Defying the evens

Stunning visuals! Stunning enough to justify a rewatch. Music/sound effects were spot on. As with the first flick, though, plot and dialogue were instantly forgettable. Just excuses for chases and battles. It actually made me want to go play a classic "Super Mario" game. The 2D platforming inserts probably contributed to that hankering. Thumbs up for the guest hero from outside the franchise. Bring on Part 3!

Always play the hits

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Tavis (not Travis) Maiden. While I'll never read a "Mega Man" comic, the early videogames were rad and this is cute. There should be more detailed-scene covs.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"With" by Rescene (South Korea)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pey3E47eSc8

RANDOM TRPG REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK

In my youth, when I could sleep through the night and wake with boundless energy, I created from scratch a simple "Battletech" clone and a modern-horror TRPG. Their titles? Long since forgotten. However...I know that when I ran the latter for PG, the opening scene had a criminal picking up and throwing a car to avoid pursuit, thereby shockingly revealing to P.'s police-detective character the existence of super-powered critters.

Red-string zeitgeist

Smashed the five available episodes. Gets better every season. If you haven't had the pleasure, I urge you to start from S1 as there is continuity with some of the players and in the "game world". Only minor complaint the gender imbalance.

If this horror anthology was an MMA fighter, its record'd be 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. It kinda gets weaker as you progress through the 48 pages. I wonder if "The Dracula File" (which debuted in '84) was an influence on Kim Newman's vampire novels.

Health issues persisting. Seeing my doctor again tomoz. Trying to stay positive/productive. Managed to put together the last handover I had to do for my main client as a freelancer. Had to order Dave Thaumavore's "Dark Kingdom: Koreana" TRPG. Had to.

Reversible cloak

CURRENT PAPER READING

Short Amazon blurb:

"Dante's Inferno meets Susanna Clarke's Piranesi in this dark-academia fantasy from RF Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor's soul -- perhaps at the cost of their own."

Why was the cat even in the bag?

RS2 and I rewatched "Trek 6". I believe the last time I'd seen it may've been at the cinema in 1991. Anyway, it's excellent. Improves on Part 5 in every department (not that hard, admittedly). "Generations" next week.

Escapable logic

So disturbing and has stayed with me (see Stevo King cover quote!). Not a fan of horrors where innocents suffer undeservedly over and friggin' over, but the novel supernatural peril/"rules" of magic made it compelling. That said, I've no desire to read a second volume.

2000 miniseries, three 90-minute eps. Mostly inferior to the Lynch and Villeneuve adaptations. But if you wanna go deeper on the Harkonnen and, especially, Fremen societies... This Paul Atreides follows a similar arc to Luke Skywalker, i.e. from whiney bitch to total boss.

Cheese counter

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Ian Cinco. I like turtles. (Also graffiti art.)

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Poison Pop" by Everything Everything (UK)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4owhYtVIE0

RANDOM TRPG REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK

BP was my bestie for several years. He cherished these connected 1E modules named after a pair of magical artifacts. While linear, difficult and frankly ugly, they were highly atmospheric, with unfamiliar creatures and unusual situations, e.g. the monster rescue in Part 2. More than once, I dropped over to his joint to find him rereading 'em. Safe to say they influenced his original and tricksy DM-ing style.

A number of assists

RIP, John Leeson.

Opened, set up and test-played my copy of "Ramses". Niftily presented combo of sliding puzzle and traditional memory game, with some good-for-me/bad-for-you twists (more in the advanced game). Should be popular with the relos at Xmas.

Having completed "Love Village" S3 (23 eps!), it was time for "Love Transit 35+". One erratic, seemingly rather deluded dude is threatening to ruin the social experiment for this viewer.