both emotional and heartwarming.

Jazalyn’s proper romance novel also comes with some solid, inspirational pieces of verse, One of my personal favorites is the poem, “I Changed After Loving You”, where the spirts reflect on how their chance encounter inspires them for the better. I feel like this idea could apply to any relationship or long-lasting friendship where meeting them carries that very same effect. Even if things do not end up working with the person that they like or were friends with, that initial impact is the potential driving force for something better especially if they look solely at the positive. For the spirits, this reflection only renews their faith in each other regardless as to how many universes divide them.

The other poem that personally stood out was “Who I Really Am”, in which the spirits promise to be completely honest with each other—flaws and all. I feel, in a universal sense, this is the most difficult and nerve-wracking thing to do, even if your ideal self in a relationship is your genuine self. I think part of it also comes from fearing disapproval not just from partners but friends, co-workers, and family as well—even for the simplest of differences. These anxieties do not bother the spirits since their genuine honesty acts as a sort of buffer for the emotional intensity they experience as their relationship develops.     

From a novel on self-love to a full-on romance in poetry, Jaz Jazlyn captures the reader’s heart through her ambitious tale where light desires an encounter with shadow. These spirits carry that determination throughout Hollow: A Love Like A Life to ensure that they can reach some sort of happily ever after—even if the path there is somewhat meandering. It is a love story may be a better fit with Neil Gaiman’s books than with other romance writers, but this cosmic, sentimental tale stands on its own with each verse lighting the night sky as part of a constellation.  

In Sum: Not a Bad Start to a Cruise Across the Stars—3.5 out of 5 

Hollow: A Love Like A Life is available through book retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.   

Outside of the Literary Comfort Zone—Ink for May 8th, 2023

Last weekend, I wrote that I would be doing just one review for the week and that would be, well, it. 

Instead, I decided to read through the second of three and belt out another review for Thursday and bumped vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget to Tuesday morning. Rose: Future Heart, I think, is the first time I reviewed something in the romance genre—or close to it anyway—but Hollow: A Love Like A Life is the real test. Whereas Rose: Future Heart was a journey of self-love and empowerment, Hollow is more of proper, supernatural romance between two spirits.

So I'm fully venturing outside of my literary comfort zone for this one, but not unprepared...   

I asked a friend of mine what they thought made a good romance novel and they gave me some very solid points to work from. I felt like those qualities could also act as a narrative framework for what I'm looking for with Hollow: A Love Like A Life. 

Like last time, I plan on aiming for Thursday or Friday since, while the books may be challenging to critique, the format that I set up for them works amazingly well! 

Admittedly, I'm also doing some research on my own based on my friend's advice... 

A couple of weeks ago, I checked the mini-library I usually pass on my walks to see if they had any romance novels I could study from and decided on what I thought was the closest facsimile: The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms. Both the title and the premise gave me Return to Monkey Island vibes and with Shipwreck being more of a rom-com than a straight-up romance, I could still look for some of those same key factors but in a more familiar genre.  

I'm not sure if I'll rank it on Goodreads since I'm not the book's intended audience, but I do plan on reading that one to the end. Maybe I'll give a proper review on the blog, but I'm not sure about that yet. 

Okay, that's the admin done with...

The video of the week goes to John Rodgers for one of his recent adventures alongside the River Brent. He's become a sort of go-to channel for my post-work Sunday afternoons with his walks across London, and even Paris (although I feel like he's done more than that), which I find very relaxing. He has a way of bringing tranquility to the city's heavily populated streets, making even the most mundane bits of architecture shine with historical relevance.    

Those familiar with CheapShow will be no stranger to one of the locations featured during the video. It was actually through their live show for episode 300 that I learned who Rodgers was during their YouTube parody intermission, (I caught Paul mention his name in the live chat.)  

John Rodgers also has his own blog, the Lost Byway, in case you're interested in reading more from him.

Other Videos I Watched...

• Pixel Vixen in Japan is back with the second installment on how to speak Japanese for retro games shopping
• Rebecca Watson reviews Solaris
• Banjo Guy Ollie experiments with ChatGPT, allowing the program to write some Irish tunes for him to play
• Even more Taskmaster recommendations (and some I discovered along the way)—putting rain boots on a spider, finding someone's occupation through just yes or no answers but with a twist, high-five one of the hosts but specifically be the third person to do so, and yoga ball billiards     
• MsMadLemon plays a Saturday morning session of Robocod (James Pond 2) for the Amiga 
• Mr. Wright Way goes to Japan for some game hunting and more
• Ashens looks at cheap Coronation-themed things

Other random links...

• The Cozy Mystery anthology, A Warm Mug of Cozy, is still accepting submissions for stories until May 31st  
• Highly inspired by MsMadLemon's own blog, Jason (or BloodRayne on Mastodon) decided to join the blogging bandwagon with his own blog, "We don't tape the top 40" where he talks about his family (and how they inspired him), electronics, computers, and more! It has a memoir feel to it to, which I really like     

Hope you all have a great week!