#writing the first part to this thrilling saga before I reach it

[chaosintheavenue]

Summary of my past five minutes:

Yesterday I became aware that my past self, presumably months ago, queued up a post about Tibbs for the anniversary of when he suddenly 'introduced' himself to me and gained a proper storyline.

A day later, I suddenly vaguely remembered having written that post. And I also seem to remember-

*frantically scrolling through my queue to October 8th* Past Chaos, what have you done?!

[dongfangxunfeng]

what do you think of the whole actor in shrine situation? is this why you're moving away from s/h//l?

lol

A medieval fisherman is said to have hauled up a three-foot-long cod, which was common enough at the time. And the fact that the cod could talk was not especially surprising. But what was astonishing was that it spoke an unknown language. It spoke Basque.

This Basque folktale shows not only the Basque attachment to their orphan language, indecipherable to the rest of the world, but also their tie to the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, a fish that has never been found in Basque or even Spanish waters.

The Basques are enigmatic. They have lived in what is now the northwest corner of Spain and a nick of the French southwest for longer than history records, and not only is the origin of their language unknown, but the origin of the people themselves remains a mystery also. According to one theory, these rosy-cheeked, dark-haired, long-nosed people were the original Iberians, driven by invaders to this mountainous corner between the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian Sierra, and the Bay of Biscay. Or they may be indigenous to this area.

They graze sheep on impossibly steep, green slopes of mountains that are thrilling in their rare, rugged beauty. They sing their own songs and write their own literature in their own language, Euskera. Possibly Europe’s oldest living language, Euskera is one of only four European languages—along with Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian—not in the Indo-European family. They also have their own sports, most notably jai alai, and even their own hat, the Basque beret, which is bigger than any other beret.

Though their lands currently reside in three provinces of France and four of Spain, Basques have always insisted that they have a country, and they call it Euskadi. All the powerful peoples around them—the Celts and Romans, the royal houses of Aquitaine, Navarra, Aragon, and Castile; later Spanish and French monarchies, dictatorships, and republics—have tried to subdue and assimilate them, and all have failed. In the 1960s, at a time when their ancient language was only whispered, having been outlawed by the dictator Francisco Franco, they secretly modernized it to broaden its usage, and today, with only 800,000 Basque speakers in the world, almost 1,000 titles a year are published in Euskera, nearly a third by Basque writers and the rest translations.

“Nire aitaren etxea / defendituko dut. / Otsoen kontra” (I will defend / the house of my father. / Against the wolves) are the opening lines of a famous poem in modern Euskera by Gabriel Aresti, one of the fathers of the modernized tongue. Basques have been able to maintain this stubborn independence, despite repression and wars, because they have managed to preserve a strong economy throughout the centuries. Not only are Basques shepherds, but they are also a seafaring people, noted for their successes in commerce. During the Middle Ages, when Europeans ate great quantities of whale meat, the Basques traveled to distant unknown waters and brought back whale. They were able to travel such distances because they had found huge schools of cod and salted their catch, giving them a nutritious food supply that would not spoil on long voyages.

Basques were not the first to cure cod. Centuries earlier, the Vikings had traveled from Norway to Iceland to Greenland to Canada, and it is not a coincidence that this is the exact range of the Atlantic cod. In the tenth century, Thorwald and his wayward son, Erik the Red, having been thrown out of Norway for murder, traveled to Iceland, where they killed more people and were again expelled. About the year 985, they put to sea from the black lava shore of Iceland with a small crew on a little open ship. Even in midsummer, when the days are almost without nightfall, the sea there is gray and kicks up whitecaps. But with sails and oars, the small band made it to a land of glaciers and rocks, where the water was treacherous with icebergs that glowed robin’s-egg blue. In the spring and summer, chunks broke off the glaciers, crashed into the sea with a sound like thunder that echoed in the fjords, and sent out huge waves. Eirik, hoping to colonize this land, tried to enhance its appeal by naming it Greenland.

Almost 1,000 years later, New England whalers would sing: “Oh, Greenland is a barren place / a place that bears no green / Where there’s ice and snow / and the whale fishes blow / But daylight’s seldom seen.”

Eirik colonized this inhospitable land and then tried to push on to new discoveries. But he injured his foot and had to be left behind. His son, Leifur, later known as Leif Eiriksson, sailed on to a place he called Stoneland, which was probably the rocky, barren Labrador coast. “I saw not one cartload of earth, though I landed many places,” Jacques Cartier would write of this coast six centuries later. From there, Leif’s men turned south to “Woodland” and then “Vineland.” The identity of these places is not certain. Woodland could have been Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, or Maine, all three of which are wooded. But in Vineland they found wild grapes, which no one else has discovered in any of these places.

The remains of a Viking camp have been found in Newfoundland. It is perhaps in that gentler land that the Vikings were greeted by inhabitants they found so violent and hostile that they deemed settlement impossible, a striking assessment to come from a people who had been regularly banished for the habit of murdering people. More than 500 years later the Beothuk tribe of Newfoundland would prevent John Cabot from exploring beyond crossbow range of his ship. The Beothuk apparently did not misjudge Europeans, since soon after Cabot, they were enslaved by the Portuguese, driven inland, hunted by the French and English, and exterminated in a matter of decades.

How did the Vikings survive in greenless Greenland and earthless Stoneland? How did they have enough provisions to push on to Woodland and Vineland, where they dared not go inland to gather food, and yet they still had enough food to get back? What did these Norsemen eat on the five expeditions to America between 985 and 1011 that have been recorded in the Icelandic sagas? They were able to travel to all these distant, barren shores because they had learned to preserve codfish by hanging it in the frosty winter air until it lost four-fifths of its weight and became a durable woodlike plank. They could break off pieces and chew them, eating it like hardtack. Even earlier than Eirik’s day, in the ninth century, Norsemen had already established plants for processing dried cod in Iceland and Norway and were trading the surplus in northern Europe.

The Basques, unlike the Vikings, had salt, and because fish that was salted before drying lasted longer, the Basques could travel even farther than the Vikings. They had another advantage: The more durable a product, the easier it is to trade. By the year 1000, the Basques had greatly expanded the cod markets to a truly international trade that reached far from the cod’s northern habitat.

In the Mediterranean world, where there were not only salt deposits but a strong enough sun to dry sea salt, salting to preserve food was not a new idea. In preclassical times, Egyptians and Romans had salted fish and developed a thriving trade. Salted meats were popular, and Roman Gaul had been famous for salted and smoked hams. Before they turned to cod, the Basques had sometimes salted whale meat; salt whale was found to be good with peas, and the most prized part of the whale, the tongue, was also often salted.

Until the twentieth-century refrigerator, spoiled food had been a chronic curse and severely limited trade in many products, especially fish. When the Basque whalers applied to cod the salting techniques they were using on whale, they discovered a particularly good marriage because the cod is virtually without fat, and so if salted and dried well, would rarely spoil. It would outlast whale, which is red meat, and it would outlast herring, a fatty fish that became a popular salted item of the northern countries in the Middle Ages.

Even dried salted cod will turn if kept long enough in hot humid weather. But for the Middle Ages it was remarkably long-lasting—a miracle comparable to the discovery of the fast-freezing process in the twentieth century, which also debuted with cod. Not only did cod last longer than other salted fish, but it tasted better too. Once dried or salted—or both—and then properly restored through soaking, this fish presents a flaky flesh that to many tastes, even in the modern age of refrigeration, is far superior to the bland white meat of fresh cod. For the poor who could rarely afford fresh fish, it was cheap, high-quality nutrition.

In 1606, Gudbrandur Thorláksson, an Icelandic bishop, made this line drawing of the North Atlantic in which Greenland is represented in the shape of a dragon with a fierce, toothy mouth. Modern maps show that this is not at all the shape of Greenland, but it is exactly what it looks like from the southern fjords, which cut jagged gashes miles deep into the high mountains. (Royal Library, Copenhagen)

Catholicism gave the Basques their great opportunity. The medieval church imposed fast days on which sexual intercourse and the eating of flesh were forbidden, but eating “cold” foods was permitted. Because fish came from water, it was deemed cold, as were waterfowl and whale, but meat was considered hot food. The Basques were already selling whale meat to Catholics on “lean days,” which, since Friday was the day of Christ’s crucifixion, included all Fridays, the forty days of Lent, and various other days of note on the religious calendar. In total, meat was forbidden for almost half the days of the year, and those lean days eventually became salt cod days. Cod became almost a religious icon—a mythological crusader for Christian observance.

The Basques were getting richer every Friday. But where was all this cod coming from? The Basques, who had never even said where they came from, kept their secret. By the fifteenth century, this was no longer easy to do, because cod had become widely recognized as a highly profitable commodity and commercial interests around Europe were looking for new cod grounds. There were cod off of Iceland and in the North Sea, but the Scandinavians, who had been fishing cod in those waters for thousands of years, had not seen the Basques. The British, who had been fishing for cod well offshore since Roman times, did not run across Basque fishermen even in the fourteenth century, when British fishermen began venturing up to Icelandic waters. The Bretons, who tried to follow the Basques, began talking of a land across the sea.

Bench ends from St. Nicolas’ Chapel in a town by the North Sea, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, carved circa 1415, depict the cod fishery. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

In the 1480s, a conflict was brewing between Bristol merchants and the Hanseatic League. The league had been formed in thirteenth-century Lübeck to regulate trade and stand up for the interests of the merchant class in northern German towns. Hanse means “fellowship” in Middle High German. This fellowship organized town by town and spread throughout northern Europe, including London. By controlling the mouths of all the major rivers that ran north from central Europe, from the Rhine to the Vistula, the league was able to control much of European trade and especially Baltic trade. By the fourteenth century, it had chapters as far north as Iceland, as far east as Riga, south to the Ukraine, and west to Venice.

For many years, the league was seen as a positive force in northern Europe. It stood up against the abuses of monarchs, stopped piracy, dredged channels, and built lighthouses. In England, league members were called Easterlings because they came from the east, and their good reputation is reflected in the word sterling, which comes from Easterling and means “of assured value.”

But the league grew increasingly abusive of its power and ruthless in defense of trade monopolies. In 1381, mobs rose up in England and hunted down Hanseatics, killing anyone who could not say bread and cheese with an English accent.

The Hanseatics monopolized the Baltic herring trade and in the fifteenth century attempted to do the same with dried cod. By then, dried cod had become an important product in Bristol. Bristol’s well-protected but difficult-to-navigate harbor had greatly expanded as a trade center because of its location between Iceland and the Mediterranean. It had become a leading port for dried cod from Iceland and wine, especially sherry, from Spain. But in 1475, the Hanseatic League cut off Bristol merchants from buying Icelandic cod.

Thomas Croft, a wealthy Bristol customs official, trying to find a new source of cod, went into partnership with John Jay, a Bristol merchant who had what was at the time a Bristol obsession: He believed that somewhere in the Atlantic was an island called Hy-Brasil. In 1480, Jay sent his first ship in search of this island, which he hoped would offer a new fishing base for cod. In 1481, Jay and Croft outfitted two more ships, the Trinity and the George. No record exists of the result of this enterprise. Croft and Jay were as silent as the Basques. They made no announcement of the discovery of Hy-Brasil, and history has written off the voyage as a failure. But they did find enough cod so that in 1490, when the Hanseatic League offered to negotiate to reopen the Iceland trade, Croft and Jay simply weren’t interested anymore.

Where was their cod coming from? It arrived in Bristol dried, and drying cannot be done on a ship deck. Since their ships sailed out of the Bristol Channel and traveled far west of Ireland and there was no land for drying fish west of Ireland—Jay had still not found Hy-Brasil—it was suppposed that Croft and Jay were buying the fish somewhere. Since it was illegal for a customs official to engage in foreign trade, Croft was prosecuted. Claiming that he had gotten the cod far out in the Atlantic, he was acquitted without any secrets being revealed.

To the glee of the British press, a letter has recently been discovered. The letter had been sent to Christopher Columbus, a decade after the Croft affair in Bristol, while Columbus was taking bows for his discovery of America. The letter, from Bristol merchants, alleged that he knew perfectly well that they had been to America already. It is not known if Columbus ever replied. He didn’t need to. Fishermen were keeping their secrets, while explorers were telling the world. Columbus had claimed the entire new world for Spain.

Then, in 1497, five years after Columbus first stumbled across the Caribbean while searching for a westward route to the spice-producing lands of Asia, Giovanni Caboto sailed from Bristol, not in search of the Bristol secret but in the hopes of finding the route to Asia that Columbus had missed. Caboto was a Genovese who is remembered by the English name John Cabot, because he undertook this voyage for Henry VII of England. The English, being in the North, were far from the spice route and so paid exceptionally high prices for spices. Cabot reasoned correctly that the British Crown and the Bristol merchants would be willing to finance a search for a northern spice route. In June, after only thirty-five days at sea, Cabot found land, though it wasn’t Asia. It was a vast, rocky coastline that was ideal for salting and drying fish, by a sea that was teeming with cod. Cabot reported on the cod as evidence of the wealth of this new land,

New Found Land, which he claimed for England. Thirty-seven years later, Jacques Cartier arrived, was credited with “discovering” the mouth of the St. Lawrence, planted a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula, and claimed it all for France. He also noted the presence of 1,000 Basque fishing vessels. But the Basques, wanting to keep a good secret, had never claimed it for anyone.

[thejonzone]

Riverdale is the Best Show You’ve Written Off

About once a month, a tweet will go around, reading something like “I can’t believe Netflix cancelled [SHOW X], but Riverdale is still on?!? *eye roll emoji, angry cussing emoji*.” It can be difficult to read tweets like these, because I like Riverdale. But I understand why it has struggled to keep an audience-- there is a perception that the show has gone completely off the rails, a chaos of hot actors in their mid-20s playing glamorous high school sociopaths, with the show choosing excess over narrative cohesion. That perception is pretty accurate. It’s an easy show to write off and easy to make fun of, especially because, as a CW show, it’s ostensibly geared to teens. So it brings me no pleasure to say that Riverdale, currently in its 5th season, has reached a renaissance, and its episodes so far this season represent its high-water mark. 

To appreciate how stunning and exciting Riverdale’s new direction is, it’s important to understand how we got here.

In the first season, a murder in the titular town revealed an underbelly of thugs, power brokers, and shady backroom rulers, all vying for control with gothic morbidity. What followed after that season though, was something else entirely. 

Riverdale, ramping up during Seasons 2 through 4, became a beautiful mess. I think it’s important to state that no other show on television is even attempting to do what Riverdale did/is doing. The show is, at any one point, 5-7 wholly different shows. There is a season’s worth of plot per episode. It’s storytelling mania and in-real-time dementia. I don’t remember what happened at the end of last episode because SO much happened. And besides, coherence is overrated! Give me hot actors, give me drug-addicted mobsters, give me creepy principals! On Riverdale, the parents are both former teen heartthrobs and serial killers, children operate underground speakeasies, and for some reason not one therapist has realized they could make a fortune helping our cast work through the intense psychological terror and emotional abuse they receive every episode.

This show is beyond pastiche, hyper-loaded with reference. My roommate and I had a joke that the show’s third season could be mapped to a quadrant of influences: Twin Peaks, True Detective, The Sopranos, and Gossip Girl. At any point Riverdale was acknowledging and playing into the influence of one of these shows. Season Four doubled down on the show’s horror anthology tendency. No one wants you to miss the references being made. You know that menacing boarding school Jughead attends in Season Four? You’d be right If it reminded you of Donna Tartt’s A Secret History. After all, consider Jughead’s classmate, whose name is Donna Sweet. Maybe you picked up on the violence simmering underneath the surface of Jughead’s other classmate, Bret Easton-Elli--  I mean, Bret Weston-Wallis.

Every week, the show seems primed for failure, attempting to juggle more storylines than possible or even necessary. The show is like a house of cards that has already fallen, and yet the writers are somehow still haphazardly adding more cards to the top. “Be reasonable!” I would plead. To no avail. And that’s the thrill of it. The plotlines are secondary to the spectacle. The show is a celebration and parody of violent legacy dramas, camp, teen horror, canonical literature, and anything else it can stuff under the hood, as much an ode to other pieces of media as it is an original work itself. 

But now, something completely different is happening. The beginning of Season Five brought an end to the seasons-long saga the show felt trapped in. Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead graduated high school, and the show flashed forward seven years. What might be considered a hokey technique was one of the best decisions the writers ever did. Because now we have a blank slate for our main cast. The writers effectively cut the fat from three seasons of violent, ridiculous maximalism. And it’s psychically refreshing.

At the heart of any good sitcom, we just want to see our main characters hanging out together. Change is part of life, but it shouldn’t be in television. Which is why this new season is so exciting-- Riverdale is now in the process of bringing its four main characters back from their adult lives and re-engaging them in the deadly politics of their hometown. Pop Tate, the owner-manager of Pop’s, Riverdale’s diner, is retiring, and Archie gets the gang back in town to celebrate the man who helped make the diner such a great hang-out spot. In the words of Jughead, “You gave us a home, Pop.” Like so mant other sitcoms before it, Riverdale used Pop’s to establish its characters and their relationships to each other.

I grew up on Seinfeld so I’ve always been attracted to the idea of the diner. The pandemic has made me yearn even harder for the sitcom diner, that idealistic place where all my friends are, where people enter with problems to be solved, drama to be explained, good news to be celebrated. Riverdale’s acknowledgment of Pop and his diner as the show’s connective tissue is a grounding and human choice. It works fantastically to set up this upcoming season, where our gang must confront the newest nefarious plot for control over the soul of Riverdale.

No doubt the show will continue its pattern of naming and spoofing genre. Veronica, in her adult life, had an Uncut Gems-style few scenes where she works as a charismatic (of course) diamond merchant. She married a possessive, boring guy who’s only characteristic seems to be that his voice is *exactly* like Veronica’s megalomaniac dad, Hiram. Something something Freud, something something daddy sexy. And credit where credit is due, Mark Consuelos is really hot.

Jughead is a writer now, in the most white guy college freshman fantasy of being a writer possible. He attended the Iowa Writers Workshop as an undergrad, something that is definitely not possible. He’s written a hit book but now suffers from *gasp* writer’s block?? He’s a cool guy writer who, in his opening montage, gets recognized by, hit on, and then has sex with a college-aged fan. Back in Riverdale, Jug writes a speech for Pop’s retirement and sends it to his agent. His agent is smitten with the work, calling it “tragic americana” and proclaiming that Jughead’s next book will be titled “Elegy for a Small Town”. This is almost certainly a reference to J.D. Vance’s bad book, and I’m sure the show will be bringing in more elements of “tragic” “americana” as the season unfolds. 

Betty is FBI in training, because as the show has loved to tell us, Betty has “the serial killer gene”, but is using it for good. For the record, her dad was a serial killer, and her brother was a serial killer. And it’s not like her mom or sister can cast the first stone. Betty’s endured enough trauma to fill 100 lives with unending pain and I’m sure the show will have no trouble heaping more on top. Already in the new season we’ve seen flashbacks to some point during the time jump when Betty was taken hostage, in what’s clearly a homage to The Silence of the Lambs. 

And then there’s Archie. I don’t know if anyone knows what to do with the guy. Played by K.J. Apa, who is both really good-looking with his shirt off and a god-awful actor, Archie has been in the army. The show is using him to shill for the military-industrial complex. 

I’ve long joked that the Riverdale writers have no idea what they’re doing. But through a global pandemic affecting TV production and *the* major narrative complication in any high school-set show (graduation), the Riverdale writers have seamlessly transitioned the show to a new stasis. Past seasons are informing this one, but we aren’t bogged down by the details in this new season. The bigger joke, of course, is that the writers have known exactly what they’ve been doing this whole time, and I’m just an idiot. Well I mean, of course I’m an idiot. I use television to regulate my emotions and simulate a static friend group that doesn’t leave or change. And Riverdale is perfect for that. If a renaissance is a rebirth, well then my friends, cut the umbilical cord and save the placenta to put in pills, because Riverdale is cranking out episodes that are better than ever.

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: “Old Friends Not Forgotten” -Review

The years awaited finale to Star Wars: The Clone Wars explodes onto screen in a fantastically cinematic episode that ranks as the best of the season and one of the strongest installments of the series.

(Review contains episode spoilers)

The Clone Wars are raging. The Jedi and their loyal clones are sent out to the far reaches of the galaxy to fend off a wave of invasions by General Grievous. Midway through the defense of the planet Yerbana, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi receive word from Ahsoka Tano and her new Mandalorian allies that Maul might be finally vulnerable to capture. With a limited window of time, the plea is made for the Republic to assist in a siege of the Mandalorian capital of Sundari. However, when a surprise attack is made on the planet of Coruscant, Obi-Wan and Anakin must make a difficult decision about loyalty.

Wow. Any concerns about the potential aimlessness of this final season of The Clone Wars are more or less evaporated in this thrilling half hour of television. Never before has Star Wars animation seemed more cinematic and confident than in “Old Friends Not Forgotten.” From the first frame that opens up with the classic Lucasfilm logo to the sweeping musical score to the fantastically layered and complex action sequences, The Clone Wars finale feels like an experience meant to be on part with the most grand of the franchise’s big screen counterparts. There is quite simply nothing else like this and the idea that we are only one fourth into this final adventure is nothing less than thrilling.

There’s quite simply just so much to talk about in “Old Friends Not Forgotten.” It feels like an intense labor of love from all involved and not a moment is wasted in the episode’s extended runtime. Dave Filoni’s script is perfectly paced, tonally varied, and emotionally nuanced.

On its most basic level, it’s impressive how much the set up and execution of The Siege of Mandalore really does feel like the culmination of the series’ many different themes and plotlines. It’s an organic amalgamation of everything that has come before and feels surprisingly more inevitable than you would expect. It’s honestly an impressively large amount of storytelling ground to cover as The Siege of Mandalore not only has to offer closure to Ahsoka’s story arc, but also Maul’s, Mandalore’s, and Anakin and Obi-Wan’s, while also tying into arguably the darkest point in Star Wars history.

It’s ultimately Ahsoka that ends up being the star here and rightfully so. Filoni smartly positions her as fully jaded of the Jedi’s role in the war and galactic politics and her support for Bo-Katan and her people feels born out of a want to help the needy and to direct her talents and powers to those that actually need her assistance (even if her determination to assist Bo-Katan still feels a tad flimsy). It’s a smart evolution of her story arc and seeing her lead a crusade to help others independent of Anakin or the Republic feels like the right step for her character. It also creates an interesting hypocrisy in her. Anakin and Obi-Wan’s want for caution in assistance for Ahsoka’s mission to not only to protect existing treaties with Mandalore but to also make sure that they are available to help other planet’s in need like Coruscant, feels grounded in a certain logic that makes sense. Sure, Obi-Wan may be too cautious and may be slowly slipping away from the compassion that always defined his character, but their decision to play things careful feels logical. Ahsoka’s rejection may not be, but it’s fitting for her character. It makes sense that after her ordeals that she wouldn’t see the judgement of the Jedi Council to be worth a damn. There’s a recklessness to her resolve that feels classically in tune with her character even if she has evolved to a more capable role than ever. Considering what is about to happen, it could be argued that Ahsoka’s involvement could in fact have disastrous consequences for the people that she is trying to protect, but we will have to wait and see. Maybe, I’m reading too much into this. Who knows. Prove me right, Dave.

The entire sequence of Ahsoka’s reunion and bargaining with Anakin and Obi-Wan is some of the smartest writing and voice acting that this series has done. Obi-Wan’s pained defense of his feelings for Satine to Bo-Katan feels like the right culmination of his character here. He’s still a compassionate and human character, arguably more so than any of the other traditional Jedi, but at this point he’s as caught in the cogs of the Republic war machine as anyone. Anakin’s eager want for reconciliation carries an emotional heart to it that is hard not to fall for. This is a moment that he has been waiting for for some time and Matt Lanter sells Anakin’s bargaining for some kind of resolution between him and his former apprentice with intense sincerity. Considering the awful acts that are about to happen, there’s a heartbreaking tragedy hanging over it all. Perhaps most impressive is the nuanced emotional state given to Ahsoka. There’s definitely a want to reconnect with Anakin and his gestures of good will are accepted, but there is a hurt there that isn’t mended. Ashley Eckstein sells her dialogue here with a sense of reticence and conflict. She can recognize that there is a bond there between her and Anakin, but it’s not one that is going to heal anytime soon.

It also makes perfect sense that it would ultimately be Rex that Ahsoka feels the most comfortable with at this point. It’s easy to see Rex as playing as much as a conflicted role in the war as she is and his connection to the larger Republic institution or the Jedi Order is tertiary. There is a bond here that feels trusting and still strong and it’s sweet to see the affection between both characters.

The fact that director Saul Ruiz and Filoni allow so much time for this sort of character interaction is a testament to the stellar pacing in “Old Friends Not Forgotten.” It’s a smart sequence of scenes that offers much of the emotional closure and connective tissue that fans have been clamoring for for years.

If the first half of “Old Friends Not Forgotten” was heavy on character, Ruiz kicks into high gear with the second half. The raid on Mandalore contains some of the most spectacular and larger than life action that the show has ever realized. The airborn battle between Republic drop ships, Mandalorian starfighters, jet packed Bo-Katan loyalists versus Maul’s men, and Ahsoka hopping from ship to ship is complex and cluttered with moving parts. It could have easily been a chaotic mess, but the direction here is fluid and exciting. The scale and violence of the conflict is sold without sacrificing character and coherence and there is likely no moment more cheer worthy in this series than Ahsoka’s thrilling descent to the landing platforms of Sundari.

It’s also impressive just how much of the complex political situation on Mandalore is kept intact. I was almost worried that the delightfully slimy Prime Minister Almec or the loyally fluid Gar Saxon would sit this one out, but they get their time to shine just as much as our heroes. Given the context of past season’s stories on Mandalore and taking account the larger story of this planet in Rebels and The Mandalorian, it really feels like no balls were left in the air. This is a pivotal moment for many characters and factions in the history of the saga and it’s nice to see that none of this was brushed aside.

The only clunky area for “Old Friends Not Forgotten” is the handling of Maul’s larger scheme. While the idea that the Siege of Mandalore was developed as a last ditch effort to trap Obi-Wan to exact revenge is a smart twist in the overall narrative, it’s hard not to feel that there are some rough edges around the handling of Maul’s status at the start of this episode. There was really never going to be a way to explain away the events of the Son of Dathomir in the context of the series. Covering it in a traditional Clone Wars style recap would be clunky and unneeded and retconning it would do no good for anyone. For viewers of the show only, it basically reads that Palpatine arrived to stop Maul’s operation on this planet only for him to end up exactly where he started. It’s more than a little awkward and head scratching. Maybe we will get some descriptive dialogue somewhere down the line, but I can imagine some series only fans being more than a little put off by this development.

“Old Friends Not Forgotten” ends on one of the most thrilling cliffhangers in the history of the saga. There is quite simply so much at stake and given the absolutely stellar execution of this first chapter, it’s hard not to count the minutes until the next chapter drops. For all the awkward roads here and all of the tragedy that is about to follow, The Clone Wars looks to end on a high note. Thank goodness.

Score: A

[tare-chan]

Has anyone else read this book/novel?

I rarely read any book/novel, honestly. But since I'm still madly in love with Frozen 2, this "prequel" book really piqued my interest. And lucky for me, the hard copy of this book were already available in my local bookstore.

You think Frozen 2 was already “dark” and packed with action? Then this book will surprised you even more! I lost count of how many times I held my breath while reading scenes after scenes. Especially, since at the middle of the story, the author cleverly set Olaf and Sven aside, without ‘dumping’ their character. So we basically just have Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff adventuring throughout the Arendellian soils. 

There’re lots of tidbits that foreshadow the story of Frozen 2, and I’ll write them down under the cut. Cause in case you want to read the novel (which I highly recommended), I don’t want to ruin/spoiler you :)

So the story tells from Anna’s POV. First thing I noticed: despite her cheerful behavior, deep down inside, Anna still felt insecure about her position, especially as a royal. These insecurities root from her being ‘spare’, and her ‘imperfectness’. She always looked up to Elsa, who she saw as the perfect royal should be. Second problem, Anna really has issues with her way of communication. So many times in the story, she assumes people’s act and people’s say in a negative tone, adding to her insecurities. While at the same time, she rarely brave enough to speak up what’s on her mind. This is actually a quite surprising side of her. In her mind, all of this insecurity of hers, might lead Elsa think her as useless, and leave her for good. And this is the root of her fear. Yes, the brave, feisty Anna, does have fear!! 

Elsa, on the other hand, trapped in the role of a very hardworking family head. Like a formula often used in a family movies, where you’ll see the family head works extra hard to fulfill their family needs, that makes them forgot, that family also need loves and communication to share. Elsa, in her way of showing love to Anna, let her sleep until noon, never asked Anna’s help in royal duties, and to not worry Anna, Elsa always kept her fear inside of her, while using her regal and her ‘don’t worry, I’ve got everything under control’ facade mask. All of these ‘love’ from Elsa, made her never had time to spent with her sister, and many times make her forget the promises (like visiting Anna in her bedroom before sleep, reading a book that Anna gave her). Elsa didn’t have any idea that all of these, only add to Anna’s insecurities. 

The problem solving of this miscommunication, lead to the ‘charade’ nights in Frozen 2, Elsa’s daily schedule shown in the art book (with ‘family time’ now listed at the schedule), and pushed Elsa to run and greet her family to play outside castle wall in the ‘something never change’ sequence. But Elsa being Elsa, it’s not easy for her to share her burden just like that. Anna understand this, but remind her by saying ‘we promised not to shout each other out’, after the charade scenes, and the ‘promise me we’ll do this together’ lines Anna often said throughout the movie.

Now, I just noticed that the usually adventure hungry Anna, always look at edge, during Frozen 2. Like how she frowned when seeing the rune crystals hanging in the night of Arendelle city (the very end of Into the Unknown scene), when she confronted Elsa that the magic can’t be good, when she stood in front of the mist, when she saw her surrounding changes before the Northuldra accept the sisters, etc. Anna also seems so clingy towards Elsa, always want to hold dear her sister. And seemed too sensitive towards the word ‘die’ (completely misunderstood Kristoff’s saying). 

This seems out of character of her, but after reading this book, I finally understand. Anna’s latest encounter with something magical and mythical, wasn’t pretty. Nope. Not at all. In the book, at first, Anna still feel the thrill of facing new adventure. But throughout the progress of the story, all the things happened in this previous 2 months before the movie, would definitely give the poor girl nightmares (like shown at the very end of the book, which also actually a part of the movie itself). 

At one point, Anna needs to make a hard decision to left Kristoff behind, to intercept the possessed character going after the two sisters, with such a heartbreaking ‘goodbye’ kiss. And while she was spared from witnessing how the fight between the axe armed enemy and unarmed Kristoff went on, she wasn’t so lucky when witnessing Elsa fighting the enormous Nightmare Wolf. Safely stood inside Elsa’s ice dome, after another heartbreaking ‘I love you’ goodbye from her sister, Anna witness how Elsa charged at the wolf, with legendary sword in one hand, and ice power in her other hand (Elsa is so badass in this scene, btw), wipe the floor with the wolf, but when her sister went in for the finishing blow, the legendary sword shattered, and Elsa was pummeled down instead. Anna managed to look at her sister eyes the last time, before the wolf took over Elsa’s body. Her sister’s scream when the wolf took over her body, will definitely gave Anna PTSD for sure. The poor girl :,( After all, Anna’s biggest fear actually wasn’t her insecurities, but loosing her big sis. 

This is exactly why Anna become so tense, and clingy towards Elsa. Especially after Pabbie’s warn, that Elsa might loose to the magic she followed. Because unlike Elsa who can ‘sense’ that the voice and magic in the movie was actually different than what the sisters have faced in the past two months, Anna only has her memories, the horror memory of loosing those close to her, especially Elsa, from the past 2 months. And when her biggest fear came true, when Elsa’s lost to a place Anna couldn’t reach, that’s when she went down to her lowest. (I might cry even more at the ‘next right thing’ sequences T.T)

I guess, this crazy adventures were also what make Elsa sang “I’ve had my adventure, and I don’t need something new. I’m afraid of what I’m risking, if I followed you.....”. Because despite her regal and calm demeanor, Elsa must also feels terrified at their latest adventures. Especially since she nearly lost Anna twice, when her little sister was almost drown in the river, and almost fall into the abyss inside an abandoned mines. Loosing Anna is certainly Elsa’s biggest fear too. 

This book also told us a bit more about Frozen world building. Like the secret room at the castle. We learn that Iduna had been studying magic, and translating runes and mythical stories. I guess, this what make Iduna and Agnarr travel to find Ahtohallan. Strengthen the theory that suggest magic and mythical creatures are not strange in Arendellian soils. This very secret room also held the secret of the Enchanted Forest and the dam making, aside from the castle blue prints, and a saga of Aren.

We also saw how Arendelle prospers. After the gate opened, new people start to came and live there. Judging from the name patterns, these new people might came from so many different places, like Asia (Soo Jun, is a quite common Korean name). Showing that Elsa was a good leader, but sometimes she was too hard on herself. 

We also understand that the people of Arendelle did saw the Northuldrans as bad guys (including Anna herself), who eliminate their beloved king Runenard. Strengthen the theory, that the mist was there to actually protect the Northuldrans from the angry Arendellians. 

Fun fact:

Elsa likes to tugged at her finger, when she felt nervous. A habit left behind from using gloves all the time. 

Anna’s favorite flower is sunflower (bright and warm, just like her :D). Anna can run really fast. Faster than Kristoff and Elsa (no wonder she can outrun the cart with Olaf in it, in the ‘Something never change’ sequence)

Kristoff still awed at how beautiful Elsa’s ice (sculpture) is. Ice is his life after all :P 

Despite her good governance, Elsa still at edge and have trouble when speaking to people, both dignitaries and her people. Her one flaw from being a perfect Queen, result of her isolation for years. Her perfectionist side also shown that make her often too hard on herself, and her reluctance to share her burden with Anna, manifest as Elsa’s other fear in this book, that was being a bad queen. Things that make Anna said ‘Oh Elsa, when will you see yourself the way I see you’. 

This book also shown how Elsa’s ice power and her control for it has grown in the past three years. She can make lenses from ice, can create a very strong ice dome to protect the castle and the village, can pin point the thickness of her ice, can make permafrost for Olaf, and never grew tired when blasting her power (unless her muscle gave out first, hindering her from flicking her wrist). 

Anna’s other side also being shown here. She’s actually very smart (smarter than she gave herself credit for), she can speak several foreign languages, love to learn from anybody (literally anybody), loves any arts and cultures, and as a princess she knows her people by names (amazing!!). At certain points, we also see how Anna took a very unpopular decisions. This is actually Anna’s queen quality. That she herself didn’t give enough credit for. But Elsa clearly see it, and highly respect Anna for it.  

Overall.... This novel is really good read! I highly recommend it, if you’re a big frozen fan. I will definitely read it again. Now to slowly devour the details in it :D 

[aion-rsa]

Vikings Season 6 Part Two Review (Spoiler-Free)

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This Vikings season 6 part two review is based on all 10 episodes and contains no spoilers.

Vikings has always been Ragnar Lothbrok’s (Travis Fimmel) story. First, we witnessed the rise of the man himself from farmer to visionary to earl to king to legend. Post-Ragnar, the show became an exploration of how Ragnar’s legend suffused and inhabited his sons, and the consequences of its interpretation upon enemies, frenemies, kith, kin and Kings the world over. And, now, the saga comes to an end with the second half of Vikings swansong sixth season, ten episodes that drip with all the blood, battles, tears, seers, fears, and philosophy you’ve come to expect from the History Channel’s flagship show (though this season will premiere on Amazon).    

It’s tough to write a spoiler-free review of a show like Vikings, especially here at the show’s conclusion where it won’t be surprising to learn that the blood flows like wine. Who lives, who dies? Who returns, who stays away? Even acknowledging the presence or absence of a surprise within a certain context could constitute a massive spoiler. As a consequence, much of this review will read like the ravings of the show’s very own seer, a web of insinuations and mystical mumbo jumbo designed only to make sense once the prophecy has been made flesh. 

Early in the season, Gunnhild (Ragga Ragnars) remarks: “Perhaps the Golden Age of the Vikings is gone.” This is a perfect distillation of the thematic ground covered by this half season. Here we have the fall of an empire, the erosion and sometimes amputation of the old ways, and the savage geo-surgery of a flailing world in flux. Absolute power corrupts absolutely; only the truly mad would seek to be king. The battle between paganism and Christianity, always at the forefront of the series, reaches its culmination here, and the episodes are awash with rich religious imagery and symbolism. There is also an answer, of sorts, to the question of which of Ragnar’s sons best embodies and encapsulates his legacy. Each of them carries a chunk of their father distilled within them: Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen), his wrath, his thirst to conquer; Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig), his galvanizing spirit, his authority, his legend; Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø) , his pain, confusion and predilection for self-destruction; and Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith), his sense of adventure, his vision. Series creator and showrunner Michael Hirst knows that you come to these final episodes laden with ideas and expectations surrounding this philosophical set-to, and does a sterling job subverting or confirming them. His skill is in making the surprising seem inevitable, and the inevitable seem surprising.

Most of the Vikings’ world is bathed in blue and grey, an endless twilight of death and despair. Within these grim parameters the direction and cinematography never fails to evoke the beautiful, misty emptiness of the world: the howling of the wind on desolate hills; silence, smooth and dark, stretching towards the pale horizon. There are lots of sweeping aerial shots, which cast you, the audience, as Gods looking down on the action from above. The emotional distance this creates, especially above battlefields, reinforces the absurdity and futility of the bloodshed, something we’ve been encouraged to feel in every season, but never moreso than now. 

The season is front-loaded with some thrilling sequences (including a suitably chilling use of CGI), and at least one moment that will make the hairs stand up on your neck, and hot tears fall from your eyes. The mechanisms of plot necessarily predominate in the early episodes, as machination piles upon machination, twist upon turn, and the pieces of the tragedies and double-dealings to come are moved into place upon fate’s great chess-board: a broken Bjorn has tough choices to consider following his people’s defeat at the hands of the Rus; Ubbe embarks on a westward quest in search of the promised land; Ivar and Hvitserk continue their uneasy alliance with each other within the fraught principality of the maladjusted, half-mad Oleg (Danila Koslovsky). 

An accusation often leveled at Vikings is that it became a lesser show once divorced from Ragnar’s immediate orbit; that when he died, so too did the interest of many of the audience, who never quite took to his sons with the same level of enthusiasm. I can understand the hole that Ragnar’s exit left in the hearts of fans. He was a compelling, larger-than-life character, channeled with great charisma and presence by Travis Fimmel. But although this series is ostensibly about Ragnar, the story is also far, far bigger than him, a point this final season doesn’t fail to ram home. In fact, it’s the whole point.  Besides, the performances of Alexander Ludwig, Jordan Patrick Smith, Marco Ilsø, and Alex Høgh Andersen have always been uniformly excellent, generating more than enough presence, individually and collectively, to carry the show in Ragnar’s name. 

If there is a mote of truth in the accusation it’s probably attributable, in part at least, to the challenges of satisfying such a sprawling ensemble. One of the beneficial things about the show having shed so many characters over the past few seasons is that the sons now have proper time to grow, develop and, ultimately, crystallize. In particular Hvitserk, who was always the sketchiest and most ill-defined of the brothers, finally coalesces into something greater than the sum of his parts. Even his unhealthy attachment to Ivar begins to make sense, and comes to play an instrumental part in much of what makes the final stretch work so well. 

Ivar himself has always been a joy to watch – surely one of the greatest small-screen monsters – but occasionally he could be one-note, albeit largely thanks to his predilection for painting himself into a corner and then having to fight his way out again. Ivar’s relationship with, and to, the young Rus heir Igor (Oran Glynn O’Donovan) helps to humanize him, allowing him to recreate the better aspects of his own relationship with Ragnar, this time sans grand, King-busting plan. Ivar even demonstrates, from time to time, something approaching humility, which can’t be easy for a self-proclaimed God. Plus there’s a moment between Ivar and Katia (Alicia Agneson) that’ll have you punching the air in triumph, and then thinking strangely of yourself for having fist pumped such a thing. 

Read more

TV

Why Vikings Is Ending

By Michael Ahr

Once the heavy gears of plot have cranked into place, the season dips into ennui, as characters drift, break down and take stock. This can make the season a slog to get through, especially if you’re binge-watching; like mainlining misery directly into your blood-stream. Even knowing that this was undoubtedly a deliberate structural choice – to make you feel the characters’ helplessness, heartache, angst and boredom; to understand what drives them to do what they do when Gods and men fall silent – you’re unlikely to emerge from the middle-to-end section brimming with vim and good cheer. Here, another central question is tackled: is there any escape from the seemingly endless cycle of death, destruction and revenge in which Viking society finds itself mired? What hope have Ragnar’s sons of escape when Ragnar himself, the most vocal advocate for a new way of doing things, ultimately perpetuated the cycle by posthumously siccing his sons on his enemies? 

The final act makes everything worthwhile. Think of the middle act like purgatory before Heaven (or should that be Valhalla)? While not every storyline feels like it has an equal place and weight in the pay-off – the latter sections in Kattegat, especially, feel perfunctory and will probably struggle to elicit much interest – most of the series’ overarching narrative and thematic threads come together perfectly in the end, giving a deeply satisfying sense of simultaneous closure and open-endedness.   

There are many surface similarities between Vikings and Game of Thrones, in terms of their stock-in-trade themes, settings, cast-counts, body-counts and bundles of R-rated violence. Where they differ significantly is in Vikings sticking the landing, and not just with the final episode – which is beautiful, elegiac and haunting – but over and throughout the whole final half of the season (give or take a few minor missteps).

Game of Thrones’ once stellar reputation will perhaps forever be sullied by an ending, and a final season that many felt was flat, rushed and cack-handed. This is not the fate that will befall Vikings, which, although it never attained critical, commercial or pop-culture success on anything like the same scale as Game of Thrones, now joins the pantheon of shows whose exemplary endings have cemented their legacies. Vikings can hold its head high among such luminaries as Rectify, The Affair, The Deuce, The Wire, The Sopranos (divisive as its ending proved), The Shield and Breaking Bad (pre El Camino, at least), having offered up a finale that is so resonant, dream-like, and profound that it serves retroactively to render all of the good things about the series better, and wash away any and all misgivings and doubts. It’s a gorgeous ending that will stick in your soul for a long time.

Bon voyage, Vikings. It’s been emotional.   

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[magpiefngrl]

The Witcher S01

Various thoughts:

--First season is based on the first two books of the saga, which are collections of short stories, and that results in a rather choppy, episodic nature of storytelling in the first half of the season. There’s a disconnect between the female characters’ journeys and the monster-of-the-week feel of Geralt’s storyline in the first few episodes. Not great, but also it’s not terrible either; still enjoyable, still a good introduction to the world and characters, and, because this is streaming, I don’t see it as a huge problem. Most people will mainline the season, or at least a few episodes at a time, so they’ll prob get through the introduction in one sitting.

--Which also means that this season becomes progressively better. I was def more engrossed in it as it went on, and it’s something that most reviews touch on. It’s an uneven season but in an upward trajectory kind of way, rather than having ups and downs.

--Non-linear timelines!! Gosh, I loved it when I realised it was happening. It’s excellent to see a swords-and-tits fantasy TV show taking risks. Will the non-fans be confused, though? Depends on their ability to follow a slightly more complex narrative, I guess.

--The non-linear timeline makes it poignant to watch a character you’ve seen die calmly going about their lives in previous happier times. It’s also thrilling to reach the end and see the stories come together in one timeline and one narrative. The creators said in an interview that next season will feature the more traditional storytelling of a season-long narrative arc.

--As mentioned above, this is a very sword-and-tits show; if nudity is something you hate, maybe don’t watch it.

--The casting is phenomenal. They’ve done a fabulous job with all of the characters, not just the three main ones. I fell in love with Eist in the space of one short scene and was heartbroken when he died.

--The Law of Surprise is marvellous, I’m in love with it and all its possibilities. Not only is it a stellar worldbuilding element but it’s also crucial to the plot, as the very best of worldbuilding can be. I want to write a dozen stories with the Law of Surprise; make it heartbreaking at times and humorous at others and everything it can be.

--I’ll need to rewatch it, but there were a couple of deviations from the books that didn’t work imo. They didn’t mention in the first episode what Renfri’s plan was and why Geralt killed her and her fellow bandits. Or did they and I missed it? If Renfri’s plan was to kill Marilka (rather than slaughter the whole village), it feels much less impactful and it doesn’t reveal how cruel she’s become (justifiably (?), sure, but it’s her cruelty that makes Geralt act this way). And Geralt only knew about Marilka after he’d killed the bandits. So idk -- I’ll need to rewatch.

--I also wish they’d had Geralt and Ciri meet in the woods of Brokilon before the fall of Cintra like in the book. It felt much more satisfying when book-Ciri leapt in Geralt’s arms in the books, because she’d known him and liked him, whereas here he was a stranger to her really and only trusted him because her grandmother’s last words were to find him.

--Jaskier is everything. He’s so much better than the books or at least it feels that way to me. That song!!! Toss a coin to your witcher! Man, I’d give my life for him already.

--Overall, it was fun and enjoyable and a good fantasy fill with monsters and magic and some gore and armies and swords and tits and a hunky Cavill and strong women and some humour and a meditation on legacy and family and destiny. It does also feel, however, as an extended backstory. Like the first books are, I guess, so it’s more about the source material than a show failing.

--Finally, and this is just me, but it’s hard to be entirely satisfied when one half of your OTP (thanks, Astolat) isn’t cast this season (or is he??? hehe) and I have to wait for Season 2 to see who they’ll cast for his part and what his interactions with Geralt will be etc. Suffice it to say that the mention of his name in the last couple of episodes had me squealing :D

[cutegirlmayra]

Okay, I usually see this fanart but barely in fanfiction, so how about Boom Knuckles x Rouge? Since Boom Knuckles has a different personality, I want to see how it'll play out. I think she'd find him adorable and definitely tease him in a different way from his Modern counterpart XD

I illegally step away from being forced to write the last two chapters of my novel to bring you this thrilling saga.

Prompt:

“Rouge!” Eggman billowed, throwing a quaking hand up in the air.

“My, my… now, that’s no way to call a lady.” Rouge, having stowed herself away in the rafters, flew down in perfect elegance with a sassy remark. “You really should try and keep that tone of yours in line, Doctor. What would happen if one day, you find you can’t hit that note anymore?”

He ground his teeth together, in no mood for her shenanigans, “Quit the quick remarks already. You’re real flighty, you know that? It’s taken me forever just to track you down.” He leaned on his console.

She placed her hands on her hips, looking off to the corner of the room as though keeping a secret. “I’ve been busy.”… ‘With G.U.N so gung-ho on being one step ahead of you, I haven’t had one restful night to get my beauty sleep. Blame me for your temper-tantrum, ha!’ “You’re the one acting batty.”

She folded her arms. “I’ve heard you’ve really stumbled upon an alternate universe. What’s the deal, then? Need me to steal something?”

“How did you-?” He was actually pretty surprised, but twitched his mustache and turned back to his computer.

“As a matter of fact… you’re stealthy feats are exactly what the job order…” He grinned widely as his glasses shined with the glow of the screen. “My other self, in that world, refuses to give me a secret formula for transmutation! Steal it for me, and you can have… These!” he grabbed a briefcase, spinning around and opening it to reveal a wide array of sparkling gems, each looked ravishing as her thoughts quickly spiraled into luxurious fantasies of wearing them while on a mountain of glittering treasures. 

She reached for one, “And what would this formula look like..?” But he quickly closed the briefcase and set it down.

“Ho-ho-ho… have I enticed those old thievery hands, yet?”

‘I haven’t robbed in a long time, not since Knuckles…’ she stopped her thought, “Alright, old man. You’ve tickled my fancies with your little… bribe.” she twiddled her fingers towards the briefcase. “Give me the coordinates.”

She offered him her hand.

She smirked, this would be genius! Not only could she go undercover and discover what world he was lurking in, but she could also inform G.U.N of transmutation plans he has in store.

And pack up those lovelies to boot, too!

Flying herself into another dimension, she changed her looks to fit in with the local crowd, all too easy-going for her taste. She tried to get data on this world’s Eggman when she noticed Sonic and Tails. “That can’t be..?” She put a dainty hand up to her mouth, blinking at the uncanny resemblance. “What is this? The timeline where Sonic goes on vacation?” she joked, moving on when suddenly…

“Knuckles! Look out!”

“W-woah-woah!”

CRASH.

“Knuckles?” Rouge turned back around.

There was a crushed fruit stand, Zooey exclaimed a shriek as her hands moved up to her face, “My watermelons!” she looked like she was about to faint before Tails quickly rushed over and caught her, blushing with a smile.

“Oh no, is he dead?” Sticks walked up with Amy then, before they both turned to Sonic who approached soon after.

“Not another wipeout. That’s gotta be a new record!”

“Sonic, he was the record.”

“Not for long. I plan on beating his record, towering over his as it blasts through the sky!” he pointed skyward, but the girls just looked unimpressed.

“Men aspire to the most strangest and pointless things.” Sticks commented before a crowd gathered.

Being used to the attention, the Sonic team paid them no mind, but Rouge sneakily weaved her way to the front, all while pickpocketing and gathering a feathered boa and sunglasses as a disguise. She swiped the walrus’s necklace and rings before finishing her walk to the front.

Then…

Her boa lowered over her shoulder, her sunglasses fell forward and her mouth gaped wide.

A shadow casted over the crowd as a wet Knuckles rose from the watermelon remains and shook himself off from the juices.

In a slow-motion montage, Rouge was faced with the hardest challenge she has ever faced.

A beautiful distraction to her mission.

Biceps.

“Oh no.” Rouge’s eyes shrunk as she fell to her knees, ‘He’s even hotter in this world!!!’ she rose her face up as her signature heart pattern flew around her head, having small black bat wings as they did so.

She was infatuated, purposefully withholding the priority of her mission to meet with him.

“Uhh… I told ya, Lady. I don’t have a job other than being awesome.” Knuckles shrugged, then flexed as Rouge let a long line of a smile stretch over her face.

“Nothing? Not even a … ancestorial vow of guardianship to overlook the safety of- oh say… a Master Emerald?” she scooted closer, but Knuckles was too caught up on all the technical jargon to know what she was talking about.

“Emerald? What emerald?”

Her eyes shot straight open with stars in her eyes.

No distractions…

“And with that,” she pulled two of his long, trailing hairs down to force him to bend to her level. It didn’t matter though, her wings were already pulling her up to his height.

His eyes were right smack in front of hers, unsure how to process such a pretty woman’s actions, nor understand what they implied.

“You’re now officially the better of the two.” she went to flirt and move up closer to his wide chest she could literally sprawl herself out on when-

“Rouge! What’s the hold-up?! Where’s my formula?!” a mic triggered from her belt and she tsk’ed.

“Dratt. Even without your angry demeanor, there’s still something there to interrupt.” she pouted, glaring with a twitch of her eyebrow at her dimensions Eggman calling.

“…Wait, that sounded like-” It just so happened that Knuckles picked up the voice acting skills of Mike Pollock, which just so happened to be the same voice actor of his own Eggman.

“I hate to leave you wanting more, but I believe your rather large frame begs the question of if you can even fit more?” she let him go and blew him a kiss, heading for the other Eggman’s base.

“…I always have room for Meh-burgers…” He blushed, seeming to like the blown kiss, “Hehehehe…AH!” he placed a hand on his chest, snapping out of his timid blush, raising his head out of his scrunched up shoulders. “Is she calling me fat!? the humiliation! I knew I shouldn’t have skipped torso day!” he ran away crying, his self-esteem completely devasted.

The Sonic team attacked Eggman’s base, giving the perfect avenue for Rouge to steal the formula, but she was constantly distracted by this new Knuckles.

Then, a robot shot a beam at her wing and she began to fall.

“Woah! Bat lady!” Knuckles leaped to her rescue, punching down the robot that had struck her.

“No, Knuckles! It’s Batman- Hey! It’s a girl!” Tails was amazed to see a woman in his arms.

She lifted her leg up, squeeing a moment before flopping herself upright again. “No time, Knucklehead. I’ll swoon when my mission is- The vile!” she saw the formula, literally written down and rolled into a sailor’s bottle, crash to the ground as Eggman raced to get it.

“No, she’s a lady, Tails.” Knuckles argued, as though unable to follow the current pace of the conversation as she flew out of his arms. He looked offended on her behalf, but when turning back to his arms, noticed she was gone. “Woah! Hey! Where’d the pretty lady go?”

“Spy!” Eggman shot more lasers, but she skillfully dodged them, kicking them with her tornado kick and hitting them off his machine.

“Yeeeep!” Eggman ducked in fright as Rouge looked ticked off, grabbing the front of his Eggmobile.

“You’ve ruined my summer fling for the last time!” she tried to grab the formula but was swiftly removed by Knuckles again, delicately placing her back to the ground as the Sonic team gathered in front of her.

“What’d you steal this time, Egghead?”

“Me!? It’s her universe that’s- Grr… scratch that. Nothing to hear here!” he shook his hand as if to dismiss the topic. He flew off then, grumbling about the inappropriate attire and how anyone could sneak around with a pink heart on their chest.

The comments rose a fire in Rouge. She maneuvered out of Knuckles’s protective embrace and flew after Eggman. “Why you-! How dare you comment on a lady’s attire!”

He turned around, smirking as he summoned a portal back to her universe.

She gulped, “Oh drat. Can’t a lady get a vacation of her own too around here?” she accepted her defeat and flew through, after all…

She had what G.U.N needed, and…

There was only one Knucklehead for her.

It wasn’t fun if there wasn’t a Master Emerald to steal, or some raging red-faced echidna calling her names.

“It was a sweet summer, I’ll always think of you.” she blew a kiss to the Knuckles in this dimension, who looked relatively sad at her departure.

“Parting… is such sweet sorrow. I barely knew her, and yet,” Poetically, Knuckles bent down and picked up her calling card. “She remembered my birthday.” he thought the card was a birthday gift since he couldn’t read.

He was on the verge of tears as everyone and their mombot looked to each other with a ruffled brow to show their confusion on the matter.

Sonic stepped forward, lifting a finger up- “Uhh… Knuckles-” He was cut off by Amy shaking her head, placing her arm out.

“It was his first love, let him believe what he will.”

Tails scratched his head, “Wait,… is it really his birthday?”

The gang freaked out and hurriedly made plans for him, all the while… he sat and watched the sunset, holding her calling card in his large, fingered hand.

“Did I mention he had FINGERS? Ahhh-haha! Why couldn’t I have just stayed a week longer!?” Rouge fawned to her G.U.N reporting manager, who took a deep breath in and an elongated breath out. “Miss Rouge, PLEASE. For the love of this planet… what did you learn about the other world?”

“I’m telling you, Topaz. it was GORGEOUS.”

[frivolity2015]

A Look Back at 24, the Men I dated, What I Learned, and Why 25 was a Great Year

I have been meaning to write an entry about what a mess 24 was, how 25 was amazing, and how I hope being 26 this year will enable more growth and be filled with more awesomeness. 

A Heart that Loves

I entered the dating game somewhat late in life. I never dated while I was in high school or college, or even pursued dating in general.  My first relationship didn’t occur until I was at the ripe old age of 23 and so it goes without saying that I was pretty naive when I entered into it.  I was so naive that I expected it to be like a teen romance movie and it didn’t take long before I realized real life is nothing like that.

My first relationship was with Antonio, a classmate and (former) friend from medical school. I had only known him for a few months but we were fast friends and became attached at the hip.  When I returned to St. Kitts for my 4th semester, the landscape changed since two of my closest friends were gone and I began to invest more and in my friendship with him.  Although I wasn’t initially attracted to him, there was this weird phenomenon where the more I saw him, the more attractive he became.  One day in March, halfway through the semester, Antonio led me away from a party to talk and within seconds, we fumbled through a confession that we had mutual feelings for one another. 

Things were a bit confusing at first because it was my first time developing genuine feelings for a person, and even more confusing was that that person was a guy. Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long before I felt comfortable telling him how cute I thought he was and how I enjoyed holding his hand under our backpacks while we road the bus home to conceal our intimacy.  We even went to our Med 4 Banquet together and coordinated our outfits. That night, I quietly snook out of my apartment to sleep at his place for the first time.  I’ll never forget how he looked as he stood over the balcony waiting for me and how he led me to his bed.  I felt my head fit perfectly on his neck as we lay there, and so with almost no hesitation, I asked if I could kiss him. He said “yes”, and that was my first kiss. I was in relationship bliss. St. Kitts really was a paradise.

A Heart’s a Heavy Burden

Going to Portland, Maine, was like realizing that the clock had struck past midnight; the fairy tale was over. 

I don’t want to get into specifics but it was like the Antonio I knew on the island was replaced but an unrecognizable person. The person who made me feel special only made me feel unwanted. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: there is absolutely no worse feeling than having to convince yourself that someone loves you.  

Our breakup occurred almost intermittently over the course of the summer. At first he said he needed a break with very defined boundaries that became less strict.  I would occasionally see glimmers of the old Antonio but it wasn’t enough.  Because I was so in love with him, I sacrificed so much of myself hoping to be loved by him in return.  I over enthusiastically jumped at the chance to visit him in California when he invited me to stay with him and his family. I even thought my arrival there signified that we were a couple again since he planned a photoshoot for us at his favorite beach spot.

However, he put his walls back up as soon as I returned to NJ.  He became dismissive and distant again. And then, days after my 24th birthday, he broke up with me through a Facebook message, that I never really recovered from. 

When rejected by the person you love most, when betrayed by the person closest to you—that’s when self-abasement begins. You hide in a space that’s all your own, and close your heart.

I’m not a fan of who I became after my first relationship.  My self esteem was shot. I was upset. I was angry. I had no one to talk to because I wasn’t out yet. 

I like to celebrate my birthday surrounded by love because I really believe that it only invites more love into your year.  Unfortunately, I felt unloved heading into my 24th year.  Looking back, what I regret the most is how bitter I let myself become. No one likes that taste in their mouth but I couldn’t get rid of it. 

It didn’t help that the Jantonio saga took up the majority of the year. I kept going back and forth trying to be his friend and trying to reconcile with him;  I kept looking for a closure that didn’t exist.  I kept holding onto the hope of us getting back together and that he would wake up and realize how much he loved me. That never happened.

Ultimately, I ended up self sabotaging myself in August 2013, nearly a year after our break up.  After a well meaning g chat conversation that he initiated, our friendship was officially over. I even removed him from every social media account. I felt horrible about losing a friend and experiencing something where there couldn't be any absolution but I knew it was what I needed to do. The out of sight and out of mind method worked until a friend told me that he was heading to Chicago. I felt so guilty about the way things ended that I reached out to him and asked to meet up with him but he never replied. I can’t even begin to describe how it felt knowing he was in the same city as me for the first time in over a year and that I couldn’t see him, or reconcile.

Sex in the Windy City

I have to backtrack a little bit here because my saga with Antonio overlapped with my misadventures in Chicago. I moved to Chicago in June 2013 and I was determined to find love, enter a relationship, and finally move on! I decided to try online dating since my friend, Caryn, was so successful on it (and now she’s getting married to someone she met on OKC!).

Online dating is definitely a really interesting experience.  I’m glad I did it but I would never want to go through the world of online dating ever again. Online dating felt like I was playing some online game instead of finding a match. It makes you feel shallow, it can boost your confidence, and genuinely creep you out.

I’d like to call the next part of this the “What I Learned” section, full of anecdotes, funny stories, and what I really learned from each guy.

JR was one of the first people that I messaged on OKC. He had a really well thought out profile and he was really good looking. He was a graphic designer, he was Filipino, and he was also a recent transplant to Chicago so I thought we had a lot in common. He was also the first person I asked to meet up so I was beyond thrilled when he said he wanted to hang out. His initial idea of a hang out was to go see a movie (LAME!) but we ended up deciding we would just go out to eat.  Since we were both new to the city, we didn’t really know where to go but he lived downtown and figured there would be many options. I drove up to his place to meet him and he made me wait over an hour for him because he was busy getting a haircut (and later I saw that he was taking selfies of himself to later put up on his profile; how uncool!). That should have been the first sign that we were incompatible but I waited for him anyway. He didn’t even apologize for being late! Even thinking about how rude he was gets me annoyed.  Dinner was okay and the conversation was actually pretty decent. In the end, he paid for our meal as a means to apologize for making me wait and so I agreed to meet up with him again. I wish that I was strong enough to decline because he ended up being a waste of time.  Looking back, I should have seen the signs! He used the same cologne as Antonio and he was also from CA. If he was anything like Antonio, I should have seen that he was trouble. 

For our second meet up, we decided to be tourists and go see all the city guide spots. Again, he was late and didn’t even apologize for making me wait for him at his place. He didn’t even help me navigate around the city. Also, he was REALLY boring. Although I found him somewhat eager to talk about himself, he had absolutely no interest in actually making conversation.  By the time we made it to dinner, I was miserably bored. He kept talking about how his friends were inviting him to go out that night but he never invited me to join him. I felt dissed and decided it was time to go and he acted surprised when I wanted to leave early.

I learned from JR that I didn’t want to date a guy that was way too into himself. He bragged about how much money he makes, how he was too good for an audi, and how essential he was to his company. He was a true narcissist. If you check out his IG account, it’s full of selfies and his purchases. Yuck. I’ve bumped into him twice since those events. Once at a mall where I was trying to avoid him but he followed me into a store and waited for me to notice him and acted like he wasn’t following me. The second time was after matching. I went out to boystown to celebrate and since I knew I couldn’t avoid bumping into him, I went up to greet him. His first instinct was to mention how Antonio had visited him.  Yup! It turns out that Antonio and him had a history. Antonio flew all the way out here to visit him right after out heated break up in August 2012.

Kekoa was one on the reasons why I was excited to move to Chicago. Don’t judge me here, but I actually screened all the cities where I could do my clerkship for which had the most attractive guys. Kekoa's profile was one of the first ones listed in Chicago, and I had an instant crush on him. I wanted to meet him, but I decided I needed to practice talking to other guys online first to not blow my chance with him. His profile included a story about playing a game of Taboo that was so wild that the police were called due to a noise complaint. Luckily I had plenty of experience playing Taboo in medical school because it was one of the only games we had on the island (thanks, Nick’s mom!) and I was able to send a message with more substance than “Hey, what’s up?”. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when he messaged me back and agreed to meet up. Our first “meet up”, as he likes to call it, started at a cocktail lounge, where I got carded and became self conscious since he told the bartender that I looked like a baby. Luckily, our dinner went well, and conversation felt seamless; I even had to excuse myself to put more money into my parking meter. I thought it was a perfect date, but there was some radio silence afterward that made me think otherwise.

Luckily, I’ve learned that persistence is key. Since he wasn’t getting back to me about another date, I made made a trip up to his campus to make it too convenient to see me. I was told that a second date is the true test to see if it’s worth pursuing the person, and this date did just that. I ended up staying the night at his place, and when I awoke the next day, I was worried that I’d have a Bridesmaids moment and be kicked out, but he invited me to get breakfast and taught me how to parallel park instead. 

I saw Kekoa once more afterward, and then didn’t hear from him again. I remember reciting a prayer before sending him my third text in a row without a response asking God to inspire him to message me back. I was at work when I received a text from him basically saying that right now wasn’t the right time for him to be in a relationship. Although I accepted his answer, I timidly asked him to message me when he got back if he wanted to reconnect, but I knew that was a long shot and his track record only didn’t make me believe otherwise.

Juan was a nice Mexican guy that I met on OKC.  We met up at the mall near me, which was really sweet since he was the first person that didn’t have me drive out to them instead. The first date went well and afterward, he told me he had a good feeling about us and wanted to see where things could go. I was curious too, so I eagerly agreed to another date. For our second date, he picked me up to take me to his favorite spots, which included a late night restaurant in Chinatown and Hollywood Ave Beach. I really appreciated that he wanted to give me insight into his world and that he wanted to share it with me. In the end, I didn’t really have any romantic feelings for him; I didn’t even feel inclined to kiss him or invite him up to my room after second date. I kind of loss interest since I had decided that I wanted to fully focus on Kekoa. I knew it wasn’t going anywhere when he asked if he could call me and I was completely uninterested in the conversation.

I learned that it’s important to be with someone who has more in common with you. Although Juan was nice, his idea of fun was watching drag shows and he worked as a store manager for Party City, so it made it hard for me to relate to him or empathize with him if he had a busy work day.

I bumped into him almost a year later at Scarlet and we both excitedly introduced each other to our boyfriends. I could tell that we were both mutually happy for each other and I really am happy that he’s able to make someone else happy. 

Genesis was the first person I reached out to after Kekoa up and left me. I was so desperate to meet someone who could fill the void I felt that I met up with him after a short exchange of messages. I feel horribly shallow about this, but I could tell that I was not attracted to him from the moment I saw him. That non-attraction definitely put a damper on the rest of the date even though he was a genuinely nice guy. For once, I felt like he was trying to drive the conversation more than I was. To be honest he could probably tell that I wasn’t invested.

I learned that I was becoming desperate and that desperation is not pretty. Feeling desperate was even worse than being alone.

Ramil was a Filipino guy almost 10 years older than me. I wasn’t too excited to meet up with him because nothing in our conversations pulled me toward him. Regardless, I was so desperate to meet someone that I said I agreed to meeting up with him. There really isn’t much of a story here but I can’t help but laugh a little when I think back to how taken aback I was when he first opened his mouth and spoke to me. I was so surprised by how (Micky) mousey his voice sounded that I had to have him repeat his hello. Our lunch date was boring and I couldn’t even pretend to be interested.

I learned that I am just as shallow as every other guy out there. I couldn’t get passed the sound of his voice and judged him way too harshly.

Alan(?) was someone I met when I downloaded Grindr in an act of absolute desperation. Clearly, the theme of August was “desperation”. I was pretty optimistic about online dating and didn’t think it would take too long to match with someone. I felt pretty successful with the attention I was receiving from people on OKC and even more lucky when I had found a match in Kekoa up until he vaguely ended things. So I went on a date with someone from Grindr, a hook-up app, who didn’t have a very clear profile picture and it didn’t show his whole face. Big mistake. He must have used an old photo because it didn’t look too much like him. In addition, he was kind of bitchy and I wasn’t into his vibe at all. Obviously, he didn’t make much of an impression on me since I can’t even remember his name.

I learned to never go on a date with someone with just one profile picture. It’s almost a giveaway sign that they’re not going to look like it in person.

Bryan was someone who I was intimidated by on OKC. His profile was highlighted in red because it meant that he didn’t respond often to people’s messages. I figured he could be selective because he must have had a lot of interest thanks to the many shirtless photos he posted (in addition some really good answers in his profile). Surprisingly, he messaged me back! It was an instant ego boost that someone that OKC had labelled “very  selective” responded to me. 

I picked him up from his work and was happy to see that he looked like his profile picture but I felt tricked as soon as he opened his mouth because it turned out he was a Vietnamese fob with a very strong accent. So in that instant, I became a self hating Asian. Horrible. 

Our first date was pretty horrible too. He didn’t know where to go around his work so we ended up at the mall’s food court. The silence was awkward and palpable. I felt like he was just watching me eat and it was like pulling teeth to get him to talk. He finally opened up when we made it to a Starbucks. He was actually pretty interesting even though he was obviously shy. He was born and raised in Vietnam, moved to Singapore for school, continued education in Texas and then moved to Chicagoland because of a job that needed someone who was multilingual. 

After a quiet date, he messaged me asking if I would be willing to go on another date with him. I agreed as long as he promised to not be less shy the second time around.

I will use this opportunity to take a break, recap, and try to tie in all these loose ends together

The darkest days in my story of heartbreak culminated during Labor Day Weekend. Kekoa had just ended things with me. I went on several “fail dates” that left me feeling empty, desperate, and ashamed. Needless to say, my self esteem was at all time low, and that’s a considerable thing to say since I had always been very secure in who I am. Things got worse when I received news that Antonio was coming to town. I still remember being at work and feeling my heart race to the point of exhaustion. I was shocked to hear he was coming here. Janet Jackson’s “Again” started magically playing in the background of that moment. I thought I had come to peace that he was no longer in my life since I had a few weeks to heal but I reached out to him trying to make peace. He never replied and I had to accept that I wasn’t going to see him although it left me devastated. This was the same weekend that Bryan asked me out and I was glad to have a distraction.

Bryan brought me to Boystown, the gay neighborhood in Chicago that I had never been to but wish I had discovered earlier. We grabbed dinner and then headed out dancing. I was actually having fun! I forgot about being down and out and just moved my body to the beat of the music. We went to another bar and he brought me to the third floor in a secluded area and attempted to kiss me. I cock blocked him and said, “maybe we should get a drink first.” However, he was really persistent. He made his second attempt at a kiss and I gave in. He was not a good kisser. I felt like he pursed his lips so tightly together that I could feel every wrinkle and my tongue had nowhere to go. Things got a little bit creepy when he tried to feel up my shirt. He said, “I can tell you have a nice body.” Honestly, he had a nice one too. Fully chiseled pecs and a tight 6 pack. He stood taller than me at 5′ 10″. We continued making out until he pulled back and said “I could fuck you.”

That should have been my sign to run away, but I didn’t. I agreed. I kept thinking about how Antonio was so displeased with me for never going all the way with him. I was at my lowest point and genuinely believed that maybe it was time to give up on losing my virginity to someone who I loved and loved me in return. I loved Antonio but knew that it was one sided, which is why I never let things go that far. After experiencing so much heartache and going on so many fail dates, I started to believe that I was meant to be alone for the rest of my life. I am not proud of that night and I get upset with myself when I think about all the opportunities I had to walk away from it all.

I felt gross the next day. I couldn’t even look at him without feeling sick. But there he was in front of me, representing all the things I had desired the whole summer--a boyfriend, a relationship, someone that was into me--and suddenly, I didn’t want it, any of it, anymore. That was the last time I saw Bryan.

I learned that no act of desperation should make you do something out of character.

When I was 13, a priest said that the purpose of saving sex for marriage was because we give up half of ourselves when we become one with someone in intercourse. If you go around having sex with multiple partners, you’ll only be able to give a small fraction of yourself to your spouse. If you wait until marriage, you can give all of yourself to the person you make a vow before God with. As soon as I heard that, I promised myself I would wait. I even prided myself in my determination. Yet at 24, at my lowest, I gave that all up and gave a part of myself to someone I didn’t even know.

When you are down to nothing, God is up to something.

I drove home feeling disgusted with myself, with my actions, what I gave up and what I had let myself become. I turned into a senseless person desperate for love. I became someone who’s self esteem was suddenly rooted in whether or not I was in a relationship. Believe me when I saw that prior to Antonio, I had never desired having a significant other because I never saw the point in having one. I was fully content in myself and the relationships I had with my family and friends.

I got home and declared to the heavens above that I was done with dating. I was done with being upset. I uninvited myself from my own pity party. I was focused on rebuilding myself and allowing God to heal me and make me whole again. “Shake it out” by Florence and the Machine became my anthem and every time I sang the chorus, I felt like I was gaining myself back.

It felt like the moment I that I was finally at peace with myself and my situation, the universe threw a few unexpected and surprising pieces into place and I accepted them with open arms.

After waiting what felt like an eternity, I finally sent Kekoa another text message. I knew that Septemeber 6 was his birthday, so as early as August, I planned on messaging him just to greet him. Unfortunately, OKC lied to me and tricked me into believing that his birthday was a day early. PRAISE THE HEAVENS ABOVE because Kekoa actually messaged me back! I wanted to be chatty but I had to control myself and keep it short, simple, and make every attempt to not sound like a stage 5 clinger. My plan worked because he messaged me several days later, the day before my birthday, asking when my birthday was.

When it rains, it pours.

Manny was someone I met on OKC after my crazy Labor Day Weekend in hopes of just making a friend. He didn’t live too far from the suburb I was in so we met up for bubble tea. He was actually REALLY good lucking, tall, and Latino. I was instantly attracted so I was disappointed when I learned that he suffered from Yellow Fever. I only hung out with him twice. My second hang out with him was at his place where we watched a Korean Drama (”Who Are You”). His room was covered in anime and K-POP posters. I was definitely taken aback by it but thought it was kind of endearing. However, I soon began to think he had an Asian fetish because he would send me photos of hot Asian guys on my phone and say “Happy Humpday!”. I never met up with him again but he was definitely one of the people that contributed to the upswing I was feeling as I turned 25. 

I learned to NEVER date a guy with Yellow Fever! It’s super flattering at first but then it gets creepy real fast.

Smith was someone I messaged on POF (yeah, yeah, another dating app). He was Laotian, blond, and was only 2 years younger than me. My only intention was to make a friend and stated that from the beginning. I was surprised he wanted to meet up since most of his messages to me online were one lined and I felt like he wasn’t interested in meeting me when he could be going on dates. He was really quiet the first time we met. We were supposed to watch a movie but then all 4 of his roommates came home unannounced. I was really nervous to be meeting all of these people all at once and I could tell that Smith hadn’t told them he was about to have company over.  I’m pretty sure he felt awkward introducing me to them when he had just met me moments ago. Regardless, I ended up having a pretty decent time watching “Insidious” with them.

Several days later, Smith invited me to his birthday dinner with his roommates and it was really fun. We went back to his place and he insisted we took shots for his birthday. We ended up not going out that night but he insisted that I slept over instead of driving home. I did. And it was so nice just sleeping next to someone and being held. It was purely innocent; we didn’t even share a kiss but I really appreciated that. I was leaving for home by the end of the week but he made me promise that we’d celebrate my birthday when I got back.

Everything changed when I turned 25.

One reason why my 25th birthday is so memorable for me is because my relatives from the Philippines were there to celebrate it with me for the first time! The other reason was that I felt like I had two prospects waiting for me in Chicago.

I started seeing Smith pretty regularly, but it was pretty casual, and I started wondering if we were just meant to be friends. That changed the night of his birthday party. A few of his friends I was meeting for the first time implied that they’d break my neck if I broke his heart, which definitely caught me off guard but gave me a bit of courage to be more flirtatious. When I tried ordering a drink for him at the bar, he placed his hand in front of mine to stop me from speaking, and I kissed his hand (I’m actually blushing as I type this). We went outside, made out, and I ended up staying the night with him. 

I really, really liked being with Smith. He was young and fun, and more importantly, he made me feel young and fun. I loved going out dancing with him, fooling around with him, and just being around him. If I could talk to him now, I’d thank him for pulling me out of my rut and making me feel loved and special again. However, I knew it wasn’t meant to be. I honestly couldn’t see myself fitting into his world, no matter how fun he was or how sweet he was. It broke my heart to end things, but I learned that you shouldn’t be with someone if you can’t see how you would fit into their world. 

Kekoa, again!

I was seeing Kekoa around the same time I was seeing Smith. We made plans to celebrate each others birthdays in early October. I was so excited to see him, but I was actually really offended when he made fun of my outfit and I actually thought he was trying to really hard to impress me. At one point during dinner, I even thought about how this would definitely be the last time I’d see him. However, we ended up going out dancing and drinking and I ended up at his place. I’m embarrassed to say that I drunkenly basically confessed that I had a huge crush on him and thought that he was marriage material. YIKES! I woke up the next say saying “I should go”, and left in a rush. But surprisingly, Kekoa messaged me again the next day and asked when he’d see me again. 

Things got a little bit messy as I’d spend a Saturday with Smith and then have plans set for Sunday with Kekoa. But once I realized that I didn't fit into Smith’s world, it made it easy for me to end things with him to be with Kekoa. I formally made the decision to end things with Smith when Kekoa tried to nonchalantly call me “babe” and asked me to be exclusive (on November 1).

I wanted to start our relationship on an honest foot, so I told Kekoa that I was seeing someone the same time I was seeing him. Kekoa was hurt when he found out that our story wasn’t exactly how he perceived it, and I thought he’d never want to see me again based off of how he reacted. But the next day, he called me and asked to come over. He basically told me that he didn’t care about my past (cue “As Long as You Love Me” by the BSB) and that he loved me. He said it so easily and without hesitation. It warmed my soul in a way I can’t describe. It made me feel secure in us. 

Needless to say, the rest is history and we’re still together, and still very much in love. I entered a relationship where everything was an adventure, where communication was mandatory, where every day felt important, and everyday with him felt like home. 

What did I learn? I learned that:

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps, hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

Also important: I learned what I don’t want in a relationship.  My relationship with Antonio was toxic and I allowed myself to be belittled into an empty shell of a person.  I learned that it’s SO important to be with someone who values you, someone who loves you, and someone who won’t push you away or keep you at an arm’s length.  It’s important to be with someone whose whole being is one that you want to emulate. And somewhat oddly, and I’m learning this in pediatrics, it’s important to be with someone who you’d want your child to grow up to be like and that’s what I have with Kekoa.  If my offspring could be kind, intelligent, selfless, patient, adventurous, and have a healthy appetite, I know I would be bringing more good into this world. 

I didn’t mention this earlier, but Antonio actually reached out to me with this message prior to my birthday:

“Jan - I know this is out of the blue and I’m probably the last person you want to hear from. I just want to apologize for not responding to your texts when I was in Chicago. In all honestly, I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t know what to say because the last time we talked it seemed as if we weren’t going to talk/chat/see each other for a while. Things between us have been a little too emotionally heavy for me (and I’m sure for you too) and I really just wanted some space from that. I’m sorry for everything that has happened but despite all of that I still truly value your friendship even if we agreed to take a break from it for a while. I hope all is well with you and thank you for everything. Ps. Advance happy birthday”

I was tempted to respond and try to reconnect. But I knew I couldn’t. I know I couldn’t let someone so toxic reenter my life. And I’m proud of myself for severing that relationship with him and blocking him out of my mind and achieving peace.

I pretty much spent my whole 24th year being heartbroken, but that’s okay. I learned so much about myself in that year of self loathing and true desperation. I am a naturally optimistic, happy-go-lucky, and cheerful guy, so I am thankful that I was able to experience emotions I had never felt before. If anything, it makes better able to appreciate all of the happiness I have now and have an understanding of who I am at my worst and best.

I think what I learned is best said by my spirit animal, Dr. Christina Yang:

“Burke, Burke was…he took something from me.  Little pieces over time, so small I didn’t notice.  He wanted me to be something I wasn’t, and I made myself into what he wanted.  One day I was me, Christina Yang, and suddenly I was lying for him and jeopardizing my career and agreeing to be married and wearing a ring and being a bride until i was standing there in a wedding dress with no eyebrows and I wasn’t Christina Yang anymore.  And even then I would have married him.  I would have.  I…I lost myself for a long time, and now…that I’m finally me again…I can’t…I love you.  I love you more than I love Burke.  I love you, and that scares the crap out of me.  I let him take pieces of me.  And that will never happen again.”

[theshatteredrose]

The Treasure Seeker - Saga 1 (Etrian Odyssey 5 Fanfiction)

AN: This chapter turned out a little longer than expected, but I’m pleased with it nonetheless. I’m also pleased that I’ve managed to maintain my schedule. Hopefully with Christmas coming up, I’ll still be writing and posting~ Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter and do let me know if you like it~

Wattpad | AO3 | FFNet

Chapter 5:

The Crescentia was a hell of a lot bigger than Drayce had anticipated. There were more rooms on the first floor he didn’t know about and there appeared to be at least fifteen, yes fifteen bedrooms on the second floor.

So, yes, this place could easily bed thirty people at once. A hell of a lot more if you had to. Hell, if sleeping on the floor was an option, the seating room alone could easily sleep thirty people in futons.

This place was massive.

Why was it so big? Ah, who cares!

“This is like a prelude to the labyrinth,” Blayke complained as he followed Drayce around as he continued his inspection of the first floor. “What could possibly be on the third floor? Wait, does this place have a basement and an attic, too?”

Such good questions!

“This is so awesome,” Drayce said almost giddily. “Can you imagine the treasures that are possibly hidden in here? I bet Dad and Grandpa found a shit-tonne of stuff themselves. Oh man, I really need to catalogue this place or something.”

“After you finish the first mission,” Blayke grumpily chimed in.

“Yes yes, no need to remind me every five seconds, Blakie.”

“Stop calling me Blakie.”

“Stop being such a fusspot.”

Blayke glared at him as he huffed, though made no attempt to rebuke him. Instead he turned his attention to their next room to inspect and grasped the handle tightly. He twisted it and paused. His brow furrowed as he twisted the handle again before his uttered a noise of frustration.

“It’s locked,” he said.

Drayce shrugged as he reached into an inside pocket of his coat. “No problem. I’ll just pick the lock.”

“Do you really carry your lock-picking kit with you everywhere?” Blayke asked with a tone that was a mixture of incredulous and exasperation.

“Naturally,” Drayce replied as he pulled out a wallet size leather kit and with a flick of his wrist, opened it and pulled out a thin pin. “What’s the point of coming across a locked chest if you can’t open it?”

Blayke simply snorted in response and chose to say nothing more. Instead he leaned against the wall next to the door and folded his arms, waiting to watch Drayce go to work. Drayce didn’t find that at all unusual. Despite his grumpiness, he did find the thought of treasure hunting interesting.

Drayce will get him as obsessed with the idea one day.

Crouching down, Drayce balanced the lock picking kit on his knee as he inspected the lock before him. He could see clear through to the other side, indicating that there wasn’t anything jamming it nor was there a key in the other side. Now all he needed to do was to figure how to best move the tumblers to open the door.

Should only take a few seconds.

With a bit of twisting and pulling, poking and prodding, Drayce finally heard that satisfying ‘click’ of the tumblers falling into place and the door creaking.

“See? Piece of cake,” Drayce said in triumph as he quickly put away his lock-picking tools and placed them into the pocket of his jacket. With them hidden safely where they belong, he pushed himself to his feet and pushed the door open further to allow for him and Blayke to enter the room.

The room was dark as there appeared to be thick curtains covering the windows. There was also a light musty smell, probably due from being locked up and unused for so long.

And as Drayce looked around the room, he soon realised what it was used for. The bed in the corner, the strange mechanical equipment, the shelves of bottles. Despite it being locked up for a few years at least, there was still a distinct disinfectant smell in the air.

It was a clinic.

Yeah, an actual clinic.

He couldn’t help but wonder why such an important room was locked up.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting this,” Drayce said as walked over to a cabinet and looked through the glass where rows of marked medica bottles could be seen. “Though having a clinic like room at the guildhouse would make sense.”

“Only if you know how to use it,” Blayke added. “I wonder how old these bottles are, though. And if they’re safe to use.”

“Yeah, good point,” Drayce said as he reasoned with himself not to touch anything.

Yeah, not wanting to physically lay his hands on something was difficult for someone like him, but honestly, he really didn’t want to mess around with any of this medical stuff. He may not know much about the medicine and disinfectant chemicals, but better safe than sorry.

“I wonder if I could get Fiorello to check this place out later,” Drayce mused. “If these are dangerous to our health, a professional like him would be better equipped to deal with it, right?”

“Why don’t you ask him to join the guild?” Blayke unexpectedly asked him.

“Nah,” Drayce replied as he moved away from the cabinet and carefully made his way out of the room so not to disturb anything. “He has a sore spot in regards to explorers. Understandable from what I’ve learned. I mean, if he wants to join, that’s his choice, but I’m not going to force him.”

Blayke followed him out and closed the door behind him. “Ok, so the first floor has a seating area, a dining room, a kitchen, a clinic, and two other seemingly empty, miscellaneous rooms. And the second floor appears to be the sleeping quarters with three bathrooms. What is left that would be on the third floor?”

Drayce held his chin in thought. “Knowing Grandpa, there’s possibly a library, drawing room, treasure room, weapon storage room, and a something akin to a games room for just hanging out. Oh, and probably a bar because he did like the occasional drink.”

Blayke stared at him for a moment before he made an exasperated expression and ran his hand over his face. “This is ridiculous,” he said. “This guildhouse is massive. It has all the facilities that our entire village back home did! What are we going to do with all this space?”

Now, Blayke was exaggerating a little. The guildhouse wasn’t as big as their village. Maybe half the size? From what he had seen so far at least.

Drayce shrugged carelessly. “To be fair, the third floor and possible attic is probably filled with useless trinkets and doodads.”

That, for some reason, didn’t thrill Blayke all that much. “Brilliant,” he muttered under his breath.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Drayce said as he slapped Blayke on the back in an effort to knock him out of his grumpy mood. “Once we start bringing in guildmates, we’ll be happy to have all this space. At least we won’t get in each other’s way.”

“We could lose guildmates in here! Disappear to be never seen again!”

Drayce laughed. “Come on, it’s not that bad. Better than being lost to the labyrinth, yeah?”

Now, what should he do next?

As interested as he was to explore the third floor and all the mysterious rooms, he wanted to check in on Fiorello to see if their unnamed patient had awakened at all. He was pretty sure he had improved somewhat, enough not to cause any alarm, but hopefully he would awaken soon.

“Hey, I’m just going to check in on Fiorello and the kid,” Drayce said as he made his way over to the stairs. “If you find anything else interesting, let me know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Blayke responded idly as he shooed him away.

With a nod of acknowledge, Drayce turned on his heel and headed upstairs. As he climbed the stairs, he found his thoughts unwittingly drifting to that chance encounter in the street that led him to Fiorello’s door.

Zohar, the necromancer, had been a peculiar man, but nice and harmless all the same. He wondered if he lived with Fiorello and if they were friends or merely acquaintances. Fiorello obviously wasn’t a part of a guild, so could he assume the same of Zohar? If not, why not?

He definitely piqued his curiosity.

As he reached the top step Drayce pulled himself out of his thoughts and quickly made his way to the closest room, the one with the door slightly ajar. He knocked on it once lightly before he pushed it open and stepped into the room.

Fiorello was sat in a chair at the foot of the bed, seemingly reading to pass the time while the white wolf that was the loyal companion to the unnamed Therian sat by his bed, his head resting on the bed near the young man’s arm. The wolf barely acknowledged Drayce’s presence while Fiorello lifted his head to look at him.

“Hey, just checking up on the patient,” Drayce said as he moved further into the room to pause near the bed.

He took a moment to study the young patient and noted with relief that he didn’t appear as red or sweaty as previous. Whatever medicine Fiorello had concocted for him seemed to have worked wonders. His breathing even seemed easier.

Good.

“He should actually be waking up soon,” Fiorello said as he closed his book. “He responded quickly to the medicine. However the dehydration and malnutrition can’t be as cured as easily.”

Drayce had figured as much.

“Um, hey?” Drayce said as he turned his full attention to Fiorello. “Do you mind if I ask you a question about Zohar? He seems protective of you.”

Fiorello rolled his eyes as he set his book aside. Although that action is usually accompanied by an expression of exasperation, he had a look of fondness on his face. “He feels that he owes me.”

Drayce blinked. “Owe?”

“A situation similar to this, honestly,” Fiorello replied as he leaned back into his chair. “I found him on the outskirts of town, sick injured and barely alive. I managed to talk a guard into dragging him to my place. He had…quite a few injuries. Honestly, I wasn’t sure he would make it. To say he was in bad shape would be an understatement.”

Drayce didn’t know how to respond to that. The knot of sympathy and surprising worry in his stomach made it difficult to think of anything worthwhile in response. All those scars he saw…were they the result of his near death? They were so…bad. Deep. He…

“He had a strong will,” Fiorello continued as a wry smile appeared on his lips. “He was alone so and no one came for him, so I was kinda stuck with him.”

…No one came for him? That was…unfair. So unfair.

“I…I see,” Drayce muttered. “To be honest, I don’t know what to say. I had no idea. But…he’s all right now, right?”

Fiorello gave him a peculiar look. “As all right as a necromancer can be.”

Before Drayce could ask him what he meant by that a soft groan of disorientation and discomfort was heard from the direction of the bed. Immediately Drayce snapped his attention in their patient’s direction, noting that the wolf, too, had sat up straight, full attention to the one lying on the bed.

Drayce made his way closer to the bed, but not too close so that he would appear intimidating or menacing in anyway. He waited patiently, but quietly as the purple and blue haired Therian slowly pulled himself out of his post sleep haze.

He rolled his head to the side and furrowed his brow. “Nashoba,” he croaked out as he lifted his hand toward the softly whimpering wolf. “Where-?”

His eyes then suddenly widened upon realising that he was in a room and bed he obviously didn’t recognised. Despite it being bad for his health, he sat up straight and with wide, panicking eyes looked around the room.

“Hey, stop moving,” Fiorello said in a scolding tone. “You’re going to make yourself faint again.”

The kid abruptly stopped moving, only snapping his head in Fiorello’s direction. His mouth dropped open in surprise and he seemed unable to form any words. Drayce immediately took pity on him and was about to explain to him what had happened and that he was safe, but was cut off by Fiorello.

“When was the last time you ate or drank?” Fiorello asked him in a manner that was honestly close to that of a parent figure; scolding with subtle concern. “How about the last time you slept comfortably? How you could let yourself get this sick is beyond me.”

The kid snapped his mouth shut and seemed to shrink back into the pillows of the bed, his ears folding back meekly. Fiorello, however, wasn’t finished.

“You’re lucky that this guy was the one to find you,” Fiorello said as he smacked Drayce’s leg with the back of his hand, never taking his gaze off of the young rover. “You owe him one hell of a thanks, kiddo. Anyone else would have dumped you at the inn and to that scatterbrained inn-keeper, no offense to her family. If they bothered with you at all.”

Ok, the kid looked really meek. The poor thing. Really, Drayce felt sorry for him. He also made the mental note not to piss off the dedicated botanist. At all.

“Honestly, you need a minder,” Fiorello finished with a huff as he folded his arms across his chest. “Kids these days.”

The kid flushed deeply, and it wasn’t from the fever. “S-sorry…”

Drayce gave him a hopefully reassuring smile. “Really, it’s fine. You haven’t been a bother. My guildhouse has plenty of room. What’s your name? My name is Drayce and the dedicated healer here is Fiorello.”

“I, ah, m-my name is Faelen,” he replied as he pinched the hem of the bedsheet between his finger and thumb in a fidgeting manner as he indicated to the white wolf with his other hand. “And this is Nashoba.”

“Well, Faelen,” Drayce said as he moved closer and sat himself down onto a chair that was close to the bed. “Despite the circumstances, it’s nice to meet you. Your wolf companion hasn’t left your side for even a second.”

Faelen nodded his head as he reached out with a hand and idly ran his fingers through white wolf’s fur. “Nashoba is normally very protective of me,” he said as he turned his gaze to Drayce to look at him curiously. “I’m…a little surprised that he let you get close.”

Drayce gave him a light shrug. “Nashoba must have known that I meant no harm. Which was lucky for me because, honestly, even if he didn’t like, I couldn’t have left you there.”

With one hand still stroking Nashoba’s coat, Faelen lifted his other hand to touch his forehead and he furrowed his brow in thought. “I fainted?”

“Right in front of me,” Drayce replied.

“I don’t remember,” Faelen muttered, to which earned him a scoff from Fiorello.

“You never do, do you?”

“I’m really sorry,” Faelen said as he dropped his hand from his forehead and turned to look at Drayce, his cheeks flushed and his lips twisted into a cute but apologetic pout. “I didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble. I’m even taking up room. I’m sorry.”

Drayce held up his hand, somewhat concerned by how apologetic the young rover truly seemed to be. He wasn’t just apologizing for causing trouble (which, honestly, he wasn’t) but because he saw himself as a burden. Drayce wasn’t entirely sure if his assumption was right, but it felt right to him.

“Easy now,” he said. “As I said, it’s fine. My guildhouse has plenty of room. I mean, plenty of room.”

From what he had seen so far and with still so much left to explore of his own guildhouse, to say he had plenty of room was really an understatement.

“But you don’t know me,” Faelen murmured with an innocently confused expression.

Drayce had to bite back a sigh. He wasn’t going to go into that again. “Where I come from, helping others is completely normal. I may be new to Iorys, but I’m not going to stop being reasonable.”

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeesh. Was helping others without reward or gain really that much of a confusion and troubling concept to understand?

Faelen seemed to perk up a little for some reason. “You’re new here, too?” he asked with a slight sense of excitement in his voice. “So are we. We’ve been here a few days, but…”

Faelen then suddenly looked downcast and he dropped his gaze to his hand on his lap. Immediately, Drayce felt a sense of concern bubble in his chest.

“Did something happen?” he asked as he furrowed his brow.

“No one wanted to take us into their guilds,” Faelen replied with a defeated sigh as his ears drooped slightly. “They wouldn’t say why, just no. They wouldn’t even give us a chance.”

Drayce really couldn’t understand why.

“How old are you, kiddo?” Fiorello suddenly asked.

“I’m fifteen,” Faelen answered.

Fiorello hummed as he held his chin in thought. “Hm, young, but I’ve seen younger. Maybe these guilds you approached were simply assholes? There’s honestly a few of them around.”

Surprisingly, Drayce felt a surge of protectiveness. The reason why they didn’t take Faelen into their guilds there and then was probably because he wasn’t what they were looking for at that very moment. Or their previous rover teammate hadn’t panned out the way they wanted, so wanted another more ‘useful’ class or something.

Of course he could wrong, but that was just the gut feeling he got. And his dad always told him to trust his gut.

“Faelen,” Drayce said as he gained the young rover’s attention. “I want you to join my guild.”

Faelen’s ears perked up straight and he all but whirled around to face Drayce. His mouth dropped open ever so slightly as he stared at him, speechless. After a second or so he managed to gather himself and an expression of genuine relief mixed with cautiousness appeared on his face.

“Really?” he asked.

“You need to enter the labyrinth, right?” Drayce returned. “Whatever the reason, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, but you do need to enter otherwise you wouldn’t have been neglecting your health by trying to enter another guild.”

Faelen looked unjustifiably guilty. “Well, yeah…”

“So do I,” Drayce continued. “I only moved here yesterday and I haven’t had the chance to register with the guildmaster yet, but I will. I need to enter the labyrinth for special reasons, too.”

Drayce paused for a moment as he thought back to the reasons why he needed to enter. Surely the two before him could be trusted with that information. Especially if he wanted one of them to enter his guild as his guildmate. He honestly wanted Fiorello to become a member to because he would feel more at ease having a talented and dedicated healer on his side.

He could also see that both Fiorello and Faelen looked intrigued. So it should be ok. Blayke might bitch at him later, but he was just protective.

“I come from a long line of treasure hunters,” Drayce said as he waved a hand idly at their surroundings. “This place is known as the Crescentia, a guildhouse that has belonged in my family for generations. My grandfather gave me the deed a little while ago before launching himself into another adventure.”

Drayce paused for a moment to think about his wild and eccentric but still loving grandfather. He hoped that he was out having the adventure of his life. And was staying out of trouble.

Nah, knowing him, he was getting into all sorts of mischief. Well, that was fine, as long as he came to visit and to tell him everything that he had seen and experienced.

Drayce shook his head slightly to focus himself. “This place isn’t the reason why I’m here, though. I was summoned here by Prince Ramus himself for a special purpose.”

Faelen uttered a soft gasp of surprise while Fiorello made a slight hum of intrigue. “Prince Ramus, you say? Well, you must be here for an important purpose indeed.”

“He wishes for me to find information or the locations on the Lost Treasures of the Legendary War,” Drayce answered with a grin. “Of course, I will need to successfully complete the first mission that the Council Hall issues to all new explorers, hence the reason why I need some trusted guildmates to help me. Soooo, how about it?”

“I’ll help!” Faelen eagerly answered.

Drayce’s smile grew a little bigger and he leaned forward to ruffle Faelen’s hair between his ears, earning himself a tiny embarrassed squeak from him. Let he didn’t pull away and he didn’t seem to detest the display in anyway.

“Glad to hear it,” Drayce said. “Welcome to Guild Angelward then, Faelen. We just need a couple more members before we can enter the labyrinth, so take this time to get rid of your fever, ok?”

A precious smile appeared on Faelen’s lips and he looked both happy and intensely relieved. Honestly, seeing that expression made Drayce glad that he had agreed to join his guild and he hadn’t been taking in by someone else. Those guilds that turned him down didn’t deserve him.

“Well, I’ve made up my mind,” Fiorello suddenly stated, seemingly making up his mind about an important decision. “Guild Angelward, was it? Well, that’s a worthy guild for me, too.”

Drayce removed his hand from Faelen’s hair to look at the botanist with an expression of surprise on his face. “You want to join?”

Fiorello folded his arms across his chest and gave Drayce a truly cheeky smile. “After all this talk about treasure and royal missions, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

Honestly, that was a relief! He just needed to find one more willing explorer to join and he would have a recommended party of five. But…

“What about Zohar?”

“Hmm,” Fiorello made a sound that was similar to that of a chuckle. “He tends to do his own thing. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know I agreed to join a guild, even though the hypocrite refuses to join one himself.”

That…was a little disappointing. Would he really be ok with Fiorello joining? Maybe Drayce could talk him into joining as well, so that he…wouldn’t be alone. No one should be alone like that.

“Well, I’m glad you chose to join,” Drayce smiled brightly. “Now I can confidently tell you about the clinic we have here without feeling like I’m trying to bribe you into joining.”

Fiorello arched an eyebrow at him. “You have a private clinic? How big is this place?”

“Not a clue! But I’m going to have fun finding out!”

[pixelrender]

Every game on my wishlist, part 1

Let’s do this, I’ll share all games on all of my wishlists and write a short reasoning for every single one of them. My goal is to find out, whether I really want to own and play all of these games and how many I will be able to remove from them without much of a regret. There probably are more productive ways to spend free time, but let’s do this.

Itch.io

The list on itch.io is the messiest one of the three. I keep adding and removing and returning games a lot. Right now it features 6 times, 2 games I would like to write about here and 23 games I intended to buy and play at some point. I know I will only have time to play 3-4 or four big games in next 2 years and this list consist mostly of smaller and experimental projects. So, many of them have a good chance of getting played. Let's take a look at individual items now.

1. and 2. Far Future Tourism and Zones

I really want to play some of Sherlock Connor's walking sims. The world's he created are different, a personal expression through the medium of video games. It's not necessary to have two packs on the wishlist and I'll remove one for now.

3. Walden, a game

I guess I might read Thoreau's book first? He's a personality, who intrigues me a lot and a game based on his life could be an interesting time. Also, the game's nature looks stunning. It makes me want to go outside and I don't think I ought to play this instead. To keep my life simple, the game leaves the list.

4. Sagebrush

I'm excited about this one. It's a walking sim with little more direction, a disturbing theme and stunning lo-fi graphics. My cup of tea and an item of high priority on the list.

5. The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game

It just feel like a kind game, which can help you out, when you feel down. Together with Sagebrush, these are the two games I need to play asap.

6., 7. and 8. Sokpop Games

A small selection of Sokpop titles (kamer, moreas, huts). They're cheap, original and bite sized. The three selected titles focus more on ambiance than activity/action and that's why I'm interested in them. I don't see any reason in favour of removing them.

9. Voyageur

This game's very likely an underrated gem. It has trading and an interesting narrative but it's also way more stressful than survival space games. Just check out the trailer, this game stays.

10. EarthTongue

You care about an alien ecosystem mostly composed of fungi. That and a recommendation from Natalie Lawhead Is enough for the game to be kept on the list.

11. Of Gods and Men: Daybreak Empire

I want to keep track of this game, but there are so many other tactics games I'd rather play and I own many of them already. This has to go.

12. Dujanah

They say the story is incredible and the art direction reminds me of Catemites, but I'm tired of narrative games rn. Dujanah, you're off the list.

13. Seek Etyliv

This is the most minimalist grid based game I know. Everything about it intrigues me and that's why I need to play it.

14. Overland

I love polished low poly micro worlds of this tactics game. Also, it's a road trip. They say it's not as good as Into the Breach and I agree that they should have released it earlier. But I still want to play it. 15. Sunset

An ambient game about revolution and class, but I'm not all that interested in it and I probably wouldn't be able to run it on my potato of a machine. 16. Art Sqool

It rhymes with cool! Also, I think that it brings something new in video games, that this game indeed is art. I definitely need to play this soon.

17. The Stillness of the Wind

I appreciate a lot what is this game trying to accomplish with minimalist storytelling devices, but I can't get over the color palette.

18. Glass Staircase

I enjoy Puppet Combo. I admire their low poly approach to horror games. They def participated on the renaissance of the genre and ps one era graphics. This is probably their most polished game, but It would be possible to replace it with something else from their catalogue.

19. and 20.  Far Blade and Backlands

The two Bcubedlabs' games have stunning graphics, simple mechanics and almost no stories. Their visual value and low price tag are the two reasons both games are staying.

21. The Space Between

A year ago, even six months ago, I would have been thrilled about it. But that was before I lost interest in stories of any kind. Now I only want an impression or an emotion. I don't want to follow a story to feel sad. I feel sad right now. This might return on my list in 2021, when I change mind again.

22. Caves of Qud

This a complicated hardcore retro hardcore everything ultima inspired features and death heavy rpg I'd love to try out one day. But it will take a long time for me to get there. Also, I don't think it fits with the rest of the list.

23. Pagan: Autogeny

I added this few days ago and I'm interested in it because the gamepage promises a bag of candy. In this game you roam around an abandoned mmo and occasionally come across content. I especially like the promise of 100 acres. It clearly invites the photographer in me in. This might be the right game to make paintings of too.

Humble Bundle

My second wishlist is neatly organized. It contains 16 items in a 4x4 grid. Each row is supposed to have a theme and every purchase breaks it a little. I removed some 30 items from this wishlist in May, so there aren't any items I think should be removed. But talking about every one of them might change that. 1. Gris

I used to be a Devolver fanboy and I still like their making off documentaries, but the majority of their releases are too violent and too much of a crowd pleaser. I still enjoy a game of theirs from time to time and I received a super strong recommendation to play Gris, which isn't violent. It's melancholic. And I think I might add to the discourse, which has been uncritical so far.

2. Timespinner

I like myself a good metroidvania and despite the average reviews, Timespinner has that Mega Drive aesthetic I can't resist.

3. Chasm

They say it's only decent, but let's consider two other factors. Comfort food is 7 out of 10 and so are Comfort Games. Metroidvanias became that for me as a genre and Chasm looks like a delightful diversion from all these superb titles coming out.

4. Feudal Alloy

Another decent non-linear platformer with rpg elements on my list. This one earned its spot with the unique combination of theme and graphic style. It's just lovely looking.

5. and 6. Banner Sagas

I like tactics games and for some reason the story of Banner Saga still appeals to me. I want to play through it and see how much I will have to sacrifice and to which end. 

7. Expedition: Vikings

Expedition: Conquistador is one of the most underrated tactics games. It's because fights themselves are little less involved that the rest of game. You play with a flawed crew, which forces you into bad decisions all the time. I heard great thing about it in an episode of 3MA dedicated to Vikings.

8. Bad North: Jotunn Edition

Bad North is purty and it looks like delightful, smart little game made with minimalism on mind.

9. Titan Souls

To be totally honest, this one's on the list for graphics. They're great and I really appreciate selection of browns and greys, which are dominant, but without an effect of the game looking lifeless.

10. Samurai Gunn

I talked about this game many times. It looks pretty, it sounds amazing with the soundtrack from Doseone. The trailer is my favourite video game trailer of all times and the gameplay looks like fun if you have couch and friends, who enjoy games.

11. Nantucket

It's all about the theme of whale fishing and the swag this gem has. Mechanically it seems to be quite a journey too. I enjoyed FTL and this is building upon some of its mechanics, but makes it less about surviving and more about chaining successful hunts, methinks.

12. Dishonored

The last game from the row of giants and whales is the single first person modern AAA title I crave to play. Architecture and world-building in the series are exceptional and the whole design reminds me of Half-Life, the best shooter of all times.

13. Ultraworld

A weirdly available commercial piece from the creators of Secret Habitat, one of my favourite walking sims and my favourite digital gallery. Obviously, this can't be removed.

14. Koma

I wasn't interested in this atmospheric roaming game at first but the more I heard and saw, the more hooked I got. I don't care about the mystery being second tier. The atmosphere is dripping from screenshot and that's enough (btw can't run it, so it's of lower priority).

15. Californium

I like that it's a French game about America inspired by an American. I remember people talking about it quite fondly, when it was released. Californium is weird and colorful and filled with things to take a picture of.

16. Crying Suns

An upcoming game published by Humble Bundle. The hook is that it takes FTL and battles from games such a Homeworld and stories such as Dune and meshes it all together. If it turns out to be any good, this might be my next time submarine.

Steam

The third and last list has 22 items and more than a half of them are metroid inspired designs. Both released and upcoming.  I curated this list a lot in the past as some of my friends can see it and I felt little embarrassed, when it was reaching over 100 items. Truth to be said, I bought most of these items meanwhile. Now let's see what I can do about the rest.By the end of 2019 I would love this list to consist only from Symphony of the Night clones.

1. Knights and Bikes

I bragged about this one a lot recently. Just scroll down for more. It's number one, because it's the next game I'm buying (unless sales).

2. Legendary Gary

I really hope I will find funds and time and play what could be the Bojack Horseman of nerds. The trailer for this game deeply resonated with the situation I've been for several last years and I think the game can have a deep impact on me if the writings as good as its soundtrack.

3. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

Ok, one more time. Anodyne was unique and the sequel looks great in its low poly glory and promises to be bigger and better.

4. The Eternal Castle

The trailer for this one's stylish. I watched it at least five times in a row. But it doesn't tell a whole lot about the game and It's possible that the intro is the best part of the game. It probably will leave my list. 5. INFRA

Infra is s a puzzle game made in source (half-life engine, the best engine). Basically it all starts as a surveillance of pipes and ends up with you uncovering a conspiracy. What attracts me to it are beautiful environments and some well remembered textures and it should perform great on my rustworthy laptop. Also, I read great things about it on RPS before it became a completely different site.

6-22. Non-linear platformers

I won't be buying or playing any of these this or the next year. But 2022 should be a year for them to thrive. I will feature here some of them in a foreseeable future as some of them are pretty interesting and maybe make a comprehensive piece on castleoids for Christmas. The list goes: Axiom Verge, Timespinner, Chasm, Feudal Alloy, Visual Out, Redo!, Gato Roboto, Grizzland, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, Eagle Island, Minoria, Witch and 66 Mushrooms, Refoil, Nykra, Outbuddies, Biomass, Divinium

And that used to be my wishlist. I don’t know why I had such a sudden urge to make an article about it, but here it is and now I can delete some of these items without regret and always look back here if I need to find them.

[countrymadefoods]

History of Tea - Origin of Tea

“Though there are many literary writings about tea it's hard for historians to exactly pinpoint when tea was exactly discovered. A part of the problem is that the Chinese character for tea 'cha'（茶）is actually a relatively new character that only appeared in a Chinese dictionary around 350 A.D. Before the Chinese character 'tu' covered the meaning, describing infusions made from different plants including the tea plant. The appearance of a separate character is an indication that tea had become such a popular drink that needed its own character at that time.”

“After a decade of research, the Archeologists published in 2015 that these roots are about 6,000 years old. This confirmed it must have been the Hemudu culture, flourishing in 7,000 BC and 6000 BC, that started cultivating and brewing tea...By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD) tea was the national drink of China, spreading from court circles to be popular throughout Chinese society. It was during this time that the practice developed of sending finest teas to the emperor's court as a tribute to him...Though loose leaf tea existed, most tea drinkers where still buying and storing tea in compressed form.”

“Tea was a drink that would take on literary, artistic and even religious overtones. This can be traced to the literary work 'Cha Ching', The Classic of Tea, by Lu Yu. His work was the single most influential work on the cultural significance of tea. The Classic of Tea was strongly influenced by the Taoist faith was central to culture in eighth century China. Taoists believed that every detail of life was an act of living that was worthy of celebration, and that one should attempt to find beauty everywhere in the world. Thus the emphasis on tranquility and harmony in the preparation and drinking of tea was recognition of its part in the masterpiece of life.”

“Due to a lack of good transportation method tea was initially only traded locally starting with Tibet and neighbouring order regions of other countries. This shipped to border regions were also known as 'border sales tea (bian xiao cha)'. Later it were Turkish traders who arrived at the Mongol border in 473 A.D. to bargain for tea. 

Emperor Saga, who ruled Japan from 809 to 823, is known to be the first to be served tea. While Saga loved it, tea wasn't directly a hit in Japan. It too many more years until powdered tea was made during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In 1191, the Japanese monk Eisai brought powdered tea back to Japan, where it became integrated in Zen Buddhism. The Japanese called powdered tea 'Matcha' and it became immensely popular among the aristocrats. However, in 1618 Chinese ambassadors presented the Russian Czar Alexis with many treasure boxes of tea, which were refused as useless.”

“The discovery of black tea soon further spurred the growing demand farther abroad. It was the Portuguese who introduced tea Europe in the 16th century and controlled most European trade with India and the Far East (an area known then as the Indies). Jan Huyghen van Linschoten also copied and revealed Portuguese trade secrets including navigational routes. The revelation of such routes allowed the British and Dutch East India Company to break the 16th century monopoly enjoyed by the Portuguese.”

“The demand for tea flourished in the 17th century. On the 20th of March 1602, the Dutch reorganized its overseas trade by merging the 6 existing East India Companies into one called the VOC (or United East India Company), also referred to as the Dutch East India Company...The success of the VOC can partially be attributed by the fact that it was the first company ever in history to offer an IPO (initial public offering) of shares to the public, allowing them to raise a vast amount of capital and financial power to compete internationally with larger countries.

The Dutch were the first to ship tea from Japan and China to Europe at the beginning of the 17th century. While initial trade focused on gold, silk and porcelain, the significance of tea began in the beginning of the 18th century.With more competition from the British East India Company, the Dutch started to reorganize their trade routes. Instead of shipping via Batavia, they established a direct trade route to the Netherlands. This allowed them to stabilize the prices and provide more consistent quality. In the period from 1729 to 1794 tea became the lifeblood of trade with China. It made up about 70 percent of the total trade purchased from Canton, China.”

“In 1600 Queen Elizabeth I gave a royal charter to a new trading company, the East India Company, by which it was given a monopoly over all British trade with the Indies. The Company soon began competing with the Portuguese and Dutch and distributed tea all over the world. Initially The British East India Company was almost pushed out by the Dutch, but made a comeback when it became responsible for the government of much of the vast Indian sub-continent...the British East India Company successfully copied tea cultivation from the Chinese in India, which allowed them to offer tea at much lower prices.”

“Both the creation of a monopoly by Queen Elizabeth I and the success in India was crucial to the success of the British East India Company in the history of tea trade...In the past, all the tea in the world came from China. In the 1800′s, Britain controlled 1/5 of the worlds, but what they couldn't control was the price and quality of tea. In the mid 1800′s, a British group of businessmen started to create a tea producing region in a place that they did control: India. The Scottish botanist was sent to China, to bring the secrets of tea production and seeds to India.

The tea bag basically made 2 important contributions: To make a brewing tea more convenient;To reduce the time to clean up as one can simply throw away the bag. Most people believe that it was an American tea merchant named Thomas Sullivan, who shipped out samples of tea in silk pouches in 1908. Some of his customers misunderstood this, and soaked the tea together with the pouches in hot water. They found it so convenient that they asked Thomas for more.A few years later though, a couple named Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren filed a patent for a 'tea leaf holder'. Their invention used a mesh fabric that was stitched together into a bag that just fits enough tea for a single cup.”

(via History of Tea - Origin of Tea | Teasenz)

Empress of China Becomes First US Ship to Trade with China

“The Empress voyage was the brainchild of John Ledyard, who had sailed to the Pacific with British explorer Captain James Cook. He hoped to trade for furs in the Pacific Northwest and carry them to China. He found backers including Philadelphia merchant Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution...Ledyard backed out when the fur plan fell through, but Morris suggested ginseng as a valuable replacement cargo. The Chinese prized the root as a cure for all manner of ills. 

The Empress needed six months to make the 18,000-mile trip to Canton (modern Guangzhou) and four months to trade its cargo for tea and export porcelain. Returning home in five months, reaching New York in May 1785. Soon dozens of ships each year were plying the seas between the United States and China, helping build fortunes in New York and New England. The desire for speed in this trade gave birth in the 1830s to the magnificent clipper ships that were the fastest sailing ships ever built.”

(via Empress of China becomes first US ship to trade with China | OUPblog)

The Boatload of Ginseng That Launched the China Trade

“The Empress of China launched the China trade on Feb. 22, 1784, when she sailed out of New York Harbor loaded with ginseng, lead, Spanish silver coins and woolen cloth.  The Treaty of Paris had been signed, America and Britain were at peace and America was free for the first time to trade with China...Not only were Americans enamored of Chinese tea, silks and home goods, but traders didn't have too many other options. The British had cut off American trade with the West Indies, and European nations had set up daunting trade barriers. 

John Green, an Irishman from Philadelphia, was the Empress of China’s captain. Samuel Shaw, a 29-year-old Bostonian who had served as Gen. Henry Knox’s aide-de-camp, served as his senior business agent, or supercargo.”

“On Aug. 23, 1784, the ship sailed up the Pearl River in South China. The sailors aboard the ship were thrilled to see the Stars and Stripes unfurled for the first time in that part of the world. The French, the Danes, the Dutch and the British all greeted them politely. But the Chinese restricted them to a section of Canton where goods were exchanged in large factories, or hongs, their ships moored nearby.

The Chinese didn't know what to make of the Americans. They called them the ‘New People.’ (Later they would call them the ‘Flowery-Flag Devils' because the stars on the flag looked to the Chinese like flowers.) Shaw showed them a map of the United States and explained the size and possibilities of the new country. The Chinese, he wrote, ‘were not a little pleased at the prospect of so considerable a market for the productions of their own empire.’ “

“The Chinese had less interest in buying foreign goods than in selling their own. They did, however, prize ginseng, used as a curative, energy booster and aphrodisiac. Ginseng grew in only a few places: eastern Asia and parts of North America, including Canada, the mountains of New England, New York and Appalachia.”

“It took three months to scour the eastern United States for nearly 30 tons of ginseng to ship aboard the Empress of China. It was the largest shipment ever to arrive in Canton. Unfortunately for the Americans, the Europeans had also brought large amounts of the root. The price plummeted.”

“The Empress of China left Canton on Dec. 28, 1784 and arrived in New York Harbor on May 11, 1785. She carried 800 chests of tea, 20,000 pairs of nankeen trousers and a huge quantity of porcelain. Newspapers announced her return, and stores up and down the East Coast sold her cargo. That's where the Americans learned how to make real money in the China trade: the sale of Chinese export goods to Americans.

All told, the voyage earned a 25 percent return on investment. They'd hoped for more, but they made enough to spawn a new era of commerce with China.Shaw gave a complete report of the voyage to John Jay, the U.S. foreign minister. Jay shared his findings with Congress. Members of Congress responded with ‘a peculiar satisfaction in the successful issue of this first effort of the citizens of America to establish a direct trade with China.’”

(via The Boatload of Ginseng That Launched the China Trade | New England Historical Society)

Getting to the Root of Ginseng

“Sang, or Panax quinquefolius, is the American version of Asian ginseng (P. ginseng), which the Chinese have usedto treat a wide variety of ills for several thousand years. In Chinese medicine, Asian ginseng is considered “hot” (a mild stimulant), while its American cousin is “cool” (a calming tonic). Both contain compounds known as ginsenosides, but in different proportions.

In 1713, Pierre Jartoux, a Jesuit missionary in China,wrote in a letter that after eating ginseng, “I found my Pulse much fuller and quicker, I had an appetite, and found myself much more vigorous...After an hour, he reported feeling like a new man. In his letter, almost as an afterthought, he noted that ginseng might well grow in similar environments, such as Canada.”

“By chance, Jartoux’s letter came to the attention of a Jesuit brother visiting Quebec. An amateur medical botanist, Joseph Francois Lafitau soon after discovered a Canadian specimen that matched the plant in Jartoux’s drawing. A short time later, Canadian suppliers began shipping tons of it to China, resulting in over-harvesting within a few decades. The Chinese began looking to the South for an alternate source.

They found it in southern Appalachia, where the Cherokee were already using ginseng medicinally. The Indians believed that it was sentient, able to make itself invisible to people unworthy of it. They so valued ginseng that they dug up only one in four plants and replenished each harvested root with a bead, a prayer and a new seed. When the Canadian supply faltered, the Cherokee stepped up production. By the 1750′s, ports in Virginia and South Carolina were doing a brisk trade in the Cherokee’s Appalachian ginseng. Shipped to China, it eclipsed Canadian varieties.”

”George Washington, conducting a survey of his lands in the autumn of 1784, made note of the trend. “I met numbers of Persons & Pack horses going in with Ginsang; & for salt & other articles at the Markets below,” he wrote. The United States had no trade agreements with the Far East or even consulates there, so ginseng traders went through British middlemen.”

(via Getting to the Root of Ginseng | Smithsonian Magazine)

THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN GINSENG INDUSTRY IN MARATHON COUNTY AND ITS MYSTERIOUS ORIGINS WITH CHINA.

“In Wisconsin, Indians used American ginseng as a medicine long before white colonists arrived. By the 1840s, white settlers acquired American ginseng extensively from Indians for export. The ginseng trade in Marathon County started relatively late, starting in the 1870s, but played an extremely important role in the subsequent export of American ginseng. From the 19th century to the 20th century, most of the wild American ginseng was sold to China...Wild American ginseng, however, is a fragile plant that takes a long period of growth and neither Indians nor whites have any idea how to breed it. Indians used to be less dependent on ginseng in the past so this plant has been able to reproduce naturally for centuries but once soon large-scale export acquisitions begin, the American ginseng resources in Wisconsin are quickly...depleted.

In the 1880s, American George Stanton successfully cultivated American ginseng for the first time. His success led to the “ginseng fever” of the late nineteenth century. From the west coast of the United States to the Midwest, many American farmers use the original farmland for American ginseng cultivation...Part of the success of the American ginseng industry is due to the Fromm brothers who studied wild American ginseng and its habitat. From year after year trials, Fromm brothers master a better, newer approach to American ginseng cultivation. In addition to the Fromm brothers, there were three other companies in the Marathon County that were involved in the plantation of American ginseng in 1913. The results of these three companies were not immediately apparent and they were not the leaders of the American ginseng industry until 1919.” 

Keemun 

“is a famous Chinese black tea. First produced in late 19th century, it quickly became popular in the West and is still used for a number of classic blends... Other varieties include those specifically tailored for the Gongfu tea ceremony (Keemun Gongfu, or Congou  or Kung Fu- 祁門工夫) and Keemun Xin Ya (祁門新芽), an early bud variety, said to have less bitterness.”

Wong Chin Foo was born as Wong Sa Kee ( 王歲奇 or Wang Sa Kee or Huang Sa Kee.) Wong Sa Kee’s family had once been a wealthy tea merchant, who betrayed the Emperor Xianfeng during the Taiping Rebellion, which left Wong’s family impoverished and outcast. Prince Gong was in charge following Xianfeng’s death, Wong Sa Kee was transferred to Prince Gong’s list. Officially, applying for citizenship as Wong Chin Foo in 1874.

Being the son of a tea merchant (Hong) like Moy Kee, he was able to own a Chinese restaurant, in New York on Pell Street called Mon Lay Won “The Chinese Delmonico” and introduced Americans to the term “Chop Suey.” Wong Chin Foo also introduced the martial arts Kung Fu to Americans. Wong Chin Foo later served as a translator for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service. 

Wong Chin Foo was friends with Sun Yat Sen who had an office above the Port Arthur Chinese Restaurant on Mott Street. The Emperor Guangxi had a list of people he wanted to bring back to China to be executed. Wong Chin Foo and Sun Yat Sen’s efforts to overthrow the Qing dynasty earned them a place on that list, while avoiding being killed by the Tongs.

THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE “FIRST CHINESE AMERICAN”

“Chinese have been in the United States in sizeable numbers since the California Gold Rush. They were shamefully mistreated, denied rights for most of a century and are generally thought to have borne everything the American establishment dished out passively and without much protest. This canard does an injustice to a little-known Bucknell alumnus, however. Nineteenth-century Chinese in America had a leader and a fighter in Wong Chin Foo (1847–98), a compelling and controversial figure whose story is a forgotten chapter in the history of the struggle for equal rights for all...He was the first to employ the term "Chinese American." He published New York's first Chinese-language newspaper. He established America's first association of Chinese voters and was probably the first Chinese ever to testify before Congress.”

“He was born Wong Sa Kee to a once-wealthy but impoverished family and spent his teenage years in the care of Sallie Little Holmes, an American Baptist missionary who arrived in his native Shandong Province in 1860. He mastered colloquial American English and was baptized by age 20. Foreseeing a promising future for him as a preacher, his benefactress brought him to America in 1867 to complete his education. And after a stint in Washington, D.C., and some travel, he transferred to Lewisburg, where he studied for nearly a year.”

”Wong settled in New York and became a journalist, and in 1883 launched the first Chinese-language newspaper east of the Rockies. Its English name — The Chinese American — marked the first recorded use of the term...He wrote scores of articles demystifying Chinese life that appeared in newspapers across the country. And in an essay on Chinese food, he was the first to introduce "chop suey" to American readers.”

“Wong took on the most famous of America's China critics, California's Denis Kearney. A demagogue and a skillful public speaker, the Irish-born Kearney personified the "Chinese Must Go" movement...In a public confrontation in 1887, he was judged victorious. "The mandarin got the better of the San Francisco orator in the intellectual contest, and drove Kearney from position to position," one newspaper declared.”

“After the passage of the Exclusion Act, Wong became active in politics...He began to focus on securing citizenship for Chinese willing to "Americanize" — that is, learn English, adopt Western dress, shave off their queues and give up gambling and opium smoking...When Congress renewed the Exclusion Act for a second decade in 1892, it added a requirement that Chinese register with the government and be photographed. Infuriated, America's Chinese resolved to see the new law retracted or declared unconstitutional. Wong established a new organization, the Chinese Equal Rights League, to get the law repealed. Under its aegis, he testified before a committee of Congress, but despite his soaring rhetoric, the effort failed.“

“Wong Chin Foo believed deeply in justice, equality and enfranchisement, and challenged Americans to live up to these values that they so freely espoused, but so utterly failed to apply to the Chinese in their midst. More than 70 years before Dr. King dreamed of an America that judged people according to the "content of their character," Wong declared that only "character and fitness should be the requirement of all who are desirous of becoming citizens of the American Republic." 

”Although it took until 1943, nearly a half-century after his death, for America to repeal the prohibition against naturalization of Chinese, no one deserves more credit than Wong for waging the good fight against it. He set a pattern for what he thought being "Chinese American" should mean that is more or less what it has come to mean for millions. He deserves to be remembered not merely for envisioning and articulating the goal, but also for the creative means he employed, and the boundless energy he expended, in trying to achieve it.”

(via THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE “FIRST CHINESE AMERICAN” | Bucknell University)(via History of Tea - Origin of Tea | Teasenz)

[translationandbetrayals]

History through Manga: Kingdom and Vinland Saga

                                                                       There are many tales in history that have earned their reproduction in many different mediums, ranging from complex and emotional operas to disneyfied folklore. Anime has established itself as being capable of the same complexity as "serious" art like opera and as entertaining as any Disney film. We have all seen animes that range from a wide variety of genres, but one that we don't usually see is historical. A famous example would be Rurouni Kenshin, which brought the famous Meiji Restoration in Japan to life. These types of manga tend to go unnoticed, so I am going to talk to you about Kingdom and Vinland Saga, two manga's that are set in real events of our past.

Rurouni Kenshin

Kingdom is a fictionalized retelling of the Warring States period (476-221 BCE) told primarily through the experiences of the war orphan Shin and his allies as he fights to become the greatest general under the heavens, all the while attempting to fulfill the King's ambition of unifying China for the first time in history. I know this probably doesn't sound very impressive, but Kingdom is, without a doubt, one of the best Manga I have ever read. This is a story that works on many levels, since the author takes the time to actually flesh out his characters as well as making the story engaging. It isn't just about the unification of China, it's about Shin's journey in learning what it means to be a Great General, what strength looks like, and how to deal with the true nature of war. It explores the ideologies of clashing rivals, it lets the readers know exactly what is at stake with every encounter, which makes it all the more thrilling.

A clash of intellects between the King and his enemy

Not only this, but the fights themselves are just brilliant. It doesn't focus only on our main characters individual fighting in each war (which is very well done in its own right), but also on the battles as a whole. Each encounter is a deadly showdown of cunning and planning by every general, and the battlefield itself is the board on which generals fight.

The scale of war

There is a wide variety of characters, and every war brings out different generals with strategies and beliefs unique to them, which makes every battle different in that the results are greatly influenced by the generals and soldiers present in them.

The might of a general

The are style is gorgeous, every fight looks massive and you can fell the weight of every hit jumping out the page. It follows a few shounen genre conventions while adding so many layers of complexity that it makes for an unforgettable read. I guarantee that if you think you might enjoy it, you will not be able to stop reading. 

Young Thorfin

Vinland Saga is a fictionalized story of England in the 11th century, at the time of the danish occupation of the territory by the legendary Vikings. It follows the story of Thorfinn, a child thrust into war by a desire for revenge of his father's murderers. As a child, he had heard the fantastic tales of a faraway land to the west, and his story is told with the final goal of reaching that land, the mythical Vinland. I must admit, when I first started reading this manga, I wasn't very convinced. Thorfinn's character seemed a little far fetched, being completely obsessed with killing his father's murderer Askeladd. The thing is, this show is a slow burn. The prologue is 54 chapter's long. That's right, in a show that so far only has 139 chapters, 54 of them are groundwork for the main story. Now this may be a turn off for some, but I assure you that it's worth it. Vinland Saga is unlike other shows in that the violence in it is absolutely brutal, it is graphic and filled with gore, even getting comparisons with the iconic Berserk, but there is reason for the violence.Tthe author has a very clear goal with the way he presents the story. Thorfinn is a whirlwind of death and destruction, as the only worry in his mind is revenge. He is utterly detached from the consequences of his actions, and he has no time for the plight of others, and it eventually turns on him. Now, he is an exceptional warrior, which makes sense because his father, Thors, nicknamed "the Troll of Jom" for his unbelievable strength, was considered the greatest figher of his generation. At First I was worried that Vinland Saga wouldn't have much to offer, but boy was I wrong. There is a hint of the underlying greatness in the parting words of Thorfinn's father:

Thors's last battle

The meaning of these words eludes Thorfinn just as much as it does the audience, and it is the journey itself where he is meant to find an answer. The end of the prologue marks a very sudden change in the story, but it works wonders, as it is where the show's writing really starts to shine. This is a story about what it means to be a man, about the reasons for their fighting. It forces characters to deal with the consequences of their actions, while allowing them the possibility of redemption. It shows merciless violence contrasted with unbounded compassion, it shows the flaws and virtues of many ways of living and how we can make sense of them. It shows us the story of a man trying to find meaning in a world in turmoil, and it is one of the most compelling stories I have ever read. I honestly cried in 3 or 4 different places just because of how genuine and relatable certain situations were portrayed.

The viking way

The art is wonderful, and the portrayal of the Viking way of life is really interesting, especially the influence of Christianity in a world shaped by Norse tradition. I think there is a lot to learn in history. Historical mangas, although very fictionalized, can get us interested in places and cultures we might not have even heard about before., and that's why I recommend Kingdom and Vinland Saga to anyone that was even slightly interested by what I wrote!

- Maximilian Erasmy

[booksilog]

Books in my bag 1/25 + 1/17

1/25/2017: PEN-nominated essay collection by WoC + 80s-era alien sci-fi coming-of-age comic

The Girls in My Town by Angela Morales

Last week they announced the 2017 PEN Literary Awards longlist of finalists, and I found this one in the Essay category, judged by Eula Biss, Kiese Laymon, and Paul Steiger. A collection of personal essays, the author calls it a "kaleidoscope-portrait of a family, of a girl finding her voice." The pieces delve into girlhood and vulnerability, growing up Latina in Los Angeles and the Central Valley, her experiences as a teacher, her grandmother's death. I'm excited to jump into this one, as I've been thinking about the form of personal essay a lot, and recently started writing an essay a week as part of the #52essay2017 challenge started by the wonderful writer Vanessa Mártir, who I met at VONA last summer.

Paper Girls, Vol.1 by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang

I'm a fan of BKV through Y the Last Man and Saga, so it was no surprise I got completely sucked in when I read issue 1 of this 80s retro-nostalgic coming of age (pre)teen protagonists weird alien mystery. I lagged on getting the subsequent issues though, which I then couldn't find, so I've decided to go the trade paperback route on this one (though I'll miss having all the bad ass bright girl-centric single issue covers). The second volume is already out, so I've got some catching up to do (yay!).

* * *

1/17/2017: New Release + Contemporary Classic

Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh

I’ve been trying to come up with fun reading material for the young ones in my life, specifically my nephew who’s ten and smart and bored at school, like many of the rad young creative humans we know. When I saw that #WeNeedDiverseBooks cofounder Ellen Oh just released a middle-grade anthology, I grabbed a copy for my nephew, excited for all the writers of color featured in the book (yay Jacqueline Woodson!). I plan to read it this weekend and then pack it up with a couple issues of National Geographic Kids for a bookish lil' care package to Cali.

from Kirkus Reviews:

Readers feel the angst that comes with getting to know the cool new California girl at a Pennsylvania school in Tim Federle’s “Secret Samantha,” narrated by gender-nonconforming Sam. They’ll thrill to Grace Lin’s “The Difficult Path,” the tale of a young Chinese servant girl who is captured by pirates, who save her from an arranged marriage to a horrible young boy from a wealthy family. Kwame Alexander contributes a short story in verse about a young Star Wars geek who is head over heels with the school's prettiest girl. Perhaps most poignantly, there is “Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push,” about a boy whose basketball-star father gives his wheelchair basketball team some crucial pointers, from Walter Dean Myers. These stories and others—from Matt de la Peña, Meg Medina, Kelly J. Baptist, Tim Tingle, Jacqueline Woodson, and Soman Chainani—ably contain universal themes: friendship, sibling rivalry, parental embarrassment, first crushes, and the trials and challenges that school can bring. Thumbnail biographies of the contributors and an introduction to the genesis and work of We Need Diverse Books round out the volume.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

This is one book that's been on my TBR for a long time. I fluctuate between being a fast reader and being an extremely s-l-o-www one, and when I checked this book out of the library, I only got a chapter in before it was due. I've been working on a writing project that has elements of magical realism, though truth be told I'm not an expert in the genre, nor do I fully subscribe to literary conventions when it comes to that sort of categorization. In a writing workshop I took, we talked about how for many of us who are immigrant, poc, and/or have ties to "the old country" or to long lineages that retain ancestral stories and far-reaching collective memory, the division between "reality" and what is perceived as magical, supernatural, or fantastical is not a particularly bold line, or even a line at all. In the stories we tell, ghosts are alive as anyone else, hyperbole is literal, time bends and breaks and stitches itself where it sees fit. So when someone in workshop mentioned this book in that discussion, I moved it from my TBR longlist to my shortlist, and now I finally have my own used copy to devour at whatever pace I can manage. 

[jenniferfaye34]

#Giveaway~Last day to enter~The Italian's Unexpected Heir by Jennifer Faye... #books #romance #NewRelease #amreading #booklovers #VineyardRomance

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops you'll find snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch - A Note from the Author

Thank you for joining me for the dramatic conclusion to The Bartolini Legacy trilogy. A diary and a secret totally upend the lives of the three Bartolini siblings and creates an unforgettable summer…

Rockin' Book Reviews - Review

"In her usual fashion, Author Jennifer Faye has created another delightful story which one can relax with and enjoy! . . . The characters were very endearing. The scenes were portrayed well. There were a couple of unexpected twists which added to the intrigue. However, it was fairly predictable, yet so enjoyable!"

Becky on Books - Excerpt

Over the past several months, Sylvie DeLuca had become a good friend. She had the brightest smile—like the one she was flashing him now. And she was a good listener—though he usually didn’t have much to say. However, tonight, beneath the Parisian moonlight, he noticed her incredible beauty. How exactly had he missed it all this time?

Christy's Cozy Corners - Review

"Reading The Italian’s Unexpected Heir is a pleasure. You will love reading how Sylvie and Enzo’s love develops through the book, the discovery of Sylvie’s pregnancy, the threat to the vineyard, and the conclusion of the legacy. This delightful romance is a quick and enjoyable read. You won’t want to put it down!"

Because I said so -- and other adventures in Parenting - Review

". . . I have not read the other two, I did not have a problem following along. The author did a great job at providing a quick recap of the family history. . . . This book contains really well written characters, a heartwarming and at times heartbreaking storyline."

Splashes of Joy - Review

"It’s been fun reading this delightful series, and I sure hate seeing it send. I like forward to seeing what is next in store with Jennifer Faye. If you love a sweet Romance, you may way to try out this book."

Locks, Hooks and Books - Review

"I was not disappointed at all. It could be one of my favorites that I have read by her to date. It was so good. I had no issue reading the whole book in one sitting. I loved the chemistry between Enzo and Sylvie. Such a delight. . . . I recommend this one for readers who love to read clean, sweet and quick romances."

Baroness' Book Trove - Review

"I love happy endings. Ms. Faye does such a fabulous job wrapping up this family’s tragedy and answering all the questions that I find myself asking at the end of some books. My rating is five stars, and if you are looking for a sweet romance to spend an evening with, this is a great one. I highly recommend it."

Hallie Reads - Review

"Jennifer Faye’s The Italian’s Unexpected Heir is delightful, finishing the series so well. I enjoyed Enzo and Sylvie as they sorted through their changing relationship, and of course, the trip to beautiful Italy that their story offers is much appreciated this year."

reviewingbooksplusmore - Review

"I loved Sylvie and Enzo’s story in The Italian’s Unexpected Heir. . . . This book is part of a series but can be read as a stand-alone. However, I do recommend reading the first two books. I enjoyed them a lot also."

underneath the covers - Excerpt

Sylvie felt as though she was having an out-of-body experience. Maybe that was what she needed to tell herself in that moment to give her the courage to reach out to Enzo. Her hand cupped his freshly shaved cheek.

If she didn’t do this now and quickly, she knew she would lose her courage. And though she’d been thinking about this for the longest time, if she didn’t act now, she would never fulfill her wish. And the one thing she’d learned in her short life is that you had to grasp the happy moments because they were fleeting and few.

Harlie's Books - Excerpt & Review

His good mood deflated like a balloon stuck with a sharp needle. A big whoosh and his mood was back to its prior melancholy state of being.

Enzo blew out a deep sigh. This confirmed that their close-knit family was forever fractured. Nothing would ever be as it had been. If only he hadn’t held on to that secret—the one he wasn’t supposed to know anything about—maybe then things wouldn’t be so different.

"This book is the perfect ending to a wonderful series. I just loved how Ms. Faye wrapped up everyone’s loose ends and we get to Gia, Enzo and Bianca come together as a true family in the end. . . . As usual, Ms. Faye takes her time with her storytelling and nothing is rushed. I love her voice and she lets her characters do the talking. Some would argue that this book is shorter than the others in the series but again, Enzo and Sylvie didn’t need a long book. They laid out their story and just let it happen."

Pause for Tales - Review

"I have been enjoying this saga of three siblings who are reeling from their parents sudden deaths. . . . Both of them mature throughout the story as they face the consequences of their one night together and put the baby's needs first. This was an emotional read at times especially as the siblings deal with the pain of losing their parents and the secrets they kept. However, family triumphs."

Book Lover in Florida - Excerpt

He drew in a deep breath and then let it out. It didn’t matter how long he put this off; it wasn’t going to get easier for either of them. It was best just to get it over with as quickly as possible. “I’ve agreed to sell the estate.”

If it was possible for her face to grow paler, it most definitely had. Even her normally glossy pink lips were devoid of gloss this morning and had lost their color.

“You did what?” Her voice faded with each word.

Reading Excursions - Review

"For the most part; reading this was like being on an exotic vacation with no worries, lots of excitement, some drama, sweet moments, a lot of precious moments stuffed in it, along with the lessons. I truly enjoyed reading this and can’t wait until I finish the never-ending TBR to re-read these all together."

Teatime and Books - Excerpt

As soon as the thought came to him, he dismissed it. He’d ruined any chance of anything romantic between them. Not that he was interested in starting a relationship. In fact, that was the last thing he wanted.

His personal life was a disaster. He might have won full ownership of the Bartolini estate but he’d lost what made it special—his family. In truth, he hadn’t even won control of it. He’d won out of default. His sisters didn’t want the place. They’d rather move far away and start over. Not that he could blame them after the way their lives had imploded upon finding their mother’s journal.

Bookish Jottings - Review

"Jennifer Faye’s The Italian’s Unexpected Heir is a superb contemporary romance full of such warmth, pathos and heart that it is absolutely impossible not to be drawn in from the very first page. Sylvie and Enzo’s love story is poignant, emotional, dramatic and one that will touch the heart and bring a tear to the eye of romantics everywhere. . . . Jennifer Faye’s The Bartolini Legacy trilogy has been absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait to read what she writes next!"

Andi's Book Review - Excerpt

She rushed over to the doorway before he could escape inside. When she stepped in front of him, his widened gaze settled on her. “Sylvie, this isn’t the time.” His tone was gruff. “I have things to do.” She settled her hands on her hips. “Not before we talk.” He sighed. A moment of tense silence passed before he said, “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end of this post...

The Italian's Unexpected Heir (The Bartolini Legacy #3) By Jennifer Faye Contemporary Romance Paperback & ebook, 256 Pages September 1st 2020 by Harlequin Romance

Her baby surprise proves…

…that one night will never be enough!

Reeling from the secrets that have torn his heritage apart, Enzo Bartolini is set on selling his family’s Tuscan vineyard and trying to forget the impulsive, dazzling night he and best friend Sylvie shared in Paris. While the sale moves forward, the thrilling awareness between him and Sylvie is harder to move past…especially when she upends Enzo’s world by revealing she’s carrying his baby!

(Affiliate links included.) Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | iBooks | Kobo | PRINT

Go to Jennifer's Contact Page HERE and order your bookmark(s)!

Other Books in the Series

The Prince and the Wedding Planner (The Bartolini Legacy #1) By Jennifer Faye Contemporary Romance Paperback & ebook, 256 Pages March 1st 2020 by Harlequin Romance

When different worlds collide…

…sparks fly!

With her family name on the line, wedding planner Bianca Bartolini needs this royal wedding to go perfectly—she can’t afford distractions. Too bad the bride’s dashing brother has other plans! Duty-bound Crown Prince Leo has mere weeks to announce his own engagement, but none of the candidates measure up to Bianca. They’re the most unlikely match, but might that just make them perfect for one another?

(Affiliate links included.) Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | iBooks | Kobo | PRINT

The CEO, the Puppy and Me (The Bartolini Legacy #2) By Jennifer Faye Contemporary Romance Paperback & ebook, 256 Pages June 1st 2020 by Harlequin Romance

Has the search for her past…

…guided her toward her future?

Gia Bartolini’s determinedly searching for her real father. First stop on the enchanting Italian island of Lapri? A mysterious abandoned mansion…where, rescuing a trapped puppy, she falls straight into the arms of alluring Riccardo Moretti! Her passion for the all-business CEO burns bright, leaving Gia with a question: In uncovering her true roots, has fate led her to true love?

(Affiliate links included.) Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | iBooks | Kobo | PRINT

About the Author

Award-winning author, Jennifer Faye pens fun, heartwarming contemporary romances with rugged cowboys, sexy billionaires and enchanting royalty. Internationally published with books translated into nine languages. She is a two-time winner of the RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the CataRomance Reviewers' Choice Award, named a TOP PICK author, and been nominated for numerous other awards.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | BookBub | Newsletter

Tour Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card and a copies of THE PRINCE AND THE WEDDING PLANNER and THE CEO, THE PUPPY AND ME, winner's choice of print (US only) or ebook

Open internationally

Ends September 16, 2020

[daleisgreat]

Dale’s Top 36 Gaming Experiences of 2018

Greetings dear readers and welcome to my annual top gaming experiences/moments/favorite games I played in 2018 that may or may not have released in 2018 round-up!!! Consider this my personal greatest hits compilation of my year in videogames that was 2018! Buckle up buck-a-roos because I am going to take you on a several thousand word journey as I count you down my handpicked top 33 gaming ‘experiences’ of the year! This is not going to be any other ordinary quick scroll through of listed top games of the year because almost anything I did gaming related qualifies for a ‘experience’ in 2018. That experience could be my overall time I invested into a certain game or series of games I decided to lump into one list item, or it could be a certain other piece of gaming memorabilia, news item that really struck me or a memorable gaming session with friends and family that makes it perfectly eligible for the list! So if you have not by now then use your favorite bookmark app (I recommend Pocket) or ‘control + d’ to manually bookmark this page to revisit this feast of words because it is going to take some time to consume! For optimal experience I highly recommend a big cup of coffee and blaring one of those 10-hour YouTube videos of ambient rain because that is exactly what I did to craft this beast! Speaking of YouTube videos I linked to a whole boatload of them throughout the rankings from trailers for most games I discuss and moments that really popped for me if you so desire to click them for a reference to the corresponding footage. If you managed to finish this monster and dare to seek out my similar takes on previous years of gaming experiences then I triple-dog-dare you to check out my write-ups for my best of 2017 and best of 2016 gaming spectaculars. Enough with this intro, to the list we go! ---Recommended – This is Bonkers Long So Please Read This in the Suggested Installments--- Part 1 - Rankings 36 through 31 Part 2 - Rankings 30 through 24 Part 3 - Rankings 23 through 18 Part 4 - Rankings 17 through 14 Part 5 - Rankings 13 through 10 Part 6 - Rankings 9 through 4 Part 7 - Rankings 3 through 1 PART 1 - RANKINGS 36 THROUGH 31 36) Telltale & Prima RIP I hate to kickoff this list with a downer, but that is why this is at the bottom of the list. The saga of Telltale announcing its closing in 2018 was quite the affair with all the misguided reactionary hoopla. It initially leaned towards fan outcry of Telltale now being unable to finish the final season of its acclaimed Walking Dead line of episodic games it was in the middle of releasing getting more attention over the developers who lost their jobs and benefit plans. Things were getting heated in the wrong ways real quick, but there was a modicum of redemption with fellow videogame developers reaching out and picking up many of the laid off and publisher Skybound Studios picking up the rights for the remaining episodes of the final season of The Walking Dead and following up that announcement with good news of Skybound being able to re-hire most of the original developers who did not already land jobs elsewhere.

I feel I wronged Telltale this year by having 2018 be the first year in several years where I did not complete a season of a Telltale game. Tales of the Borderlands and both seasons of Batman are in my massive ‘want to play’ stack, and now with The Walking Dead being on its way to being concluded I now feel obligated to pick up where I left off after finishing season two a few years ago. Prima closing up surprisingly resonated with me. They have been the constant major publisher of videogame strategy guides for what seems like an eternity. Part of me is surprised Prima hung around this long with how easy it is to reference GameFAQs and other online guides, wikis and YouTube playthroughs for free in an instant. I prefer to go that route too, but I would occasionally pick up a Prima guide and would prefer their more detailed layouts and maps when playing Fallout 3 and Skyrim than compared to what an average text GameFAQs guide can offer. I will also give a shoutout to their supplementary NES & SNES Now You’re Playing Power/Super Power guides/nostalgia books that launched alongside the NES & SNES Classic. Both feature lots of vintage scans from Nintendo Power alongside new interviews with developers, pro speedrunners and creators of fan art, music and website communities. When I heard of their closure I went out and ordered Prima guides for other Bethesda games like Fallout 4 and New Vegas. When I went to file them away I hung my head in shame to see I already procured the Fallout 4 guide awhile back, so now I have two copies of that one. Backup copy! There will still be other specialty strategy guide publishers (major props to FanGamer’s guides!), but none with the presence or outreach of Prima established. 35) Non Virtual Boy VR Last year in the round-up I stated how I have too many reservations about getting on board with the VR craze that has swept up a segment of the gaming world and that I will stick with my Virtual Boy for my VR needs. My Extra Life friends Chris and Lyzz have a Playstation VR headset and had me try it out at their place in 2018 and after trying out a couple games in PSVR…..I was impressed, but still not sold on it overall. I played one or two of the mini-games on the PSVR Worlds mini-game collection that came with the peripheral. I then played about a half hour of London Heist. That experience was a memorable one as I got to admit it was cool looking around the gangster hideouts while being tied up and taking in the unique 360 camera of my surroundings that is only possible in a VR experience. The gameplay was on the money too in some shooting gallery segments and eventually a car chase portion that was the highlight of my time with London Heist.

I was relieved I did not suffer from any of the motion sickness I heard wide varieties of minor and severe reports of from VR players. Then again I only played PSVR for only an hour. I have kept up with the games hitting PSVR since its launch and in its first couple years it has built a library of several games that appear to hold their own as premiere VG single player experiences with bonafide hits such as Moss, Astrobot and Farpoint. After some legit hands-on time with PSVR I will maintain my reservations on VR in general. The price entry point is way too high and I would rather spend the money needed for starting off a proper PSVR experience in upgrading my PC instead. It requires a lot of cumbersome setup, it is a safety hazard by completely blocking off your surroundings and finally after playing for a mere hour my face felt like it was sat on for many more hours after removing the headset. I may try out VR down the line at friend’s places or wherever I run into it at and will likely enjoy my time with it, but as far as owning VR goes I will continue to be happy with my Virtual Boy and reliving the complete Virtual Boy experience in 2019 with Jeremy Parish’s Vitual Boy Works line of videos. 34) Hadoken 2018

If you do not have it already on last-gen systems, I still would recommend Ultra Street Fighter IV as it collects nearly all the DLC characters and costumes and goes on sale digitally frequently. It was a hit revisiting with Chris, but the surprise SF hit among us online was Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. Aside from collecting 12 of the earliest SF games, it made four of them online and Capcom had a slick online lobby system to make it quick and seamless to jump from playing one version of SF to another. Chris and I got lots of fights in throughout the year and I also did about 20 fights in online ranked lobbies against random opponents in hopes of getting just one win to get a trophy. That proved to be a brutal endeavor as my assumptions of my meek hadoken skills hoping to get lucky once were foolish as I lost every time (thought a couple of times I won once out of three…yay?). The worst was when higher skilled opponents would sit there and wait for me to come at them before schooling me with counter attacks. That happened even worse in Mortal Kombat X online against randoms, but as they say, practice makes perfect. 33)Mass Effect Andromeda Novels I have seen nobody talking about these…probably because of how lackluster Mass Effect Andromeda was received. I was a huge fan of all four novels published concurrently alongside the original Mass Effect Trilogy and they helped fleshed out the story between games and gave a ton of back story to characters I was thrilled to see finally appear in the third game. I had no idea publisher Titan Books were releasing novels set in the Andromeda universe until about a year after the first one hit. Just a few months ago they released the third of the planned four books set in the Andromeda timeline.

I finished the first two books and enjoyed both of them. I gave more thorough reviews on my GoodReads account and will link to them here. For the quick breakdown though Nexus Uprising deals with a crisis of the Nexus mothership arriving at Andromeda attacked by a mysterious ‘scourge’ and the hysteria that results with its limited crew in charge of a ship barely hanging onto survival. Nexus Uprising leads right into the start of the Andromeda game. Initiation has a new Andromeda recruit fresh off her seven years of Asari training traveling for one last mission before journeying to Andromeda where the new recruit encounters a hostile VI/AI in a facility she must now survive and rescue as many survivors along with her. The latest book, Annihilation, I am only halfway through and I regret to report that I am just not feeling this one. Annihilation explains why about a third of the original Mass Effect races are not in the Andromeda game as it goes into detail why they all took a separate ship there that wound up having a disastrous journey. I enjoyed the peripheral races in the original games in nice little spurts, but having a book focusing entirely on the volus, elcor, drell and a couple other races so far has been a slog to get through. I will keep my fingers crossed it picks up in the second half. 32) HDMI Cables for Retro Consoles The past couple of years have seen an emerging trend of either having deluxe HDMI conversion kits for older systems to display at their proper resolutions on newer TVs or having third parties re-release older systems like the NES and SNES with new HD capabilities. Those are great options to have if you want a pristine picture on your HDTV for retro gaming goodness, but they cost a premium and 2018 saw manufacturer Pound release their HDMI cables for SNES, Dreamcast, Xbox and PS2 all for around $30 each. I picked up the Dreamcast and PS2 cables, but have only had time to test out the DC cables so far. I dug out the Dreamcast and tested out several games with regular cables and then the Pound cables and noticed a definite improvement in the graphics! They no longer have that washed out ‘muddiness’ look when I would ordinarily run a SD system on a HDTV with composite/RCA cables. There was a minor caveat where I noticed a minor background graphical effect in menus and only when I took the time to squint and stare during gameplay, but other than that this was a much affordable alternative. I found out about these from YouTuber, MetalJesus and you can see his coverage of it by clicking here with plenty of before and after comparisons to see if they may be what you are looking for. 31) Father’s Day Gaming I have nostalgic memories of the many long gaming sessions I had with my dad and siblings while spending weekend visitations with him. We went all the way back to the original Pong and Atari 2600 in my childhood years through the NES, SNES and finally N64 during my high school years. While I have wonderful moments of many games with the family in each era the N64 years were the ones I cherished the most because of the ease of four player multiplayer with its four controller ports which was perfect for my dad, my brother Joe and either my sister Ann or another friend that would be over to helm the fourth player spot. Almost a couple hours of every visitation during that time we played countless hours of competitive N64 multiplayer.

That was many years ago though since we regularly played, and while thinking of ideas for what to do for Father’s Day this past year instead of going out for dinner and catching a movie like we would usually do I threw out the idea of staying in and having pizza and doing an N64 gaming day. I was delighted to hear my dad and brother were both up for it and thank goodness the games still held up and were just as much fun to play as they were around 20 years ago. My dad loved New Tetris and was a total pro and would be in a trance when he used to play it all the time so I was mighty curious to see how well he remembered it all these years later. We were all a little rusty, but we all got back into the rhythm of things after a few minutes and it was like we did not miss a beat. I am always disheartened to hear New Tetris get overlooked when I was hearing multiple discussions of past great Tetris games when Tetris Effect took the gaming community by storm in 2018. New Tetris was the first 3-4 player console Tetris game and also the first home console game to debut the incredibly handy ‘hold piece’ which is why New Tetris ranked right up there with Tengen Tetris, OG GameBoy Tetris and Tetris DS for my favorite versions of the legendary puzzle game. We also played a hefty amount of Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye 007. I have heard the countless debates over the years, and I will forever contest the N64 Mario Kart as the pinnacle of the series. I have also heard the many people proclaim that GoldenEye is an outdated mess all these years later. Every two or three years I bust out GoldenEye and the same thing happened here as before, after a few minutes of adjusting to the graphics and controls the game had its hooks in us again and we were having intense rounds of deathmatch with muscle memories suddenly kicking in of our favorite map and weapon presets. The three of us went on to have many rounds of fun blowing the crap out of each other! I have been watching Giant Bomb’s line of recent Die Another Friday videos where they try and run through the campaign in Perfect Agent difficulty. Instead of the expected jokes about how dated the graphics were I was relieved to see that most of the GB crew eventually were legit surprised at how fun GoldenEye still is. ---YouTube Break From This Already Way Too Long List--- A semi-decent laugh should be had at this point for a breather. Behold, the greatest Family Feud moment of all time! Now witness Always Sunny’s blatant ripoff tribute to that legendary game show when the cast competes on the exact same style of show they call Family Fight! PART 2 - RANKINGS 30 THROUGH 24 30) Videogames in Theatrical Form Longtime followers of my work may recall my podcasting days where my co-hosts and I would go out of our way to track down and cover almost every major and obscure videogame licensed film that hit theaters or direct-to-video. Minus a few exceptions, they were usually painful experiences. Even though my podcasting days are behind me I still like to keep up the tradition of catching any new film that hits the theater or video that is based on or around videogames. 2018 I managed to catch four new films that fit the criteria. The new Tomb Raider featuring Alicia Vikander as the one and only Lara Croft was solid, but nothing spectacular. It had a handful of memorable stunts and captured a few of the moments I recall from the acclaimed self-titled reboot game in 2013 so on the videogame film curve I would categorize that as a ‘win.’ Rampage featuring The Rock totally surprised me how they were able to get a fun movie out of a straightforward arcade smash-em-up from the 80s. Within a half hour I was feeling for the monsters and Rock’s connection for them was surprisingly powerful. Really good stuff that you should not dismiss!

Looking back on Ready Player One several months after its release I can safely recommend it. I loved the book when I read it shortly after its release several years ago and I was somewhat conflicted coming out of the film. This is because of how far it strayed from the book yet essentially maintained a similar over-arching plot on how a world full of gamers playing the same VR game are tracking down the creator’s hidden ‘easter egg’ in order to inherit his riches and become his heir. Avid game player I am I could not help but keep my eyes peeled for as many as ‘blink-and-you-will-miss-it’ cameos from the beloved mascots of videogames and pop culture from over the years. After hearing how the author wrote the screenplay and gave his seal of approval for the changes I eventually was won over by them especially since the changes were entertaining and since the film came out only four or five years after the book it could have been a slog to see the movie play out 100% the same. To close off 2018 a few weeks ago I took two of my many nieces and nephews to see Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. That was a unique experience because my middle-school aged niece and nephew were ecstatic to point out a couple of YouTubers they follow that have cameos in the film. The sequel had a similar structure to the first where the first 20-ish minutes circle around Ralph and Vanellope loving life in their arcade they reside and visiting other arcade classics of gaming lore. I love how Tapper got a lot of love in the film with Ralph and Vanellope making that game setting their late-night watering hole of choice! Eventually though their arcade gets hooked up to WiFi and it was fun seeing Ralph and Vanellope take a journey in Disney’s CG version of the Internet with lots of real-life companies like Google, Amazon, etc. having their own fun representations in the film. This sequel was a big hit with me and once I got past the welcomed videogame references in the first 20 minutes I enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph 2’s overall plot exponentially more than the first film. 29) Yippee-Kay-Yay-Mutha….. For readers of this blog who may or may not also keep up with my film reviews here, I recently reviewed Die Hard in honor of it being a Christmas film classic (yes, I am one of those people). It should go without saying that Die Hard is one the all-time greatest action films, and after watching it again a few weeks ago I recalled how there were a few PSone and GameCube games I had vague memories of fairly decent receptions at the time and after discovering how low they were priced on eBay I decided to take a chance on them. I loved the arcade game, but do not own a Saturn so I did not hunt down that version, but got the two PSone Die Hard Trilogy games and Die Hard: Vendetta on GameCube. I have not had a chance to play them yet, but I have since watched a few entertaining Game Informer Replay videos on them revisiting these ‘gems’ to varying degrees of quality all these years later that will suffice for now until I get around to them. Here are a few links so you can check them out and do the same! 28) ….And Raging Justice….For All

I referenced in these round-ups before how every few years my friend Matt and I would marathon several random beat-em-up classics usually consisting of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men variety. The last time we did that was around 2015, and the current gen systems have been flooded with a quality amount of re-releases of classics and obscure releases and all-new installments in the genre that we have been neglecting for far too long. Just a couple weeks ago Matt and I finally got around to playing through one of them on the PS4 called Raging Justice. It had a similar look and feel to Final Fight, but with a slightly pastel-esque touch to the graphics that made the late ‘80s punk ooze right out of the game! The story had all kinds of goofy street punk gang warfare that we both ate up and we were really gelling in our playthrough and we were surprisingly not eating up that many lives. As a matter of fact we only went through one continue between both of us! After plowing through it within two hours we made a list of other similar new beat-em-ups that hit PS4/XB1 over the years so hopefully we will do better at sticking with this genre in 2019. 27) Now You’re Playing With a Power……ed Up NES/SNES Classic

If you do not want to go down the route listed above by hunting down HDMI cables for a system you do not own or a pricey HD-capable 3rd party version of a NES/SNES than there are a couple of grey-area alternatives. I talked about the RetroPie in last year’s round-up, so this year I want to focus on what people are calling ‘modding’ your NES/SNES Classic. I am not going to give you a step-by-step breakdown, but a quick Google/YouTube search will point you in the right direction. Once it is done you can add up to as many games that will fit in the Classic’s internal memory. If you stick with just NES games you can fit a majority of the NES’s library on the internal memory, SNES game sizes are noticeably bigger and if only going that route with ROMs you can fit roughly 200 of them on there…..that is if you in good faith own the original copies. There is a nice benefit to the NES/SNES Classic compared to the RetroPie and that is a friendlier user interface complete with upbeat background music and the ability to upload your own box art which ostensibly delivers the nostalgic sensation of browsing the shelves at a videogame rental store and thus is more appealing than scrolling through a large text box of games on a RetroPie. Since the NES/SNES Classic is HDMI it provides an excellent HD picture for these classic 8 and 16-bit games. This resulted in busting out both the NES & SNES Classic several times throughout 2018 for some free spirited gaming nights. 26) Tabletop/Pen and Paper Madness

I referenced last year how I started to get into semi-routinely board game nights with my friends Derek, Ryan and Brooke and we managed to keep the board game nights churning throughout 2018. Derek & Brooke have amassed a hearty collection of board games and we were able to rotate a fair amount of games from last year and new ones to try out this year. One of the board games we revisited often was Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill, and they release a spin-off called Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate we were all eager to try throughout the year. We finally busted it out on a day where my brother was able to join us and it was a great medieval themed take on the original game that did not disappoint. Another new board game we tried out was Elder Signs. Thank goodness Derek, Ryan and Brooke are awesome tutors because the game had an elaborate setup with many pieces and by about halfway through our session I was familiar enough with the play style that yielded a fantastic end to that round when all of us were able to mount an insurmountable comeback that resulted in an unlikely, thrilling win for us all! Shifting from tabletop gaming to pen and paper gaming, I have always been a fan of the SNES/GEN versions of Shadowrun. I always knew a group of friends that have been roleplaying the pen and paper RPG it is based on for quite a few years now and they reached out before to get me to play, but with my gonzo work/sleep schedule I knew it would be impossible to routinely play with them every week. I still had that itch to want to at least give it a honest try all these years later so I reached out to them and asked if I was able to commit to playing at least once a month with them and if they would they find a way to squeeze me in? Thank goodness they found a way to create random characters and place me into their campaign for the three times I made it out there to play with them. Mike is an awesome storyteller and ran a fun campaign, and I will also give props to Justine, Ron & Robb for being very welcoming and tolerant of my noob-ness and by being quite gracious sharing their infinite Shadowrun wisdom unto me. Unfortunately I fell out of the routine of playing with them after a few times, but I am glad to finally tried it out after all these years and would be down to make random cameos in their future sessions. 25) Kicking that Early Access Bug

I am going to cheat a smidge on this one because in December of 2017 through 2018 several games I invested lots of time into and/or have been majorly anticipating finally left Steam Early Access (SEA) and got official releases. Some went onto have official releases on console of well. Gang Beasts has always been silly goofy wrestling/brawling fun with creatures made of a silly puddy-esque substance and it was fascinating watching that game evolve over the several years Gang Beasts was in SEA until its official December 2017 release. I had fun times with friends in that game, and especially witnessing countless Giant Bomb sessions of its madness. FirePro World was another wrestling game that came out of SEA in December of 2017, but it was only in SEA for several months…not years. I have loved previous FirePro games for their faithful representation of a wrestling match and endless customization options, and was thrilled to see it get a physical PS4 release which wound up being the first physical wrestling game I picked up since…..wow…WWE 2K14. Road Redemption was another game that spent a few years in SEA and I was stoked that it finally got an official release in 2018, with later digital versions that hit PS4 and XB1 in the following months. I raved about it before in previous year-end round-ups, and it is long overdue to finally have a motorcycle combat racer that is finally worthy of being deemed a successor to the heralded Road Rash series. There is a lot more to Road Redemption than being a Road Rash clone, so stick with it as its bizarre rogue-lite nature of its career mode and bonkers weather and weaponry will unleash mayhem you likely did not anticipate coming in. Distance is another driving game that was in SEA for far too long, but after four years Distance emerged a fleshed out release. It is a driving game like nothing else, and the best way I can sum it up is a ‘trippy neon platforming Trials-esque’ driving experience. Its standout feature is a platforming ‘adventure’ mode which was rebuilt for the official release and went on to add so much other tracks and customization features since I last played Distance in SEA that I hope my meek PC can still handle it when I eventually revisit it!

Not done yet because two more driving games trapped for years in SEA also fully released in 2018. Jalopy is another adventure-esque driving game where you take your uncle on a trek across Eastern Europe in the family’s run-down lemon of a vehicle that needs constant attention and repairs and not to mention other tomfoolery the duo stumbles into amidst their travels. I have had my eye on Jalopy for awhile and was relieved to hear when its long SEA cycle also concluded. Finally, Bugbear’s project formerly known as Next Car Game released in 2018 as Wreckfest. It is the spiritual successor to Bugbear’s FlatOut line of demolition derby racing games that I have so many fond memories of. Wreckfest looks and feels like a current-gen FlatOut and I was glad to see it retain its excellent physics engine the series was known for. I was bummed to see the console release get a delay into the second half of 2019, but for those with capable PCs, Wreckfest is fully out now to consume in all its destructive glory! I do have two quick honorable mentions for this category. Super Indie Karts is an adorable Mario Kart-clone featuring mascots from many hit indie games as drivers that has also been in SEA forever. The developer keeps regularly adding content though and it just released a fresh batch of tracks and drivers (featuring the not-so-indie ToeJam & Earl) to the build a few days ago. I have nothing but super-fun memories of my time with Super Indie Karts so I hope it gets its long-awaited official release in 2019! Finally, while Shaq-Fu 2: A Legend Reborn never was officially in SEA when Shaq accidentally leaked it out in an offhanded interview four years ago shortly before its Kickstarter campaign premiere, it feels like it never left there once the game released to worst game of the year-caliber reception. I own two copies of the 1994 original Shaq-Fu, so I felt obligated to purchase the sequel when I recently stumbled upon it in the clearance bins for $6 just a few months after its release. 24) Good ‘ol Fashioned Videogame Couch Multiplayer

I will also give a quick mention to the videogame nights I was glad to be a part of with Derek, Brooke and Ryan! While 2018 saw us hit up more board game nights we managed to sneak in a few couch videogame multiplayer nights of some old favorites like Sony’s take on the JackBox Party Pack that is called That’s You where the four of us chuckled away the night at its irreverent trivia and doodling nonsense on each other’s faces. We also mixed in a couple other games into the rotation throughout the year. I heard great things about Towerfall before, but finally playing it was a rush and a half with its fast intense bouts of bow-and-arrow deathmatches with sudden death animations that left us in stitches! Derek introduced us to the bonkers four player game called Ultimate Chicken Horse where users play several quick rounds trying to reach a goal but insert random objects of torture between each round that makes getting to the goal near impossible by the end of the game. It was a big hit with our group. Finally it will behoove me to include the crazy night we had with the 360 game, Cloudberry Kingdom. It is an absurd runner game filled with all kinds of deathtraps just waiting to obliterate our adorable avatars. Cloudberry Kingdom has literally hundreds of levels, and as expected each one got procedurally more nuts but was still a blast to attempt to complete! After a couple hours of the madness and many attempts on one particularly troublesome stage we all had this priceless defeated look on our faces after we finally finished it and we all knew in that instant that we were DONE with it for the night! What a fantastic runner I hope we get to revisit again one day! ---YouTube Break #2--- Time for another breather! You do not have to be a fan of wrestling to enjoy these! ‘Bawdy Bawdy, We Like to Party’ legendary ECW tag team Public Enemy elucidates to rookie Mikey Whipwreck how championship wrestlers train in the mid-1990s. While we are here reminiscing about the Public Enemy, click here for their EPIC WCW theme song that was unavoidably catchy to sing-a-long with! PART 3 - RANKINGS 23 THROUGH 18 23) Wanting More Time to Dedicate to 2018’s Top Indie Games

There are a few websites and podcasts I follow that have tons of game of the year coverage, and it is a great place to get a reminder of those indie games that slipped through the cracks and I completely forgot about or neglected throughout the year. I heard enough praise about three of them that seemed up my alley and before the end of the year I was able to put in a 20-30 minute session with each of these. I wish I had more time for each, but my initial impressions were high for all three and I know I will put more time into them throughout 2019. Yoku’s Island Express is a hybrid of a pinball game and a MetroidVania that somehow delivered on both fronts as I unlocked more paths through an island by flipping my character and ball through a variety of colorful environments. My love for both genres makes me want to return to it ASAP. Minit is a roguelite RPG with an dastardly hook where each session has a one minute timer, but you retain all the items collected on each session that unlocks other paths on the map. I did about 20 sessions and as I got familiar with the game world I already was starting to plan my next steps ahead for my next minute run. Many jovial curses to the developers who intentionally programmed the NPC W-H-O-T-A-L-K-S-T-H-I-S-S-L-O-W to keep me in a nail-biter of a moment to hit the next checkpoint with literally a single second to spare! The last indie game I snuck in some time with was the Super Meat Boy-esque platformer, Celeste. This comes from the same developers who made Towerfall that I just got done shedding some love for above. The instant restarts and checkpoints make its fair-yet-punishing platforming worth the challenge to get through and I can already see its addicting ‘just-one-more-try’ instant respawns reminding me of the longer-than-intended sessions I had with the Trials games and I look forward to them in Celeste! I am only about a half hour in, but have heard nothing but the best of acclaim for its narrative about overcoming personal struggles to make it to the top of a mountain! 22) Fans of Gamers Who Crave Limited Runs

I imagine you have heard of them before, but if not then both Limited Run Games and FanGamer have both been great sites I have been persistently coming back to for primarily physical copies of smaller indie games and top-tier quality gaming memorabilia. I am happy to see Limited Run expanding in 2018 by finally starting to publish games on Switch and landing their more anticipated games in a limited window preorder program so everyone has a shot at getting a copy. It was also encouraging to hear that some of their games will be shipping in smaller quantities to Best Buys across the country so people who do not order their games online have a shot at getting some of their titles the traditional way. Some of the titles I ordered this year from them that I was stoked to get physical copies of include Late Shift, Read Only Memories and Golf Story. That is right, I do not own a Switch yet but ordered Golf Story because I loved the GBC/GBA RPG takes on Mario Golf that Golf Story is the spiritual successor of and I kept hearing how it hits all the right notes for fans of those handheld classics. I anticipate I will get a Switch within the next year pending the inevitable smaller redesign of the system. My only qualm with Limited Run now is with their growth their shipping times have significantly increased. I recall my first few Limited Run games I ordered taking 2-4 weeks to ship, now the last several I got all took 3-5 MONTHS each. Step it up guys! I will also tip my hat to FanGamer for their plethora of must-have merchandise. I loved their meticulously detailed strategy/companion guides for Earthbound and Mother 3. It is awesome they are collaborating with Jeremy Perish to publish deluxe hardcover books of his transcripts for his excellent Works line of anthology retro gaming videos. FanGamer has a ton of artistic shirts, posters and other memorabilia for many top-rated indie games. I ordered my first shirt from them recently with this design that perfectly captures the spirit of WindJammers. I am also perplexed with their sudden infatuation to the classic run-and-gunner, Sunset Riders, FanGamer recently obtained the merchandising rights for. They celebrated the occasion with a unique cosplay promotional video that almost convinced me to order their Sunset Riders branded wallet….almost! 21) 25 Years of the Real-est Interactive Multiplayer in the Room!

Guys, the 3DO is a pretty neat system! Seriously! Of course I did not spend the obscene $700 when it first launched 25 years ago, but I got it for a bargain in 2007 and went on to hunt down many games that I always wanted to try for the platform. Not all of them were winners, but there were several that wound up as worthy inclusions in my library. My recommended games for the 3DO include the awesome party game Twisted, its mascot platformer Gex and the original Need for Speed. 3DO also has excellent versions of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Family Feud, Madden and arguably the best version of the classic motorcycle racer, Road Rash! Nearing its 25th anniversary and just in time for Halloween, the good people at Your Parents Basement Podcast invited me on to guest host and commemorate one of the 3DO’s spooooop-iest games, the Tia Carrere FMV thriller, The Daedalus Encounter! I busted out my 3DO from the closet and booted up my old save and came pretty darn close to finishing it before the puzzles got to be too much of a brainbuster for me! Riveting times were had breaking down and dissecting the game with the YPB crew which you can check out and download here. 20) Shmuppreciation 2018

One of my favorite podcasts I have been a listener to for over 13 years now is Super-the-Hardest. They use to be primarily videogame-centric, but have since evolved over the years to focus on whatever topics pique their interest such as craft brews, board games and jamming out to vinyl records! One of their longest traditions has always been dedicating March to shmup/space shooter games. I am not a pro shump player by any means, but always am down to pump in a few credits and blast away for as long as I can survive. They have a small, but tight-knit forum community I have always been a part of and when March hit the hosts were asking there if anyone was playing any shmups yet. A couple days went by with little response, and knowing how big shmup-month was for that community in previous years I was suddenly inspired to start up weekly high score chases on the forums there with the focus this year being on three random NES shmups each week. I tried to have a consistent rotation of the three games being one common/popular shmup such as Gradius & 1943, another lesser known domestic release like Alpha Mission & Zombie Nation and finally a imported Famicom game that never saw a stateside release with picks this year including Parodius Da & Gradius II. At least a few us participated each week posting our scores and exchanging tips and breaking down how good/awful that week’s selections were. It was a heck of a month and somehow I managed to keep up posting selections each week and got in time with every game! No idea if I will do it again for 2019, but if I do I think it may be time to upgrade to 16-bits! 19) The 3DS Soul Still Burns!!

I somehow managed to sneak in an hour of time into my 3DS each week. I was ecstatic to track down an English translation for Ace Attorney Investigation 2 that never saw an American release. I loved the first game and always wanted to play the follow-up and got most of the way through the first case. I finally played my first Fire Emblem game by putting in several hours into Fire Emblem Echoes. Hearing that Echoes was a good entry point for the series having played Advance Wars many years ago the gameplay was not that difficult to pick up. It has that same addicting strategy gameplay as Advance Wars, but with a medieval theme and a far richer narrative than what I recalled from my Advance Wars days. Just the couple of sessions I had with Echoes I was already starting to get attached to the cast. Hotel Dusk and its sequel, Last Window are my favorite DS games. They are mystery visual novels, and when I found out earlier in 2018 that some of the developers at Cing who worked on those games went on to make a bite-sized spiritual successor to it on the 3DS eShop called Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories I knew I had to get it. I bought this around when it released in 2016 and neglected it until John from the Super the Hardest podcast recapped it earlier in 2018 and inspired me to pick it up. It is essentially a more stripped down version of Cing’s earlier games as it revolves around two detectives interviewing suspects for a hospital blast. Graphics and style remind me of Hotel Dusk and the lead detective in Distant Memories looks quite similar to one Kyle Hyde. It was a decent little visual novel that can be finished in less than three hours, and I hope it gets a follow-up, but it appears this one came and went because I have heard nothing since. I finally started up Theatrhythm 2: Curtain Call. In case you missed out on it before it assembles the protagonists from past Final Fantasy games and makes a fun battle system/rhythm game of over 100 songs from the rich history of Final Fantasy soundtracks while somehow fitting in a intricate narrative too. Wish I had more time to get into it and I think I will have to restart it I manage to deep dive into it because I spent the bulk of my 3DS time once again this year with Dragon Quest VIII. My save file is currently approaching 110 hours in DQVIII. However, the last 15-ish hours have been spent grinding from levels 40-65 for most of my party members for the final boss. To say the boss is a pain is an understatement. I failed multiple times at vanquishing him, thus the hours at grinding away. I will never forget my time with DQVIII, but am looking forward to finishing it on one of my next sessions so I can finally put more time into other games. The 3DS still had a strong 2018 from Nintendo published games and I wound up picking up Captain Toad, Detective Pikachu and WarioWare Gold which I desperately want to dive into! 18) ‘Get Ready for a Cruise Missile!’

I use to play a ton of sports games until several years ago. I took a long hiatus from them to focus on more narrative-driven games. Madden NFL ‘18 premiering its story mode dubbed ‘Longshot’ got me curious at giving the acclaimed football series another go for the first time in five years. I surprisingly dug Madden’s take on a story mode and loved playing as the fictional Devin Wade working his way through the reality show challenges and playing in flashback high school games with lighthearted local announcers providing the unintentional best sports commentary out there. Longshot also had a well-rounded cast filled with some surprising moments I never thought I would get invested in such as getting them sports feels flowing for the Longshot acoustic sing-a-long! The story mode only took a few hours to play through and even if you are not a fan of football games I would recommend giving it a shot as the football parts are few and far between and the story mode is primarily QTE/mini-game focused. Story mode aside, I managed to play a few rounds online against my friend Steve I use to play countless sports games with over the years and it felt good to reignite that rivalry. Madden still plays as good as I remember, and one thing I want to point out from the core game is the new NFL commentators they brought in for ’18 & ’19 with Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis easily being the best announce team in Madden history that added a ton to the presentation unlike any Madden announce team before them! I did pick up Madden NFL ‘19 recently because it has ‘Longshot Part 2’ which promises to conclude the storyline for Devin Wade and his buddy Colt Cruise, but other than a couple rounds online with Steve again I have yet to dive into it. After catching a couple scenes online I am psyched to see how Longshot concludes and plan on blitzing through it around Super Bowl time like I did with part one in 2018.

If you are not a fan of sim-football and prefer arcade style action in the vein of NFL Blitz than I will instead point you towards Mutant Football League which I played nearly a full season of off-and-on throughout 2018. It is the spiritual successor to EA’s awesome Mutant League Football on the Genesis, and part of me is still surprised how the team did not get a cease-and-desist from EA with a slightly altered name change and bring over so much of the look and feel of the original game. It modernized all the things I loved from the first game with a game engine that plays like a amped up version of Blitz, and retains classic elements of the Genesis game like being able to kill your adversaries in all types of gruesome ways and introducing awesome powered up attacks that can be used once per half to up the brutality. And yes, you can still bribe and kill refs! I was a little bummed Mutant Football League did not get that much of a buzz when it finally released because it had a successful Kickstarter campaign and a follow-up to the Genesis game has been long demanded in the sports gaming circles I follow. A physical copy released later in the year with a new Franchise mode included so hopefully that will bring some new eyes onto the game. If you want more over-the-top arcade-like gameplay out of your football games then by all means give Mutant Football League a try! I also got really into my first basketball-sim in many years. I dabbled with a couple arcade-hoops games over past couple years and really dug the Neo-Geo Arcade Archives re-release of Street Hoop on Xbox One, while the free-to-play Xbox One hoops game, 3-on-3 Freestyle…..not so much. I always stuck with NBA 2K games as my NBA sim of choice since their debut on Dreamcast and picked one up every couple years and played them regularly through 2K11. Early in 2018 however a super cheap digital sale on NBA Live ‘18 convinced me to give it a shot. I have solely been playing its create-a-player story/career mode ‘The One.’ I have been digging it and loved the first several games I played in ‘The One’ proving my worth in street games of 21. Every few games there would be these hilarious FMV updates from a First Take set with Stephen A Smith and Max Kellerman being over-the-top versions of their already over-the-top personalities which convinced me that my created player was going to dominate the street leagues and become the #1 draftee in the NBA….it did not turn out that way, but I am having a blast so far proudly representing the Timberwolves while dishing out far too many three-point attempts than I should be. ---YouTube Break #3--- Re-watching that NBA Live ’18 clip of Stephen A. Smith got me to dig up this compilation of clips of Mr. Smith at his zaniest. Here is the final version of the full Longshot song of which I have no shame having it in my running playlist! PART 4 - RANKINGS 17 THROUGH 14 17) The End Day is a Lie!

I was going to say a couple entries earlier when covering all those NES shmups that I have not played that much NES in years, but that statement would have been false because mere weeks before that I played through the entirety of the post-apocalyptic, action-RPG Crystalis on NES! It was the featured game on the first of two Your Parents Basement podcast episodes I guest hosted on for 2018. I picked up both the NES and GBC versions a couple years ago after hearing countless years of love from the staff at GameCola about it. I managed to play through most of it by the time we recorded that YPB episode and finished it off a few days after that. All these years after its original release, Crystalis is still a fun action-RPG to plow through. I loved the accessibility of the combat, and while the options to choose from to level up seem quaint now, I can imagine how they were top of their league at the time. After beating the NES version I put an hour into the GBC port to see how it held up. I heard the GBC version get a fair amount of slack over the years, but from my initial time with the handheld port it seemed noticeably cleaner and had some useful tips at the opening town that would have benefitted my first time through. I had a great time sharing my experience with the YPB crew and if you are interested in hearing our takes on SNK’s 8-bit RPG then click here to check out that episode. It seemed only fitting that the NES original got its first retro re-release later on in 2018 on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Switch. 16) Pinball Quest 2018

Welcome to my yearly blurb all about feeding my addiction to videogame pinball. In case you skipped around this year-end round-up (I do not blame you!) I will refer you to entry #23 for some quick thoughts on Yoku’s Island Express. I only got a few rounds of my favorite PC-exclusive pinball game, Hyperspace Pinball in 2018, and the last time I played it a couple weeks ago I had a great run and was briefly ecstatic until the leaderboard indicated I missed my personal high-score by a smidge! I also gave a couple runs to what appears to be a mobile pinball game ported to Xbox One in Quantic Pinball. It is a fine little pinball game, but its mobile roots are too apparent and not many upgrades are present to make the console release feel warranted. 2018 was a strange year for Pinball Arcade. I wanted to make the switch to primarily playing it on PS4 in 2017, but that proved difficult upon discovery of my dozens of tables I purchased on PS3/Vita not being import-able to the PS4 version like I was able to for the dozens of tables I acquired for Zen Pinball 2 to work on Pinball FX3. So that meant I would have to buy the tables all over again. I held off for a long time, but I wound up spending roughly $200 on all of the DLC for it upon hearing midway in 2018 all of Pinball Arcade’s collection of tables under license from Williams/Bally would no longer be supported for purchase with only a few weeks notice to be able to buy them and add them to your Pinball Arcade library. Plopping down around $200 all at once for that DLC was a punch in the gut, but ultimately I do not regret it because there are some minor, but noticeable enhancements to the visuals on the PS4 version of Pinball Arcade and it has a slightly cleaner feel to the gameplay too. Additionally the developers at Farsight now have a separate game called Stern Pinball Arcade so the newer Stern tables have a flashier place to reside. I perfectly understand the idea to make the Stern tables pop more on their own platform. The Stern tables purchased theoretically work in both Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade, but doing so requires reactivating the purchased license in the clunky Playstation Store interface and it once lead to me to inadvertently purchasing the same table twice.

A couple months later I was stunned to find out that Zen Studios gained the license for the Williams tables and by the end of the year would have their first seven tables from the Williams/Bally collection available for download to Pinball FX3 (PFX3). I have mixed feelings about this. I do like Zen’s optional upgraded graphical enhancements to the tables, but the overall physics for the ball movement does not feel like the authentic movement that Pinball Arcade faithfully represented. There is an option in Pinball Arcade for ‘classic mode’ which kind of slows down the speed of play and leans the gameplay to marginally feel like an authentic pinball experience, but it simply does not cut it overall. Hopefully Zen can take the feedback and continue to improve in future DLC tables. Gripes on the Williams tables aside, I enjoyed the rest of my time in 2018 with PFX3. I have heard the criticism for Zen Studios’ unrealistic style of pinball, but I have always been a fan of theirs and feel there is room for both authentic digital pinball from Pinball Arcade and faster physics with the more fantastical tables from Zen. I finally started to grasp PFX3’s initially intimidating ‘mastery’ system of each table. The mastery system is topping off essentially an experience meter for each table by achieving score goals in each gameplay option available and maxing out several stat meters. I did this for The Infinity Gauntlet, Back to the Future and almost all the way for Medieval Madness. I also got into the weekly online scoring ‘matchup’ league play where PFX3 randomly picks four tables and scores posted by three random players in three skill levels for three minutes of play each week. By toying around with trying to master tables and online score chasing in matchup play it lead to a lot more time invested in Pinball FX3 compared to 2017. 15) Sega Channel 2018

In the summer of 1996 I spent about five or six afternoons a week at my friend’s place playing Sega Channel. No memories of it? Here is some vintage archival footage of its menus of the Sega Channel experience. It was Sega’s sweet-at-the-time service where in coordination with cable companies from 1994-98 you would pay $15/month to have a rotating monthly selection of 40 games playable from a special cartridge that hooked up to the household cable line. Games would download to a temporary internal memory on the cartridge from the cable line over a minute or two and save states were also available. It was the current Netflix streaming of gaming and was way ahead of its time. It was also how I discovered countless Genesis favorites I hunted down at local shops and online after I got my first job a few years later. It took 20 years after Sega Channel shutdown to get a faithful reincarnation of it, but only far better in every way. GameTap sort of brought it back to the PC for the few years it was around in the 2000s. However, Xbox brought it back in full force with its excellent Game Pass service for Xbox One it introduced in 2018. Instead of 40 games available to play each month there are 100+ rotating games for Xbox. Add on Microsoft’s bold move of making all their first party games available on Game Pass on day one of their release and it would be insane not to recommend it, especially for new Xbox One owners. I actually am that insane though and do not have it because of my massive backlog and lack of time to commit. However for new Xbox One owners and/or game players on a budget like students or parents looking to save lots of money getting games for their kids they would be in an ideal position going with Game Pass and a Games for Gold subscription which additionally nets ownership of four games each month to their Xbox games library. 14) Ride or Die

Like pinball games, I also have a yearly blurb on my experiences with racing/driving games for the year. I felt my year in driving titles slightly nudged out my pinball times, thus it being a couple notches higher ranked. If you dear reader are randomly bouncing around this list then I will refer you to entry #25 where I touch on driving games coming out of Steam Early Access such as Road Redemption, Wreckfest, Distance, Jalopy & Super Indie Kart. There were a few driving titles I dabbled this year in that I wish I had more time to plug away at. As you will see later in this round-up, I am a nut for the Sega 80s arcade driving titles like Hang-On & OutRun, and the PS4/Switch release of Horizon Chase Turbo is the best spiritual successor to that type of racer I have seen over the years. They brought on the same composer from those games and the visuals have a nice modern HD look to them that capture the spirit of those 80s greats. It has been a great while since I played a snowmobile racing game and Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge was a limited, but fun budget title racer on PS3 that reminded me of a fond time when all I wanted was a no-thrills career mode with a few dozen races and simple stat upgrades to deal with in a career mode. Drive!Drive!Drive! was the final racer I put some minor time into, and that was an extraordinary title where I would have to bounce around multiple cameras to control simultaneous races. At the beginning of the year I was wrapping up the last dozen or so races/events in the 360 version of Forza Horizon 2. I had another good time with it like its open-world predecessor and took advantage of that rewind button to avoid retrying the same track over and over, but looking back I preferred the experience of the first FH more as the sequel seemed more of the same, but in a less spectacular backdrop. Friends are telling me to skip three and jump to the new fourth game in the series getting a lot of buzz online now, but the third game has that tempting Australian outback setting I froth to explore and on top of that the unique Hot Wheels DLC pack I heard nothing but superb things about. So I will continue to be extremely behind on that series and plan to jump into FH3 later this year.

I went on an odd Monster Truck binge in 2018. The Xbox One digital store had Monster Jam: Crush-It available for dirt cheap one week, and having a modicum of nostalgic memories of past entries in the long running budget title series I wound up taking a chance on it. After spending far more time than I should have with it, ‘budget’ is a generous description for Crush-It, because this racer is full of absurd physics, bizarre collision detection and endless other bugs. After a ton of bugs causing too many rage-inducing moments I beat enough tracks and finished all the challenges to make Crush-It of all games to have the dubious honor of being the first Xbox One game I unlocked the full 1000 gamerscore in. After wrapping up my time with Crush-It I stumbled into picking up a copy of Monster Truck Madness 64. Microsoft was developing the series at that point on PC for awhile, but ported it to N64 and had a pre-GTA Rockstar Games publish it for them. Unfortunately the Rockstar branding could not have saved MM64 as it too was also rough around the edges with terribly loose steering that had me dreading every corner. It did feature the nWo muscle trucks at the time though that brought back memories of the old WCW Motorsports advertising. The racing game I put the most time into in 2018 was The Crew. Not the sequel that came out later in the year, but the original game. I got around halfway in it via staggered play over the previous year or two, but with the release of the sequel approaching I grinded away in the couple of months leading up to its release to finish the avenge your brother’s death storyline which I actually kind of dug. There was a surprisingly gripping cinema building up to campaign’s final race where I was legit getting behind protagonist Alex Taylor. I had fun just messing around and cruising around UbiSoft’s condensed open-world of the continental United States and tracking down their take on iconic landmarks. I messed around a little here and there with their instantaneous online coop/versus multiplayer reminiscent of Test Drive Unlimited, and had a few fun online moments but I enjoyed most of my time in the single player. Gameplay wise it is not five stars by any means, and I would prefer Forza Horizon any day, but there was something about the gritty underground nature of The Crew and its car-culture-gang-warfare story that kept me sticking with it. I eventually picked up the sequel recently on a bargain bin digital sale for the ultimate season pass edition being 60% off so who knows, I likely see myself in 2019 playing The Crew 2 and Forza Horizon 3 concurrently at my regular on-and-off pace. ---YouTube Break #4--- I am always a sucker for when a racing game injects a storyline to its single player campaign, especially if it is completely ridiculous! Hey, you know what other racing game had super-cheesy-yet-awesome cutscenes? The original Need for Speed: Most Wanted in 2005. Here is a link to its entire half hour of cutscenes. Eat your heart out Tokyo Drift! They came a long way from EA’s DIY live-action cinemas from the original 3DO game that you can see right here. EA tried to recapture the glory days of their cornball cutscenes with 2015’s Need for Speed. It has some moments like first person fist-bumping and energy drink chugging that you see in their entire bro-ness right here, but 2005’s Most Wanted will always reign supreme in my book! PART 5 - RANKINGS 13 THROUGH 10 13) Spoooooky Gaming For Halloween I brought up to my board game/videogame night friends Derek, Brooke & Ryan about doing a spooky gaming marathon. They did me one better and recommend I bring over my copy of Hidden Agenda on PS4 to binge through that I have been occasionally throwing out for an option over the previous months. Hidden Agenda kind of snuck under-the-radar towards the end of 2017 as it came from the same team that made the critically acclaimed teenage spooky thriller, Until Dawn. This is another spooky-thriller, but designed to be played with your friends and finished in one session within three hours. It is a game that requires a smartphone app to play, and luckily it came close, but did not deplete our entire charge by the time the credits rolled. The app had some clever functionality that kept tabs on case notes and presented us with options to vote on which way to take the story next like having to choose which part of the case to investigate, or which path to split off into. While the story was a little all over the place it managed to get us riled up and jumpy a few times, and was still a blast to play through in its entirety in a single night on Halloween weekend. Now I need to replay it on my own to have complete control over the story so on my calendar this October I am going to write a big reminder to replay Hidden Agenda and finally bust open and plow through Until Dawn. 12) Back-to-Back!!!

I have been avoiding most co-op gaming that cannot be finished in a single session like Hidden Agenda for a few years now due to lack of time to finish lengthier co-op games. I made one exception this year where my same friend Matt and I met up twice to persevere through A Way Out. It is a coop game clocking in at around a whopping six hours. That is a lot for me nowadays. Matt and I absolutely loved our time with A Way Out. Spending the first couple of hours getting to know the prison system and plan our escape was a rush and it reminded me of the equally awesome first few hours of Xbox’s Chronicles of Riddick. Crawling up the air shaft with that back-to-back mini-game will go down as one of my favorite moments in co-op gameplay. The plot I found myself getting into where two would-be fugitives found themselves teaming up to escape prison and get back to their loved ones. It kind of disappointingly unravels in the final moments with some bold narrative choices the developers made that I am still processing in my mind on how I feel about the final hour of play. The ‘must talk to everyone’ extremist in me was addicted to talking to nearly all NPCs and have brief choice-based conversations with all of them. The developers at Hazelight Studios cram in diverse gameplay throughout with plenty of exploring, interrogating, QTE segments, platforming, gunfights, intense car chase sequences and a big highlight being a hospital chase sequence where A Way Out seamlessly bounces back and forth between the two characters as they get split up and must evade the police. If you are looking for something fresh and different than the infinite amount of co-op shooters available, then give A Way Out a chance. 11) ‘This is a No-Smoking Flight!’

If you do not recognize that quote it is from the adorable master of cooking eggs, Sunny, at the close of one of the numerous lengthy cutscenes that Metal Gear Solid 4 was known for. The ending cutscene is literally the length of a movie, and the cinemas between each of MGS4’s acts are right around an hour each and I would not want it any other way! MGS4 was the first MGS game I finished nearly 10 years ago and I decided it was only appropriate to revisit it after finishing the first three MGS games in the past couple of years. I got so much more out of MGS4 this way by actually getting the countless past references to the core trilogy of games this time around. I loved that MG4 also had memorable debuting characters like the aforementioned Sunny and the soda-chugging gun-runner, Drebin! Since I last played MGS4 Konami has also patched in trophies so it was worthwhile to hunt down those and look into some that swayed me to approach gameplay in a different fashion which yielded a refreshing second go-around. After finishing MGS4, I continued my ritual of view that installment’s complete gameplay commentary from Dan and Drew at GiantBomb to get essentially a third playthrough experience out of MGS4. I did not make major progress in the rest of my Metal Gear quest otherwise throughout the year. I did get a little ways into MGS5 at the beginning of the year, but then felt compelled to drop it and play through MGS4 before it instead. That was probably a wrong decision in hindsight, but at least it gives me an excuse to restart it and experience one of gaming’s grandest opening missions yet again. I did pick up the GBC version of Metal Gear Solid last year for a decent price at a local retro shop, so if I ever do finish MGS5 I would like to play the GBC title along with the MSX versions of the original two games. 10) Better Late than Never

I have no idea why I held off seven years on getting around to the highly-touted Saints Row the Third, especially after loving the first two games and finishing them in quick fashion right around their release. The third game in the open-world crime action series upped the zany factor the series debuted in the second game with some of its activities by introducing all kinds of over-the-top elements in the story missions and into the weapons, upgrades, you name it. Here are a few examples so you can see for yourself. Saints Row the Third gave the franchise its own satirical identity when before it was only a pretty solid GTA-clone. Waiting seven years to get to this classic made certain parts of the graphics seem a little long in the tooth, but for the most part the visuals and core gameplay held up nicely. Experimenting with the huge variety of weapons and vehicles available made cruising through the open world a lot of fun. Same goes for the series trademark offering of mini-game ‘activities.’ The developers at Volition pushed every button to get the most out of that M rating to make its missions standout like no other as they go in places you will not believe. I went on to play both pieces of the story-based DLC content which take the Saints in filming their own Gangstas in Space movie and chasing down an evil mutant clone of series mascot, Johnny Gat. If you missed out on this landmark achievement in open-world gameplay then consider this synopsis somewhat timely since THQ Nordic will be releasing Saints Row the Third later this year on switch. ---YouTube Break #5--- Grab a glass of water dear reader for still sticking with me through this unbelievable amount of words! If you stuck with last year’s round-up to the very end, then you will remember this video I will treat you to a little early. That is right it is time for the epic John Cena animated prank call of doom! Speaking of Mr. ‘You Can’t See Me’ here is a fun clip I recently ran into John promoting his recent BumbleBee film where he chats up Matt McConaughey about old school Texas wrestling. What is that? You want a non wrestling-related video, fine I get it, then enjoy this take from James Rolfe as he breaks down two childhood favorite video game themed game shows I grew up with in the early 90s, Video Power & Nick Arcade. PART 6 - RANKINGS 9 THROUGH 4 9)Discovering my Favorite Gaming Blog

Early in 2018 I was scouring the webs digging up info on the must-have import games for the Super Famicom/SNES. I came across this top 50 list ranking the most obscure SNES imports from a blog called RVGFanatic. It is a blog primarily dedicated to covering SNES/Super Famicom games, but also has the occasional feature covering a game on another system or a random personal life story. The site has been around for over a decade and RVGFanatic continues to publish a few new entries a month. His writing and coverage reminds me of the writing style dominant in gaming magazines from the 90s and RVGFanatic stated in various articles that was his intention with the design in the blog. I spent a good chunk of the year revisiting his site and perusing the archives there because there is an earnest quality to his writing that captures the sheer joy of growing up with those games. He manages to be both reflective and current with his writing recognizing pros and cons the games have been known for, while also recapturing the experience of playing that game for the first time. A prime example of this is his recent review of Clay Fighter. It perfectly encapsulated my memories of the much hyped fighter looking wicked cool with its revolutionary graphics which helped hide its haphazard gameplay. His occasional personal blogs were metaphorical page-turners too as I related with him perfectly to his excellent write-up of rental store memories as well with his piece on wrestling nostalgia of the Hulk-a-Mania years of the then-WWF. I can recommend so many more of his articles and reviews, but instead I recommend you dive in and get lost in RVGFanatic’s archives like I did! 8) My Handpicked Top Gaming Videos of 2018 I have been scouring the YouTubes and GiantBombs throughout the year and have some of my highest recommendations of my favorite videos to add to your watch later q! Without further ado, here are my top picks of 2018… GiantBomb - Die Another Friday| Winter Games 2018 | Gaiden the Ring & Get in the Ring| Mario Party Party 11 | Quiet Man Quick Look | Wreckfest Quick Look | Detective Pikachu Quick Look Jeremy Parish ‘Works’ Videos - Too hard to pick just one all of them are so informative and comprehensive. Pick a system of Works videos from the playlists indexed here MetalJesus - Game Pickups with Reggie | Vinyl Record Pickups | Wii and PSP Hidden Gems |PS2 Hidden Gems Gaming Historian – Story of Punchout | Story of Tetris Game Sack – Star Trek Games Up Up Down Down - E3 Live – Elite vs New Day Street Fighter V Challenge | Edge and Christian NHL 95 Faceoff No Clip – History of Bethesda AVGN - Earthbound | Home Alone games with MaCauly Caulkin Same Name, Different Game – FirePro Wrestling | Punisher | Street Fighter Alpha Classic Gaming Quarterly - Let’s Read TurboPlay | Nintendo Power | Game Pro | Official DreamCast Magazine Scott the Woz - Wii Ware Chronicles | Devils Third | Madden NFL 08 That list there is days full of quality videos to last you throughout 2019, I hope you dig them as much as I did! 7) Videogame Vinyl

How the hell did I go down this whole!? I recall first getting clued into the world of emerging videogame soundtracks on vinyl from this music primer episode of Retronauts. Later in 2017 a friend gifted me his old record player since he recently upgrade along with a couple records. Since I had the record player in my possession I figured I had to had to track down a just a few records for it and I heard good things about soundtrack vinyls from Mondo and I went and ordered several records from them. That was the first domino tumbling right there, and from that point it was inevitable to prevent the rest tumbling after them. Throughout 2018 other websites I follow like Limited Run, Data Disc and FanGamer started to offer videogame OSTs on vinyl and I made several more purchases throughout the year. I do not have hundreds of vinyls mind you, but I finished the year with around 15. I made sure to track down some iconic videogame soundtracks like a few from the Castlevania series, Earthbound and Snatcher. There were also a few oddballs that still boggle my mind why they got a vinyl release like Windjammers and Mortal Kombat I & II that I convinced myself I had to have. I am not buying these to sit on the shelf though as I have been getting some quality use out of my record player jamming out to soundtracks while cleaning the house and doing DDP Yoga three times a week. 6) Hey-a Fellers

It was practically impossible to avoid getting sucked up by the whirlwind of hype in the months leading up to Red Dead Redemption 2’s release. I also loved its predecessor so much that I knew I had to be there day one to be in on the conversation going around the gaming press zeitgeist about RDR2’s opening acts. South Park got in on the RDR2 hype train too with a couple episodes where the whole town is addicted to it. Rockstar does not disappoint with their narrative and audio/visual presentation. I will not bore you with the details you have likely read elsewhere by now, but rest assured the open-world, cast, narrative, visuals and especially the score and voice acting is aces all around! Not all is aces though as RDR2’s multi-faceted control scheme has been divisive among many in the gaming media. Bottom line, there are too many functions for every button on the controller, and at points I completely forgot certain controls and had to do a quick online search for a refresher on how to do specific abilities like dual wielding and changing coats. Those gripes quickly washed away after extended sessions with RDR2 where I cannot help but get immersed and lose myself in the world. I spent so much time looking forward to getting distracted by whatever quick instant side mission or event that popped up traversing to my next checkpoint. According to my progress I am 36% the way through RDR2 after what seems roughly that many hours in the game, however I am only in chapter two because I keep having so much fun clearing out whatever side missions get accumulated in my checklist. I easily see many more hours to come in RDR2 throughout 2019. 5) The Hidden Beauty of Shield Snow-Surfing!

2017’s #1 pick, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took up so much of my playtime in 2018 that it managed to eeek its way into my top five of 2018! There is simply so much to explore, see and do and I am insane at refusing to take advantage of fast travel due to fear of missing out on seeing cool stuff. The photo I attached here showing my 133 hours of total play time was taken shortly before Halloween and I have put at least several more hours in since then. I will give a shoutout to my co-worker Mike who has been awesome to trade tips and stories with since Breath of the Wild’s launch. He gave me a ton of great pointers and his advice has made my experience with BotW a better one! Mike filled me in all about the wondrous technique that is shield surfing! I later discovered more about it when my random traversing lead me to a corner of the wintry mountainous region of the map where I was taught shield surfing and how that lead to the thrills surfing through the snow blanketed mountains of Hyrule. I have made so much progress this year! I am down to needing to unlock only two more parts of the map where my one last divine beast to conquer lies before finally taking on Hyrule Castle and Ganon! I loved my time in the Lost Woods and Lomei Labyrinth Island that was a hoot to find my way out of. I finally got the Master Sword. I took some stabs at the DLC trials for the Master Sword which is reminiscent of the extremely tough-but-fair challenge that is Eventide Island. I failed after several attempts, but would like to conquer them to increase the Master Sword’s power! Speaking of DLC I waded around with a handful of the DLC quests available and unlocked the Korok mask from the DLC quests which looks funky as hell, but it has helped me amass at least triple the amount of Korok Seeds I would have found on my own. I want to jump into the DLC quest that unlocks the ‘Master Cycle Zero’ (aka Hyrule Motorcycle) as footage I have seen so far looks straight-up rad cruising through Hyrule in their trippy looking hot-rod. Mark my words, Breath of the Wild, in 2019 I will finally finish the core quest and vanquish Ganon and unlock the Master Cycle Zero! 4) Eeeeeeelsss Oxenfree was my game of the year in 2016. I loved its art style, mysterious narrative and especially its script where the teenagers would one second be trying to solve this multi-layered mystery on an island and the next have a heart-to-heart chat about stereotypical teenage drama. Night in the Woods was receiving a lot of the same buzz over it also being a Narrative Exploration game with a relatable 2D art style and similar plot hooks to the point that among the gaming press it was generating buzz of being 2017’s top Narrative Exploration title. After looking into Night in the Woods I could not help but be reeled in by its plot where a failed college student drops out of college two years in and returns to her small podunk town of Possum Springs to try and recapture her days of chilling with her high school friends but only for them all to be later caught up in local town superstitions proving not to be so superstitious.

As attractive as the plot was I could not help but, I would not say be turned off, but rather mystified about the decision to go with humanoid-structured animals representing all the characters. First impressions watching initial gameplay of Night in the Woods made that choice in character style difficult to suspend my disbelief and maintain my focus on checking out the game. I am not saying that is a bad thing, I am simply stating that is what was perplexing my mind. There must have been others who felt similar to me because there was also a harsher vocal contingent who was upset with people avoiding the game due to the art style who wrote a few articles stating that if you were avoiding playing this because of animals as characters than to F off. That led to me not wanting to get caught up in all that hoopla so I decided it was best to avoid that controversy. It was only around game of the year time at the end of 2017 where I heard friendlier supporters of the game rally behind it with high praise that convinced me to give it a chance and start it up at the beginning of 2018. I am relieved I did because Night in the Woods is a kickass Narrative Exploration game! The writing is right up there with Oxenfree as all the characters captured that local post-high school angst and rebellion of trying to make it in the real world and things not quite working out. I settled into a convenient routine of daily life gameplay where the player character Mae would check in with her parents and of course with me being me, make sure to talk to every local I would come across because they had something different to say every day! The dialogue for every major and minor character was so spot on that it made going out of my way to talk to everyone worthwhile and random spots in town had special one-time moments going in with periphery characters that if I did not check out I would have completely missed out on such as a poetry reading contest, breaking light bulbs behind a corner store and checking out the stars with your old teacher.

There are a lot of singular moments that really stuck with me in Night in the Woods. Every day in the game you are presented with the option of going out on a side-adventure with one of Mae’s two best friends Gregg or Bae. I chose to do all mine with Bae so if I do get around to playing through this again I will do Gregg’s side stories on my replay to have at least a little bit of new content playable in each day of gameplay. Bae has some priceless moments with Mae where the two have serious chats about their most personal feelings that few other games I have seen dared, and they also have some priceless lighthearted moments where the two get mischievous in a dilapidated mall, complete with a mini-game on trying to steal from a Hot Topic-esque store. The most hard-hitting moment that I vividly recall was when Mae’s mom has a bad day and does a 180 heel turn on her daughter! It hurt so much! Mommmmm!!!! I was thinking once Night in the Woods was going to focus more on the supernatural mystery it would take away from Mae’s personal drama that was so irresistible to get caught up in. Thankfully, that was not the case as it was doubly entertaining to watch Mae’s crew come together and discover the truth behind the superstitions plaguing Possum Springs. As you can tell I got so into Night in the Woods’ page-turning narrative that within about a half hour of starting the thought of the characters being animals did not cross my mind, and looking back on it the designs of the animals corresponded appropriately to the personalities they were representing. Minus the handful of over-ambitious dream sequences that were a little bit of a chore to get through and I might have given this a nod over Oxenfree. That split hair aside, Night in the Woods is a spectacular Narrative Exploration game and hangs in the upper elite tier of them with Oxenfree, Firewatch and Gone Home so if these games are up your alley make sure you do not make the same mistake I did and hold off on Night in the Woods for this long. ---YouTube Break #6--- Holy hell, I did not intend to turn my listing for Night in the Woods into a full-on review, but I could not help myself! Good news though dear reader, we are finally at the last YouTube break as we approach the final three entries of my Top 36 Gaming Experiences of the Year!!! So let us cleanse our palates from games for a moment and grab a Yoo-Hoo from the fridge and mix it with a shot of Rumchata as we watch my last YouTube recommendations. Cinemassacre started a new line of videos on their channel in 2018 that I got into called Rental Reviews. Those reviews are four guys gathering around and breaking down a new or classic movie they watched earlier that week and it reminded me of going to films with a few friends and hanging outside the theater for awhile rambling on about how much we loved or hated that movie. The Cinemassacre crew has some fun with the episodes with mini sketches introducing the episodes and random mid-episode gags. My favorite episodes from their first year that I recommend the most are for Star Trek V, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Rental Store Memories, Street Fighter, Die Hard & Commando. Now that we got all that movie criticism out of the way, let us proceed with the final three entries for the year. Thank you all to have hung in with me so far on this one-of-a-kind game of the year journey! PART 7 - RANKINGS 3 THROUGH 1 3) Returning to the Midwest Gaming Classic

From 2007-2013 one of my favorite times of the year was attending a local retro game expo, The Midwest Gaming Classic. Many great times were had there hunting down retro games, hanging out with an awesome forum community I once frequented, classic sessions of late-night karaoke and checking out tons of arcade machines and game consoles set up on free play. Unfortunately the timing of it always fell in a rough time of the year for me and it grew increasingly difficult to make time for it each year until it came down to where I had to stop going for four years. I was not going to make it this year again until a couple of my online gaming friends who I hung out with at MGC before and still keep in touch with asked if I was making it and that convinced me to pull some strings at work and manage to split up some vacation days I had coming so I was able to make the 12-hour drive out to Milwaukee and back home with a couple hours to spare before my first shift back at work. Bear with me as I give yet another shoutout to Glenn and Jeff for reaching out and asking me about MGC because it resulted in an awesome weekend with some wicked weather to dance around to make it there and back. Wound up hanging out and touching base again with tons of great people I had not seen in four or five years. We had a blast hanging out late night after the show playing SNES games on a projector until we were zombies and watching the spiritual successor to King of Kong in Man vs. Snake. It also helped that MGC has moved to a bigger and nicer venue from the last time I went with room to grow. It was like MGC got revitalized by having adequate room for the mammoth vendor halls, game museum, free play arcade and conference rooms for speakers and panels. I caught a few panels on retro gaming and hung out with On the Stick’s Joe Drilling talking wrasslin’ and retro gaming after his panel. I succeeded in my game hunting quest in the vendor hall to hunt down the last couple of NES PowerPad games I did not own, and accidentally came across a homebrew bag toss game I never heard of before called Tailgate Party that I picked up to complete the collection. It proved to be a epic time that I was barely able to pull off at the last minute, but I do not regret it because it was yet another classic MGC weekend for the ages! 2) Forklift Races

It is kind of hard to place how much I love both Shenmue I & II. I got a theory from 1997-2000 for people who played either Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid or Shenmue fresh off their release. For those three games, people would be so blown away by their then-groundbreaking new standards set for their cinematic cutscenes and ambitious narratives that they would remain forever loyal to that particular game and swear by it forever no matter how credible the negative criticism is out there for those games. That is exactly what happened to me with Shenmue as it was the first of those three games I played, and I have seen people react in near-identical fashion to the other two games. I am aware of the criticism for Shenmue and I will not deny it, but there is so much else going for it that won me over that it made me overlook it and enabled me to have one of the best single player experiences in a game ever. These last few years I was getting the itch to replay the original Shenmue when the Kickstarter was announced and funded in record time for Shenmue III. I was pleasantly surprised Sega quietly announced they were releasing a HD remaster of the first two games for current platforms to cash in on the upcoming sequel. As soon as the remaster collection hit in the summer of 2018 I dropped all other gaming and cruised through the first Shenmue within a month. I was initially trepid that the unique controls would be so outdated that Shenmue would be near unplayable. It was indeed a clumsy control scheme to get reacquainted with for my first 10-15 minutes, but after that I was whisked away back to 2000 again when I first experienced Shenmue and I was reminded how much I loved the setting of Dobuita. There are plenty of cheesy characters filled with so-awful-its-great voice acting that it was a treat reliving it all over again.

Like Night in the Woods I developed a regular daily routine while in the process of hunting down clues to find out more on who killed Ryo’s father so he could avenge his death. I would start off the day going to the local corner vending machines and grabbing an iced coffee and capsule toy. Ryo has got to have his morning coffee with the absurdly drawn-out drinking animation every morning like any other ordinary person! I would talk to as many regular shopkeepers I would about finding the latest clue and occasionally would have to battle off some street thugs for information or chase them down in a QTE sequence that Shenmue helped institutionalize among games. A guilty pleasure was visiting You Arcade nearly every in-game day for a round of a perfectly emulated version of Hang-On that I kind of was starting to ‘get gud’ at the checkpoint-based racer by the end of Shenmue. Eventually I got Ryo his infamous job driving forklifts as the plot came to a boil with Ryo hot on the tail of his father’s killer! Every day at work started off with a forklift race that had a catchy theme song I made up lyrics to nod along with for momentum. There was an achievement for winning a race…..it was the only achievement I failed to achieve! The penultimate 70-man mega-battle leading up to the final boss fight was a rush and a half to experience all over. Again, there was some outdated controls and other quirkiness that was noticeable, but it did not get in the way from my unabashed love for the series resulting in my replay of the orginal Shenmue being my second best gaming experience of 2018! I cannot recommend it for everyone as I have seen the nature of that game rub some people the wrong way and my only answer for that is Shenmue is not for everybody. My spirits were riding high after finishing it that I started watching GiantBomb’s endurance run of it recently, and I went out and tracked down the vinyl OST for Shenmue and additionally the vinyl OST for Hang-On as well. Yup, I am kind of into Shenmue just a hair or two. I did not start up Shenmue II yet off the remaster set and plan to plow through it before Shenmue III’s currently planned August 2019 release. 1) Oh my God, You Killed Connor!

After 16,000 words we are finally here at #1! I know Detroit: Become Human has some hot-button controversies around it and if you decided to avoid the game I totally get it and respect that. Now that I got that out of the way let me start by saying I have been a huge fan of Quantic Dreams going back to Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain. I even dug Beyond: Two Souls regardless of that title getting messy at a few points. I know each game has their fair share of nitpicks, but the thing Quantic Dreams nails is how they branch out their stories with its multitude of choice-based gameplay having actual impactful results in the narrative. This is not like most Telltale games where the greater arc stays the same, but the journey is slightly altered. No, characters can abruptly die when presented with a sudden major decision or major paths can be altered to skip entire levels. That is what I loved about Quantic Dreams’ games is these major chances they take on their games and Detroit absolutely kills it in these departments. Quantic also lives up to their past precedents set by moving the bar for Detroit being a true technical marvel and one of the best looking games this generation of consoles. This is coming from a person playing on a slim PS4 and not a 4K Pro system so I can only imagine the improvements if I were to play on a 4K setup. Like Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy, Detroit follows the story arcs of several characters. All four are androids at different states of becoming ‘deviant’ and thinking for themselves. Each character path has major moments where I had to pause the game and think over the imperative decision I was presented with. Quantic Dreams is clever at masking some choices as right or wrong that created some moments that I will never forget. Android Detective Connor and his human partner Detective Anderson were my favorite characters to follow throughout the game. Connor can get killed off like other characters in the game, but unlike other characters he is always instantly replaceable from the agency. I did not know that when my Connor perished in a jaw-dropping way I did not see coming. I instantly debated on rewinding my last save to play it differently, but I sternly stuck to my decisions the whole game no matter how they played out. I was relieved to see Connor come back and continue his love/hate relationship with Anderson, and eventually became amused by the inadvertent ways my decision making kept getting my Connor killed.

The other characters all had nearly equal major moments to get behind with a few examples such as saving a daughter from her abusive father in one of the most intense escape sequences in Detroit, rescuing a bunch of experimented androids from a psychopath, leading a android-rights revolution to trying to stealthily escape from the madness to the Canadian border. Quantic Dreams always has had Quick Time Events (QTE) button prompts handle the majority of their gameplay, and they have evolved it with each of their games to have the best implementation of QTE in gaming. Minus a few key moments they almost never result in a instant game over if one QTE prompt is missed and there usually is a few chances to correct a mistake in order to recover and win the scene…or you can intentionally fail and flub through a fight or chase scene like a dummy to hilariously disastrous results. Depending on how you succeed through the prompts and the narrative based decisions made results in an ostensibly infinite amount of endings for each character. Quantic Dreams introduced a remarkable new feature at the end of each scene where a branching tree of decision options is displayed showing the choices made and blank boxes representing other options available and the percentage of the connected PS4 users that picked each option. From this same dialogue tree box checkpoints can be selected to pick up right from there in the gameplay scene to change a decision you were unsatisfied with. After finishing Detroit within two days I took advantage of this and hopped into one key part of the plot where Connor is presented with a choice that essentially gets the ball rolling for the final two-to-three hours of gameplay. I replayed that final chunk of scenes three more times within a week to see big differences in the endings for each character. Some did not survive, others endings all my characters made it to the end while others wound up skipping out on some of the most pivotal scenes in the entire game based on earlier decisions. I knew two other coworkers who were on the fence on picking up Detroit who were fans of Quantic’s previous games and I insisted on borrowing out my copy and we later went on to thoroughly breakdown how we handled key decisions and our various endings. It is insanely rare for a game to cause me to replay it multiple times that soon and that is saying something special about Detroit: Become Human and why it is my #1 gaming experience of 2018. ---The End?---

My word tally count is now tipping over 17,000 words so I think I better end this. It took me nearly 10 days to write this, and I do not blame you if it took that long to read it. That said I hope this proved to be a best of the year list/round-up like no other you experienced! Once again, if you liked what you read and want more of my end of the year ramblings then I will refer you to my best of 2017 and best of 2016 top gaming experiences features. So until next year…..oh wait I almost forgot it would be inappropriate of me to suddenly end this without rewarding you with a few more YouTube recommendations! I failed in unearthing my all-time favorite SNL sketch of Sports Center with Ray Ramono and Tim Meadows, so this sketch on the origins of the iconic NBA on NBC Theme will have to suffice. Need a refreshing beverage after getting through this list; Dusty Rhodes has the answer for you! These sparring kickboxers needed some beverages after getting bombarded in their training session by a acapella group. Mr. Worf wants to drain his sorrows in other beverages after witnessing this montage of his fails. Finally, here is a nice compilation of background music for your home with the top 100 ranked N64 songs of all time. Ok that is seriously it for 2018, thank you again everyone for riding this out with me! If you want to send any feedback my way I would love to hear it so reach out to me on my Twitter @Gruel or email dkulas @ hotmail.com.