Stacking your pushie is hectic

Faffed around with a Brawl build using new card Fin Fang Foom (below). Initially, it was landkill/dragons for less-focused funsies, then I relented and switched to landkill/heavy artifact. You either destroy two of their lands on Turn 4 and they immediately quit or, given the ferocity of the current meta, you don't and rapidly get steamrolled. It's a third-tier deck option.

The 2023 documentary "Tollund: The Enigma Of The Swamp Mummy" is comprehensive enough for me to recommend it. I learnt several things about ecology, archaeology, Danish museums and present theories of Iron Age life. Shame about the silliness at the very end, where - spoiler warning! - they made Tollund Man's eyes open and stare out at the viewer.

Since you didn't ask, my favourite Sanrio character is Keroppi.

VIP POV

"U/C" score: 18 right.

RIP, Bill Oddie.

BEER OF THE WEEK

A flavour to savour. Do yourself a favour! Meanwhile, here's a pic of the forgotten Supergirl, Helen Slater.

Life, the universes and analysing things

Borrowed this tome from the public library. Youth, unconditional friendship, the immigrant experience, the college experience, identity (formed through music, fashion, politics, extra-curriculars...), bonding activities, D&Ms, rituals and in-jokes, sentimental gifts/discards, car trips, food, mixtapes, zines, sports, cinema, sex, drugs, protests, pranks, part-time jobs, sharehouses, role models, future ambitions, senseless tragedy, almost irreconcilable loss, grasping for answers, therapy, parental love, volunteering in the community and keeping alive the memory of a beautiful person.

As good as everyone said. Maybe gooder.

The over-the-top humour (cheap deaths) didn't do much for me. The cameos were pretty effective, though. And the "Fallout" scenario and closing twist will keep me tuning in for at least another episode. Don't think I ever laughed. More of a weird show than a funny one.

It only hasn't happened until it does

LISTENING ON MY DAILY WALKS

Well, this was inevitable, given how much I enjoyed Volume 1.

Ear-wax museum

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

Amid the oodles of throwaway cover variants that pose an existential threat to the industry they almost killed in the '90s (some publishers have clearly learnt nothing), Paul Chadwick's beautiful, thoughtful painting deserves to be celebrated.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Kawa" by Doeun & Jiana from the group Young Posse (Korea). Note: I should point out there are flashing lights in the clip, in case you have photosensitive epilepsy or another condition that makes these a potential danger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY4SA0X2kvg

Commended >>> "Killing Time" by DMA's (Australia), "Home Depot" by Medium Build (US), "Cold Hearted" by Agatha Is Dead! feat. Schramm (Germany), "Cinema" by Dynamite Shakers (France), "Fineapple" by Pineapple Express (India). Was surprised to discover that P/E track was produced by the brother of a former colleague. Small world!

RANDOM RPG REMINISCENCE

On the subject of bros...the one time JH's older brother C. tried "D&D" to see what the fuss was about, I wasn't there. I looked over his abandoned character sheet afterwards. It was a cleric named Brother Brian. From what the others told me, he'd actually played BB like a holy man rather than merely a fighter who could cast healing spells. For a little hack'n'slash munchkin like I was then, it was food for thought. I wonder why - to my knowledge - he never engaged with the game again.

MISC.

* Finished "The Blade Itself". Took long enough to assemble the party ;-P

* Have moved on from the Anina deck to a pile based around Baron Zemo.

* Desperate to watch "M/O/T/U" on Prime today, but will I get sidetracked?

Sharp, shocking shorts

Not bad. I thought they could have made even more of the mad-scientist theme that was running through a few of the strips. But, as I said, not bad. And a "2000AD" standalone special will always be a blast from the past for me. It was so exciting when they'd unexpectedly turn up on the stands back in the day. Now, we know about every single product months in advance. The internet has sucked a lot of the mystery from the world. Speaking of mystery, stop reading now if you don't want to be spoilered on the "Strange New Worlds" Season 4 opener ... Not fussed? OK, well, S4 got off to a Spock-rockin' start with a plot involving both Martians and dinosaurs! The writing was tight, the CGI was on point and, while the ending was a bit downbeat, there were multiple memorable scenes - I'm still thinking about the connotations of the ep this morning.

Big Audible dynamite

Am 12 hours into this audiobook on my daily walks (10 to go). It's gritty AF heroic fantasy. Not quite up to Gemmell standard, but what is? Certainly good enough for me to continue with the rest of the trilogy.