At each other's Throaties

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Mattia Monaco. Bananas.

SONGS OF THE WEEK

* "Woof" by Esme Emerson (UK)

* "The Return" by Q-Tip & MC Lyte feat. Mos Def (US)

* "Mogo" by Fatoumata Diawara (Mali-France).

RANDOM RPG REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK

Have I mentioned the haunted-house convention module with a GM who seemed to believe it was his duty to frustrate our every move? I'm talking: monster appears, hits PC, disappears, no chance to interact with in any way. One mate walked out of the session, went and listened to a rugby-league game on his car radio.

CURRENT PIXEL READING (iPad)

Brush contacts

Pod rec! While John Pollock, Wai Ting and co. from POST Wrestling have kept me infotained for years, this guy's summaries of the week in American pro rasslin' are just so listenable. Besides a classic smooth DJ voice and the ability to maintain an uninterrupted patter, he's the kinda storyteller who makes every topic interesting.

"Supergirl" was utter shite. I won't bore you with my specific complaints. I already bored PG with a page full! The sole positive was lead actress Milly Alcock, who was beaut in a bad role.

Constructed a fun, competitive Brawl deck based around T'Challa, The Black Panther. Am still honing the thing, but I was sidetracked by "A Pig Quest" on the C64. Incredibly polished and deep! Honestly, had it been around back in the day (1MB cart...I dunno), it could have taken the Beige Breadbin to another level.

https://www.protovision.games/games/apig.php?language=en

BEER OF THE WEEK ^^^

Also eyeballing... "Physical 100: Mexico" (binged the initial seven eps), "The Colosseum With Dan Snow", footy finals.

Shelob lives!

"D&D: Arcana Unleashed - Deadfall" was released today. My copy should arrive tomorrow. When our pal MD was assiduously collecting the original Forgotten Realms supplements in the late '80s/early '90s, our group was deeply fascinated by the Red Wizards. (Even more so than we were by the Zhentarim.) I guess I still am :-) "Deadfall" is a spy thriller for Levels 11-20.

As I type, the Oz men's cricket team is engaged in an ODI against Zimbabwe. Such matches are no longer foregone conclusions. Former "minnows" can beat us now - sometimes comprehensively. Sporting of speak, the 2026 Asian Games commences on Saturday in Japan. Making its debut: Virtual Taekwondo! Yes, with VR headsets, sensors and zero contact. They were discussing it on the Korean news last night. Call me a dinosaur but I reckon it sounds stupid.

Sellshields

Was running errands all morning, in the glorious spring sunshine. One small business had a prominent sign that read, "Please don't steal. This is my income." It's sad that people have to be reminded of the fact.

Relaxed in the arvo with "White Dwarf #527" and a bottle of soju. Ideal jumping-on issue, by the way, as it officially introduces the new 11th Ed. of "40K" and has obviously been written to be beginner friendly.

Got around to watching "Mortal Kombat II". One thumb up for the dumb, fighty fun. I liked some of the choreography and effects (and over-the-top gore). Amusing in places. But death feels too temporary.

What was once Type II is now Type Poo

Tried Standard "MTG" for the first time in years. It was a wretched experience. Hordes of creature-enchantment combo decks with tons of redundancy. You either join them or ya go extreme control packing copious counter/removal/card draw and only about four win conditions*. I despise the latter style of pile as much as I do copying a net.deck. Ended up with a BGW mid-range creation that won maybe 25% of the time. Wrong for the meta but at least it was mine - and it appeared to confuse the odd person. Will now be returning to Brawl (~1v1 Commander), where my win rate is closer to 50% and, despite the number of broken cards, games actually seem fairer.

*It's more likely the opponent will concede out of boredom rather than wait for you to finally start attacking with a lone critter backed up by a full grip.

Power pivot

Played "Gloomhaven" at RS2's with the fellas. It's the boardgame that keeps on giving. Will we ever run out of scenarios? Various bevvies were imbibed at the gaming table. Alas, I cannot recommend passionfruit-pineapple vodka.

Am enjoying "Physical: 100 - Italy" on Netflix as much as I did the three Asian series. The Mexican edition will be released soon, too. Perhaps the long-term plan is to hold an all-star international season of the show.

Latest anime guilty pleasure = "World's Strongest Rearguard". Yet another isekai where the protagonist ends up leading a harem-ish adventuring party. But well paced, with some unique bits (e.g. giant dogs) and not sleazy.

Stand-up tragedy

Made it through my annual dental checkup unscathed. Huzzah!

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Rahzzah. Lobo's been irrelevant since the '90s, but this is nice.

SONGS OF THE WEEK

* "Kung Fu Jumpstyle" by Kaien Nuen (China) - Track has been out for months. Fun-ass clip is new.

* "Que Me Quiten" by Maria Arnal (Spain) - For Colors. Unusual. Really builds in such a short time.

* "Vem Du An Ar" by Keisha (Sweden) - ADORE this. A challenger to Veronica Maggio's pop throne?

* "Beat SID" by TRS (Germany?) - On da C64. Bomb The Bass continuing to inspire decades later.

* "Kyrgyzstan" by Amirchik (Kyrgyzstan) - Catchy celebration of his homeland and its nomadic heritage. 

* "Anime Mig" by Jalda (Sweden) - Almost as fresh/fine as the Keisha track. Swedish musos, eh?

* "Ravage" by Novelists (France) - A concert in a song. Wide-ranging music and vocals get me.

* "Crazy, Baby" by Cara Delevingne (UK) - Like an old fave you forgot. Much credit to the producer.

* "Beautiful World" by World Order (Japan) - Glad to see Genki and the boyz still doing their thang.

RANDOM RPG REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK

After I taught GH how to play "D&D" (in our early teens), he used index cards to create a host of ready-to-use monsters with their stat blocks reproduced, no. appearing and individual HP rolled, and treasures fully generated from the tables. I was so impressed.