(Bi)weekly Bundate 6-27-25
Binkies (Gags, goofs, other positive notes from the week/fortnight)
- Been really enjoying my Snowsky Echo mini. I might say more about that, but in general, nice to have a device to that only does one thing really well and also is interactable strictly by actual physical buttons
- We finished our Quest campaign! It was a lot of fun! If you want my extended thoughts on Quest, as a system, you can read those on Mint's blog. Also a short(?) retrospective here
- I'm going to see Weird Al this weekend! Wahoo!!
What I've been Playing
- Got FFTA2 running on the retroid and while it's a blast, this game is haunted; impossible to emulate for reasons beyond the reckoning of man. On a positive note there: all moogle jobs unlocked!
- Beat Trials of Mana, will probably go back and play with the characters I didn't use the first time around. Should've picked wolf boy as my main character cause I enjoyed playing him the most in my first playthrough.
- Starting Expedition 33. Only just staring to sink my teeth in, but this shit's so cool already.
- Played Peak with the homie the other night, fun as heck. Awful on mouse+keyboard, use a controller if you can.
What I've been Watching
- Been rewatching King of the Hill, with the news of the reboot, it came up in the discord recently and I thought it meant it was a good time for some rewatching. I missed a lot of it, but I remember loving what I saw. Been watching a few episodes with the crew, which has been nice.
- Holy fucking shit, Love Island US, season 6 specifically, is unhinged. Peak reality TV.
What I've been Reading
- Finished all 12 volumes of Hellboy; there's more to read yet, but damn, main story was amazing. Hellboy in Hell up next and then the side stuff with BPRD
- Been getting back into Your Brain on Art -- my biggest thought with this book is that it should probably be read by a lot of people who simply aren't going to read it. There's some good evidence in there for the value of art and, therefore, arts education. I think it does a good job, largely, arguing for the value of access to the arts for all. But again, I don't think the people that probably need to read it most are the types that would read it. Also, it is the most woo book I've ever picked up and it only considers the positives of art, but fails to consider that there are ways in which art can be used maliciously or certain types of art can be harmful. I think if you're going to talk about the brain on art, acknowledging that art can be used as a sort of rhetorical violence or a symbolic erasure is something that should probably be mentioned!
- side note: read about this video game that was literally made to help kids with ADHD and is actually FDA approved as a prescription for it?? in this book and then, this article popped up. Cool stuff!
- "The Tight 90" - nice little discussion of how to do faster and punchier RPG sessions. Good stuff and some great links in there--check it out if you're the GMing type (or are frequently forced to be)
- Fuck the NYT - no seriously, fuck the NYT. They've been on anti-trans tirades for years, allowing themselves to be fooled by the "Alliance Defending Freedom", an organization of bigoted morons. The NYT editorial board is not just complicit in this ruling, but are cited in it several fucking times. Dogshit paper.
- Zohran Mamdani beat Cuomo for Mayoral Bid w/o Abandoning Trans People - let's be real, this whole thing is awesome, but the fact that now the primary candidate didn't look at trans people as an acceptable loss is and, in fact, has declared an intent to protect our rights rules.
- I've obviously been reading a bunch of stuff for the diss again: I can count on my hand 4 without thinking too hard, which isn't enough, but it's something. Also pulled a lot of sources from a recent one.
hey, if ya like what I post, you can toss a few buck here. I don't like shaking the change jar, but it's hard out here, y'all.