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thisaintascenereviews · 2 months ago

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Third Quarter Check-In (with @jakeh2987)

Depending on where you’re at in the world, especially the United States, it’s finally fall. I live in the southern half of the country, and while it’s relatively chilly today as I write this, the temperature is supposed to go back up to the mid-70s, so it won’t necessarily feel like fall for awhile. I don’t terribly mind it, however, because I’m not too fond of the cold anymore, despite living it in for the first 26 years of my life. Nonetheless, there is something about the leaves changing color, a slight breeze in the air, all the while wearing a hoodie in the morning and a t-shirt during the afternoon. I do quite enjoy the fall, because it’s not too hot and not too cold at the same time, and I love spooky season, but I’ll be doing something separate for that, so keep a lookout for that piece in the near future. It’s gonna be a spooky old time, I promise.

In the meantime, however, it’s time to fanboy about random stuff again! Every few months, my buddy Jake and I have been getting together and talking about what we’ve been into for the last couple months, whether it comes to new releases of all kinds of media, or releases new to us, because you don’t always need to sink your teeth into new material. A lot of music fans, music YouTubers, and publications seem to place a lot of emphasis on listening to new stuff, but there’s no pressure. As much as I love new music, movies, and games, I also enjoy diving into stuff from yesteryear. So Jake, now that the summer has come to a close, and we’re moving into fall, let me start off this piece by simply asking you, how have been the last few months?

Honestly, the end of summer going into the fall season has been a bit of a whirlwind for me, especially mentally. I'm not quite sure if it's general burnout, or just one of those times where you're feeling a little down and out, but I feel like I haven't quite been able to take everything in and enjoy the summer as much as I would have liked to. That being said, the start of fall has been off to a better start for the most part and has been a nice reset of sorts, so I'm hoping I can carry that as we get further into the rest of the season and the year as a whole.

Now, as always, one thing that's comforted me through this rough patch has been the various forms of media that we love, whether it be music, movies, TV, games, and so on. I always love doing these things with you because it's a great opportunity to reflect on what particularly grabbed us and has been helping us through something or has been that really exciting thing we can't get enough of. I think to start off, I'll turn it back over to you, what have you been watching/playing/reading lately?

I’m sorry to hear that, man, but seasonal depression seems to be hitting people hard right now, so I can understand that. We’ve all had periods like that, where we just feel burned out in general. I’m glad to hear that the fall is doing you some good, though, and I’m happy that the weather is getting a bit chillier and mellower, versus being 90 degrees. Media, regardless of the type, has always comforted me, too, especially when we get together and do something like this. We can talk about what we’ve been into for the last few months, regardless of what it is, and what medium it’s on.

I’ve been into a lot of stuff, surprisingly, and I’m really excited this time around, because I got some stuff to talk about other than music, mainly some TV shows, movies, and video games. I still got some music to talk about, but only a few new releases, instead it’s a handful of stuff that’s either been new to me or that I’ve been revisiting. I think I’ll start with the new releases, because I only have a few of those, and I really wanted to highlight other stuff this time around. Not too much has come out the last couple of months that I’ve been extremely head over heels for, but the new Fame On Fire, Rain City Drive, The Black Dahlia Murder, and the debut album from a retro-leaning rock band called Brigitte Calls Me Baby have all been new albums that I’ve loved since our last check-in piece. What about you? What kinds of new stuff have you been into?

That new Rain City Drive album is really damn good, huh? That's one I've also been really into; it's one of those albums that kinda sneaks up on you for how good it is and how often you'll be revisiting it. But besides that, I wanna give a shout to the new Trash Boat album, Heaven Can Wait. Trash Boat is a band I've always liked and thought they were solid enough, but this album is the one that really won me over. They went for a grungy meets Deftones sound on this one, and I think it's really cool. Fever 333's new album, Darker White, is another super fun one, while also being very in your face and blunt about what it's trying to say, but in a very good way. And Void of Vision's new one, which you actually recommended to me, has been one I came back to quite a bit. Just really solid metalcore/Octanecore all around.

Oh, yeah, Things Are Different Now is a great album, despite its title being a misnomer, because it’s nothing different at all, ironically enough. It’s still a really solid album, easily the best thing they’ve done, because they honed their sound to be as refined as it can get. I’ve heard of Trash Boat, though, but that may persuade me to check it out! That sounds real interesting, honestly. The new Fever 333 album is really good, too; I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorite albums of the year, but it’s a huge step up from their last album, although that was five years ago (not counting their last EP from 2022). Void Of Vision’s latest is great, too, and that’s also a big step from their last couple of albums, so I’m happy to recommend you that one! A lot of really good Octanecore has come out, huh? Still on the subject of music, though, what are some older bands / albums you’ve been into lately, or stuff that’s just new to you?

So, there have been two big deep dives I've been undertaking over the last couple months, so I wanted to mainly highlight those! First, Linkin Park really needs no introduction at this point, but after vocalist Chester Bennington tragically passed away in 2017, nobody was quite sure what the future held for the band. Fast-forward to last month, and we finally got that answer in the form of a new vocalist, a massive new tour, and a new album, From Zero, coming out in November. I've been enjoying the two new songs they've put out so far with new vocalist Emily Armstrong (who's from a band called Dead Sara, a pretty solid band, from the bits I've checked out), and I've been having so much fun watching all the footage from the live shows, hearing all these old songs again after a long while. Anyway, this prompted me to revisit Linkin Park's discograhy, more specifically their 2010s work, from A Thousand Suns to their final album with Bennington, One More Light, to see if I would feel differently about any of it now, years removed from their releases and Chester's passing. I have a more in-depth piece on this in the works that I hope to have out by the time From Zero comes out, but for now, I'll just say that it's been a really fascinating journey through these later albums. I'm not a fan of all of it, and in fact I'm still pretty bummed that One More Light was the last thing Chester did with them because I wish I liked it way more than I do, but I reaally do admire them for not ridiing on the cotails of their early 2000s sound and never really making the same album twice. I'm ultimately just happy to have them back, and I can't wait to see how this new era shakes out.

The other main thing I've been getting really into started from randomly scrolling on TikTok, as one does. I came across this account called Emo Social Club that's a podcast about, you guessed it, emo music and the whole subculture/community that surrounds it. The videos I kept getting recommended were the hosts reviewing albums that were going to be played in full at this year's When We Were Young festival (which I believe is happening this weekend as of writing this). I noticed a lot of the albums they were talking about were ones I hadn't heard yet, so I thought it would be fun to check out all of the ones that are new to me! I've gone through quite a few of them so far, and I found some really great albums I'm kinda kicking myself for not listening to sooner. A couple of highlights are Tonight Alive's The Other Side from 2013, which was a really cool pop-punk/pop-rock album that had moments where they kinda do the "heavy pop" thing before it was really a thing thanks to bands like Issues and The Home Team. I also really ended up enjoying The Used's In Love and Death; that album is pure 2000s post-hardcore/emo nostalgia, yet it doesn't feel all that dated or cringy like some of that stuff can feel by today's standards. One of the <most interesting albums of the bunch so far was The Forecast's In The Shadow of Two Gunmen. Think midwest emo with a sprinkle of southern rock and dual vocalists, and you have that album. I dug the hell out of this, and I had literally never heard of this band before. Emery's debut album, The Weak's End, might be my favorite of what I've checked out so far, though. It's the mix of that classic post-hardcore sound with a realy soulful clean vcoalist that hits me, and I'm excited to dive into their other albums at some point.

Turning it back to you, what are some things that you've been getting into that aren't necessarily new releases, but might be new to you?

You know, it’s cool to see Linkin Park after all these years, because they’ve just needed the right vocalist to keep them going, as well as come back at the right time. I’m curious for their new album, but all eyes (and ears) are sure to be on them when it does come out. As for When We Were Young, that’s a really cool rabbit hole to go down, because there are tons of albums in that vein, some of those I’ve never heard. I’ve had a few deep dives within the last couple months, and I’ve written some in-depth pieces on a few of these, but when we did our piece on Yellowcard’s Southern Air, I got into a bunch of 2010s pop-punk albums, including stuff from All Time Low, Broadside, and a bunch more stuff, so that was a fun journey revisiting a lot of that stuff and seeing if it holds up all these years later.

Shortly after that, I got into Green Day a bit for some reason; I listened to Dookie and American Idiot, just to see how I feel about those albums all these years later, but I also got into some of Billie Joe Armstrong’s side projects and I realized that I really like him as an artist, just not necessarily with Green Day, which is weird to say, but I really enjoyed his side projects. This wasn’t much of a deep dive, but I spent a few weeks also listening to the Hamilton soundtrack a lot, and I forgot how much I really enjoyed that soundtrack a lot. I read a bit of the Alexander Hamilton biography that inspired it, too, and it was really fascinating stuff. I never ended up writing about the soundtrack, but that’s something I’d like to do in the near future.

The final deep dive I’ve been taking is the one I’m currently in, where I’ve become enamored with jazz and traditional pop music from the 1940s and 1950s. I’ve also been listening to a few Halloween albums from the 1960s, and that inspired me to get into some artists and albums from around the same time again. I’ve been getting into jazz for the past few years, as well as music that you’d hear in the Fallout games, and despite being 70 years old and over, a lot of this music is very timeless. I’m specifically getting into a bunch of Frank Sinatra, whom I’ve always been a huge fan of, but really have been taking the plunge into his body of work the last few years. I just really love that 1940s and 1950s crooner sound that him and Dean Martin pioneered back in those days.

Enough about that, though, because let’s talk about some other media that we’ve been into, like TV shows and movies, for instance. What kinds of stuff have you been watching lately?

Because I've been having a bit of a down time the last couple months, I've been in the mood for a lot more lighter stuff for the most part. I've been slowly making my way through a rewatch of Community, a show I believe you introduced me to way back when we first met, and I forgot how great even that first season is basically right out the gate. It's been years since I've watched it all the way through, but with the buzz of the long-awaited movie finally gaining traction, it felt like a good time to revisit this. I also made it to the final season of Gotham that I've been watching with a couple friends of mine for over a year now, and that show continues to be a fun ride.It's got this nice blend of being a cop drama but also knowing when to lean into the campy nonsense that comes with some of Batman's villains, so it hits just what I'm looking for, a little more dramatic than a straight comedy, but not too heavy. That being said, I haven't been watching a ton of new stuff, either stuff that's just been released or new to me, and it's been nice to kind of hang back and revisit some old favorites or continue a show I've beeen enjoying a lot, in the case of Gotham. With Halloween season in full swing, though, I do plan on checking out some horror movies and possibly checking out some horror-adjacent shows, like maybe revisiting some particularly creepy episodes of Criminal Minds or starting a show like Fringe or The X-Files. Netflix also just added the 2018 Halloween, so that's one on my list for sure.

But what about you? Anything in particular that you've been watching that's really got its hooks in you?

Community is such a great show! I don’t think I told you, but I rewatched it a couple of years ago myself, and I also finished the rest that I never saw, especially that sixth season on Yahoo. While it wasn’t great, it wasn’t half bad, actually, so I’m excited for a movie. Speaking of Batman, I did watch the new Batman animated show on Prime Video when that dropped in August, and that was a real fun ride, especially if you love the 90s animated series. I haven’t watched a lot, either, but I’ve mainly been into two shows — That 90s Show, which unfortunately got canceled a couple of weeks ago, and Agatha All Along.

The former is a 90s-set sequel of That 70s Show, which is my favorite sitcom of all time, so I’ve been looking forward to it, and it’s a ton of fun. It’s very lighthearted, but it’s also got some bigger themes every now and again, at least without being heavy handed or preachy. The latter, however, is the newest MCU show that picks up where WandaVision left off a few years ago. As of writing this, there are two episodes left, but it’s been a fun and spooky ride. It’s more or less on the campier side of Halloween, which I really like, but it’s an interesting show about the more supernatural side of the MCU, right up there with Doctor Strange and stuff like that.

I haven’t watched a lot of movies lately, though, except for one — Terrifier 3. My wife and I just saw it this past weekend, and this movie has been the talk of the town for the past week, whether it’s for its gruesome and gratuitous violence, or for how well it’s doing as an independent horror movie. I’ve seen the other two as well, and I’m pretty mixed on them, although I’ve also come to look at those movies for what they are — purposely low budget and heavily reliant on practical effects that look like they’re straight out of the 1980s with a fun and terrifying (pun intended) killer that’s become a new horror icon over the last couple of years. They’re not for everyone, especially not for the faint of heart, but they’re impressive, at least. I’m more so mixed on the story, the characters, and its lore, but again, I can look at the movies for what they are, so those things are all secondary to what people really want to see. This new one takes place during Christmastime, and it doesn’t have a lot to do with Christmas, but it’s still a lot of fun (despite some of it does go a little too far with the level of violence it depicts).

I've been hearing a lot about Terrifier recently with the new movie coming out, and I'd like to at least check out the first one for myself ot finally see what the hype is all about, so maybe that's another one to add to the list!

I think the biggest thing for me over the last couple months has been games, though. For starters, after 197 hours, I finally finished Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and that was a really emotional and wild journey with a mindfuck of an ending. The wait for the third and final part of this remake trilogy is gonna be excruciating, but I'm feeling confident that they'll stick the landing. After that, though, I wanna give a particular shoutout to The Plucky Squire, the debut game from a team headed up by former designers on the Pokemon series. It's got this really cool storybook aesthetic and is very inspired by classic 2D adventure games like Zelda, but the neat twist is that you get, well, plucked out of the storybook and into the 3D world, and it's revealed that you're characters in a storybook, in a very meta way. It's one of my favorite games this year easily, and I'm not even finished with it yet. I did also finish The Evil Within 2 just a few days ago, and that was a wild survival horror experience perfect for this time of year. And currently, I'm bouncing between a couple things, mainly my first playthrough of Mass Effect 2 (which I'm enjoying a lot so far) and my replay of Alan Wake 2, my favorite game of last year, to get ready for the DLC that's dropping next week. So all in all, I've been having a great time with games recently, but how about you?

The new Terrifier movie has been the talk of the movie world right now, especially considering the other clown movie that came out didn’t do too hot. I was gonna see that, but after hearing the negative backlash it got, I’m gonna wait until it hits Max to give it a watch. I’d check out the first two Terrifier movies, though, but the second one is where the story really starts (although the first one still is kind of important, for reasons I won’t spoil). I also forgot to mention one other thing I’ve been watching, and that’s the drag competition show Dragula. I’ve loved that show for years now, especially because it’s a spookier alternative to something like Drag Race, but it’s also horror-themed, so it usually comes out around this time each year.

As for video games, it hasn’t been the thing I’ve been most sinking my teeth into the last few months, but I’ve played a couple of games for the last couple months, nonetheless, and I wanted to talk about them, because I really took my time with them and spent a lot of time with them. Those two games are Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and Jedi Survivor. The former has just been on my radar for the longest time after playing the first one in the rebooted franchise, and that was a fun time, especially being able to unleash hell on a bunch of Nazis. The story was fun, and poignant, but nothing beats plowing through Nazis like they’re mince meat.

Jedi Survivor, though, is what I was real excited about, especially after seeing that it was coming to the PlayStation 4, as it’s been a PS5 exclusive for the past year. I love the first one, even if the combat was a bit lacking in spots, and the game didn’t always tell you where to go, so a lot of its puzzles were really confusing. I felt the same way here, but the story is absolutely wonderful, heart wrenching, and genuinely surprising, but the combat is better and more varied this time, as well as being able to customize Cal Kestis is really cool. The game does feel slightly bloated, because after one of the main villain was defeated, I was wondering where we went next, but they cleverly had another villain that didn’t need to really be a villain, but I guess it sort of sets up the next game. Even then, I like that we only explore a few planets, versus quite a lot in the first game, so you get to spend more time in these few places and familiarize yourself there, versus having to adapt to a new place every little while. The game also looks utterly gorgeous throughout; the levels and worlds are massive, and everything just feels so huge and larger than life.

Oh man, I loved both of those games! I haven't played all of The New Colossus, but you nailed it, the feeling of running into a room and just wrecking an entire horde of Nazis is so satisfying, especially when you really get a groove for the flow of combat and unlock some of the stronger weapons and abilitites. And Jedi: Survivor was one of my other favorite games of last year; Cameron Monoghan is really great as Cal Kestis, and with the devs recently announcing that there's gonna be one final game in this series, I'm so excited to see where Cal's journey goes, because this one has some interesting setups for where it could potentially end up.

There is another game I forgot to mention earlier, but I wanted to give it a quick shoutout at least, and that's Resident Evil 6. I've been playing the co-op Resident Evil games with a friend of mine for the last few months, and it's been a great time. RE6 is far from my favorite game in the series, but this is the one where they kinda just saiid "fuck it" and went full-on silly action movie, and it's so ridiculous that you can't help but have a good laugh at it, and it's infinitely more enjoyable with a friend. Having Leon Kennedy do backflips and roundhouse kicking zombies while dual-wielding pistols just never gets old.

The ending of The New Colossus is so satisfying, although I will say that the next game in the series, Youngblood, is kind of a disappointment, despite having some cool ideas. I’ve played some of it, and I kind of like what they’re going for, but at the same time, it just doesn’t hit the same. I’m really excited for the final game in Cal’s journey, especially with how Survivor ended, there’s a lot they can explore. You know, I’ve only played part or Resident Evil 7, where it goes back to its survival horror roots, and I’ve always wanted to dive into those games, but I’ve never been good at survival horror games, although what I played was really cool.

Before we close out this piece, I had an idea to add one final “section,” so to speak, and I wanted to highlight some wild card pieces of media. Are there any podcasts, YouTubers, streamers, or anything like that you’ve been enjoying. Not even just recently, but throughout this whole year. I usually listen to a lot of podcasts and watch a handful of creators, so I was wondering who some of yours have been this year.

Ooh, this is a fun new addition, and I can absolutely highlight a few! First, YouTube channel Internet Today has been in heavy rotation leading up to the election and the surrounding shitshow. I've followed Ricky and Elliot for years across their various shows and channels, and while I haven't watched quite as regularly the last couple years, I came back around pretty hard this year. If you're looking for a news show on YouTube that isn't full of the same tired, corporate nonsense, Internet Today is always funny, always very blunt in calling out bullshit, and always just super entertaining (their Weekly Weird News show is a particular highlight for me). Next, I wanna highlight my favorite gaming podcast/YouTube channel, MinnMax. MinnMax was started by former Game Informer members (RIP GI, they were sadly completely shut down earlier this year by GameStop) after a round of layoffs, and I've been a big fan since. Their flagship show is the weekly podcast, where they cover what's happening in the industry, review games, your farily typical thing for a games podcast. But, they have two other big things that I think really sets them apart for me. The first is a show called New Show Plus, which is where random ideas for new shows are thrown out and voted on by Patreon supporters every week. These shows can range from simple multiplayer sessions with the hosts or veer into the most absurd thing that has very little to do with games at all. A one-off idea also has a shot to become an ongoing series if the community keeps voting for it. One fun series this year that ended up lasting a few weeks was two of the hosts going to a local bar and playing oversized versions of games like chess, Jenga, and scrabble. It's a super fun concept, and you never really know what you're gonna get every week. The other big one is called The Deepest Dive, which MinnMax founder Ben Hanson always introduces as "the best, most thorough discussions about games on the internet." Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to disagree! Think of it like a book club, but for games, where a panel of hosts and the community will play a game in chunks, and then there will be multiple deep dive videos covering those chunks where the community also asks questions and talks about their favorite moments. They did a Deepest Dive on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth this year that ended up totaling a little over 18 hours across five videos. You have an infinite number of spoiler podcasts or deep dive lore videos all over the internet, but I don't think anyone else is having this level of discussion about games quite like this, and the community involvement makes it even better. Finally, I'm a part of so many wonderful communities on Twitch, and have been since 2020 at the height of the pandemic. It's kind of hard to highlight one or even a small handful, so I'm gonna drop some links for a bunch of creators I'm friends with and creators I greatly admire, and you won't be steered wrong by hopping into any of these streams. A recurring theme you'll find in all these places is being fiercly anti-gatekeeping and being loud and passionable about what you love, while also weeding out anyone who tries to disrupt that.

twitch.tv/sagemalloww

twitch.tv/ashiirosee

twitch.tv/lifewithkendal

twitch.tv/kaiielle

twitch.tv/jesscapricorn

twitch.tv/ohlindsey

twitch.tv/clairecurrently

twitch.tv/littleoneyouare

twitch.tv/smoisnow

twitch.tv/alaselizabeth

twitch.tv/marshmllodragon

twitch.tv/quantumbat

twitch.tv/amarisskye

twitch.tv/elliejoypanic

I'm so curious to hear about what creators or podcasts you've been into throughout the year, so fire away!

Oh man, Internet Today is a name I haven’t heard in years, but I used to watch them back about a decade ago! I used to watch them a lot, especially the Weekly Weird News episodes, but I stopped keeping up with after awhile. I think it was because of something I still regularly struggle with — there’s just too much to keep up with, whether it’s music, movies, TV, podcasts, or YouTubers. It’s just way too much, kinda because we have access to everything at our fingertips these days. I do have fond memories of watching them, though, but it’s cool to hear they’re still going! That other podcast / video network sounds really cool, though, especially when creators can offer something new. It’s so easy to make podcasts, stream, or make YouTube videos, because the bar to accessibility is so low, anyone can do it. That doesn’t mean just anyone should, though, so it’s cool to hear there’s something unique out there.

As for myself, I’ve been into a fair bit of both podcasts and YouTubers / video creators, but I’ll highlight a few here, first with some podcasts then some video creators. There are two podcasts I found within the last year that I’ve been a huge fan of: Too Much Information and Kermitment, both of which are pretty niche but a whole lot of fun. The former is basically a trivia podcast, where both hosts will dive into a certain piece of media and talk about every little tidbit of it. The hosts are both really entertaining, as well as both knowledgeable with a lot of pop culture, both having written for People Magazine, and various other music and media publications. They also talk a lot of different stuff, including different kinds of movies, TV shows, and music, versus one or two styles of each. The latter, however, is very niche and specific. Kermitment is a Muppets podcast where each episode is dedicated to a certain Muppets or Muppets-adjacent project, and it’s all in order. The podcast started a few years ago, but in the last few years, they’ve covered about 30 years worth of stuff, so they’re in the late 80s right now, right around at the dark times for the Muppets before Jim Henson passed. Funny thing is, too, this podcast was started by one of the hosts of Sci-Show Tangents (another podcast I like with Hank Green), and another employee of that company, who works on the YouTube channel. The hosts of Dragula, a show I talked about earlier, also have a podcast that they mainly utilize on the off season (but they use the podcast during each season to be a BTS look inside each episode), where they talk about horror of all kinds.

As for YouTubers, I wanted to highlight a few of those as well! Firstly, I wanted to highlight a channel that is pretty well known, but has had a “renaissance” in the last few years, if you will — Smosh. Known for sketch comedy in the early 00s, they’ve had a few eras over the years, and for the last handful of years, they’ve been in a weird spot, especially with new cast members and without founding member Anthony Padilla. Anthony ended up returning a little over a year ago, and even before then, they were riding high with a new found passion and creativity that I’ve been really loving. They got some new cast members, too, and they’re essentially a YouTube SNL now, only they don’t a lot of skits, but they all interact and have a lot of funny moments together. They’re just a fun lighthearted channel that’s gotten me through the last few years. A few other YouTubers I’ve been into for awhile now have been FunkyFrogbait, who are one of the new “commentary YouTubers” that aren’t a straight white guy, and Kaz Rowe, who talks about weird, niche, scandalous things throughout history. There are a handful more, too, but I wanted to specifically highlight a couple of my favorites that I’ve found recently. Same with podcasts, too, because there are a lot, but I wanted to talk about a specific few of them.

Oh man, it's so cool to hear that Smosh is still around and putting out quality stuff! I do remember hearing about Anthony coming back after some time away, but I haven't really kept up with them since, so maybe I should change that! That Muppets podcast also sounds super cool, especially going through the entire history, even stuff more casual fans like myself might not know about. Making a note to check that out as well.

Before we close this out, is there anything in particular you're looking forward to for the rest of this year? For me, it's gonna be the new State Champs album. They're one of my favorite bands in general and in pop-punk, and while they might have a generally consistent sound, they do it so well that you don't mind. I'm also really excited about the new Life Is Strange game, Double Exposure. The main protagonist from the original game, Max Caulfield, is back for this game, and I'm interested in seeing how her story evolves from that original game and how they weave in your choices from that.

Smosh is actually really good now, and they’re at their creative peak, especially having a large cast with a lot more personalities and diverse ideas and backgrounds, but they’re clearly having a lot of fun these days. Kermitment is seriously one of my favorite podcasts lately, because of how deep they go into the Muppets history. They talked a lot about obscure stuff from before The Muppet Show, including a lot of stuff I’ve never heard of, so it’s a really cool history lesson into Jim Henson and all of his work.

Anyhow, I can’t say I’m really looking forward to anything in particular, but I know there are things coming out that I’m excited about, for sure. I wish I had a PS5, because I’d love to play the new Life Is Strange. I’ve played a few others, and they’re a ton of fun, but I hate that a lot of new games are PS5 exclusive. I’m sure that the next couple weeks will have a lot, but it’ll be nice when things slow down, so we can enjoy a lot of what we loved this year, or catch up on stuff we missed. I also can’t wait to listen to some Christmas music, too. As I write this, Dan + Shay just dropped a new Christmas album, and it’s actually pretty good.

That is one good thing about this time of year, for sure, being able to take a step back and kinda chill out and catch up on stuff we may have missed, especially as year-end list season comes around. Which, you bet I'm down to get back together for the big year-end piece again! Last year was a blast, and I can't wait to do it again.

Ooh, we get to do this in another couple months, and I’m looking forward to it, because we can reflect on the whole year, and it’s gonna be a blast. Thanks again for jumping aboard to do this with me, Jake, you know I always appreciate it!

Thanks for having me on board again! These are always so fun to do, and I can't wait to see what the last bit of the year has in store.

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