Weeknotes #32 - Belly filled and thirst slaked

Published on: Fri Oct 09

Another month of no writing but I have been busy with other things on this site! Primarily focused on a Jack Frost shrine, I mimicked a bit of a chat you can have with Mr Frost in SMT5 here. If you click on the bottom response you’ll be able to see the actual shrine! Otherwise he sends you to my blogs page :).

Fun things since last time

• I got a Switch 2 and Fortunes Weave! Thank you person on marketplace who got a 2nd switch as a wedding gift! Very much enjoying this as someone who’s switch has been botched for way too long. My switch wasn’t able to run any cartidges without crashing, and I wasn’t particularrly attached to any of my physical games to the point where I felt as if I needed to fix it, but now they’re an actual option to play for me :). Ended up finally playing through a game I got as a birthday gift more than a year ago.

• Did a one day trip to Toronto for a Sobs concert :0. Soooo much fun hanging out with some online buddies in the city. We walked pretty much everywhere and had some amazing shawarma again. I forgot how fun it was to just walk around in such a lively city there was something at least interesting around every corner. At some point we got asked to help in a fight breaking out on the street but alas we had other goals. The concert ended up being amazing and a borderline out of body experience for me. I’ve been listening to Sobs for almost 6 years now and to see the band that meant so much to me live was so great. Telltale Signs got me close to tearing up, the live drums on Friday Nights last 2 minutes sent me to the sky!! The energy in the place alone was so beautiful and I’m still coming down from the high of it. Made some cool friends after the concert too and got this cute little subway keychain?! On top of the signed record and Sobs shirt I got at the venue!!

• Got Arcs!!!!!!!!!! It’s a very cool space war board game that I’ve been eyeing for ever. I’ve been asking to order it for forever at local stores but none of the ones I frequented had it in stock or were even able to order it. That may have come from the fact that the game switched publishers as the lead designer bought the rights to it and started his own company. BUT! There was one store in the city that had it, and I immidiately bought a copy as soon as I came back from toronto. The cover is so pretty and it sits proudly on my shelf when I’m not begging friends to play it with me :).

• The game itself has just the right amount of complexity for me. It simplifies the decision making process of war games by limiting your decisions to a trick taking game played at the start to determine actions for every round. Each suit essnetially has different actions and to determine what you can do is based on factors such as being the leading player, having a higher card within the suit, or playing a different suit to limit your actions but to diversify your option to something outside of said leading suite. On top of that, how points are scored for a chapter can be determined by the leading player in a trick with the declaration of an ambition. Said ambitions differ and determine what players should be doing to maximize their score. There’s so much depth to the game and I am so excited to explore more of it!!! (Please play with me people I need this game like a vampire needs blood).

Music I’ve been listening to

• Listened to the new Quadeca album! Overall very enjoyable. I don’t think it quite beats out Scarpyard for me but it is absolutely a strong project. Quadeca is strongest to me when he leans more into pop songs, so I am very glad this project took that direction. Favourite track is ‘The Hero Never Dies’ which has a nice accompanying MV!

• Lost Weekend was fun! I’m not the biggest fan of Pheobe usually but there were a few songs I’ve had on repeat from this. Album production felt insane in a good way throughout but the standout for me is ‘Kill Me’. That ending is so damn cool ;-;.

• 3D Country by Geese is nowhere near as strong as Getting Killed. Honestly I don’t think I like it very much overall but Cowboy Nudes is maybe one of their best songs. I was talking to my buddy about it and Geese is at their best when Cameron Winter is singing about longing for ‘Long Island City’. Sorry but its true? Maybe?

Other media 🎮📚🎬

• I finished Malazan: Book of the Fallen!!!! Easily my favourite fantasy series. Plenty of thoughts about the finale and series as a whole I am writing in a different post coming up. Series challenged the way I think about the world which I always love, and very rarely expect fantasy to do. Staring at injustices right in the eye is one of the bravest things we can do.

• Watched Prime Time which I loved. Very very strong cinematography. The decision to have the entire film shot in that grainy 2000’s television quality brought out a lot. Showcasing the dark side of trying to monetize justice and the kinds of people who do. I will think about that 2nd last scene for a long time. Robert Pattinson’s perfect impression of Chris Hansen. Lance Oppenheimer is a director I will be keeping my eye on in the future following this. Super excited for his documentary with Nathan Fielder in a week :0

• Chronovisor hit just the right spot for me. Carrying its Umberto Eco inspiration on its heart, the movie focuses on the research more than anything else. What if the Chronovisor was real? What evidence would be needed? How would an academic go about finding this missing relic of vatican science? Combining a mix of real documentation and prop evidence on the matter, the movie captures that feeling of unrelenting desire to learn so effortlessly. It often felt like I was reading a book during the movie, a feeling that no other movie I’ve seen has even come close to evoking in me.

• History of Concrete was my introduction to John Wilson and I gotta say I was impressed! What starts of as a movie that promises to focus on concrete moves very quickly into a explorative territory that goes along to wherever Wilson’s mind takes him. Reminded me a lot of Fielders work where the focus was instead on the absurdity of everyday life and the uniqueness each person brings to it. Incredibly fun time :)!

Quote of the week

“It is not enough to wish for a better world for the children. It is not enough to shield them with ease and comfort. Lostara Yil, if we do not sacrifice our own ease, our own comfort, to make the future’s world a better one, then we curse our own children. We leave them a misery they do not deserve; we leave them a host of lessons unearned.”

Tavore Paran, The Crippled God

This damn quote. This quote means so much to me. It’s what I find so inspiring in friends active in political movements. It’s how we find the best in us as people. To see the world laid bare before us, and to be active in its betterment. Such a common excuse in myself of “I am scared of the consequences of this”, that so often translates to “My ease and comfort isn’t worth the sacrifice”. Why should it not be? There are causes I believe in. There are ways to be active in them. To look into local elections in depth. To help build a future I believe is better than what exists now. There is no need for it to be global. Even at a global point, caring about the next generation is a beautiful thing. 🏶