Who opened their coat?

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

"Vampyrates! #2" by Rebeca Puebla (with one "c"). Can't resist a female pirate. Simple as that.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"4.3 Forty" by Knox. Earworm warning! Ultra-catchy pop-rock. He falls for a track star, she runs from commitment. (Or from over-commitment, depending on your perspective.) BTW, a 4.3-second 40-yard sprint would be close to record pace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQMX92qh7U0

RANDOM TRPG REMINISCENCE

Our DM wanted to try running "Call Of Cthulhu" for a subset of our large "D&D" group. I was among the chosen. Instead of meeting at his place, the venue was the family home of one of the gals. My abiding memory is of how rich the house felt. One or both of her parents were doctors. Lovely furniture and art. The coffee table sported hardcovers about Hieronymus Bosch and whatnot (a cliche, I know). Couldn't tell you what happened in the "C/O/C" adventure...although I do recall playing a Roman Catholic priest named Father Nick Scathe. Was unduly proud of that character.

Yesterday was a completely ordinary Wednesday

I ate a bakery vanilla slice that was beyond compare, admired an immaculate dark-red Triumph TR7 in the wild, narrowly avoided being caught in a hailstorm, seriously researched/discussed doing a Master's Degree, and finished that JNT biography, moving on to new prequel "Red Dwarf: Titan". Also started watching Season 34 of "The Ultimate Fighter".

Today was a completely ordinary Thursday.

Tear your breadroll

I'd like to report a murder. It's not often you witness a team score three hungee. Warwick's curious foursome didn't even seem to be trying that hard. Your hero answered 19 right while playing along at home, drinking red wine. I know a fair amount of trivia, but the only thing I know about Warwick Uni is that its female rowing squad used to produce "shy nude" (naughty bits hidden) calendars to raise money for charity. I even bought a couple.

When I began my BA in 1991, there were two ladies in their 60s in our first-year cohort. They were friends and went all the way through the degree together. How cool is that? A mate who's semi-retired told me he wouldn't mind going to TAFE and studying electrical engineering, just to be able to apply the knowledge and expertise to his own projects (he's always making rad stuff). I'd offer to join him, but it's not an area of interest to me.

I'll be at my original home-town university tomorrow. Our car gets its annual service at a garage within walking distance of the campus, so as in past years, I'll wander over there, eat lunch from a cafe or food truck, then read a book in the library until a mechanic messages me to say the Ford is ready. I've missed the place ever since I left. Happiest time of my life. Shoulda done a PhD and gone into academia, except I was sick of being poor.

Portal to transcendent meaning

BEER OF THE WEEK

Nice. Need more info? It's NOT not nice. "Nomikai" means drinking party, which I'm sure is just as much of a thing in Hawthorn (from where it originates) as Tokyo.

DOCUMENTARY DU JOUR

Despite having lived through nearly the whole history of "MTG" from late '93 - we even played for ante for a while - it was good to have some stories clarified and see archival material I never had before. The doco grew less interesting as it travelled towards the present day, though. Could probs have been cut down to 90 minutes.

Elemental plane of paper

What about that Wallabies vs Japan match?! I'm curious to see how the "Brave Blossoms" do in the return fixture here next weekend.

PG gifted me this 376-page (15-issue) HC GN about the relationship between a male human and a female android. It's an atypical "sexbot" yarn in that he doesn't seek her out, and there are no moments of cringe comedy or gross titillation. Barely any action sequences, either. In fact, it's almost entirely mature, believable conversations. It isn't about what Ada is like in bed; it's about what she's like in her head. Quite the best comics I have read in years.

The Rotten Tomatoes score for this flick of 31% is way too low. Even the IMDb average of 5.6 is probably unfair. If you can accept the "Twilight Zone"-style setup of occupants being magically sealed into their homes (while still having fresh air, water and power), then committed performances from a likeable cast make it an engrossing survival tale that goes further than you might anticipate. There is the odd cliche, e.g. Why is it always the young daughter of the family who spots the beasties when no-one else can? I'd have ditched the intrusive narration. And I couldn't fully buy the ending or the epilogue. But all of those criticisms aside, I don't regret taking the journey. It's definitely one of those crazy crisis scenarios that makes you stop and ponder, "What would *I* do?"

Minibar madness

The amusing/tender scenes are fine. And Malta is cool. The criminal mystery is lame.

Made a Brawl deck using this guy that works OK. Lots of annoying tapping and bouncing.

Podcast rec! Perfect 10ish-minute explications of 197 (so far) vintage skiffy novels.

Bench-pressing cotton buds

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

"Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #2" by Mike Del Mundo. No affection for the character. Zero interest in the movie. Nevertheless, this cov is clever and impactful.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Part Of Time" by Nerd Connection (Korea)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-R9yzWN_Js

B/G I'M PLAYING TONIGHT WITH BUDS

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/342942/ark-nova

ALSO EYEBALLING

"The Traitors - Oz" S3. Ever looked at the main Wikipedia entry and seen how many countries have done or are doing a version of this show? So many!

Bingo mansu

Quote: A director’s cut of the film, titled “The X-Files: I Want to Believe - Vrach Frankenshteyn”, which will restore horror elements that were previously removed, is set for release on Hulu on August 14, 2026.