Blog, Blog, Bloq

 I wasn't sure what I wanted to talk about for this post because Pride Month is important and I think that the month should be dedicated to queer stories and the like. While there is definitely a plethora things I could pick, I wanted to highlight a remarkable story that I read last year. The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen which follows Tien's relationship with his mother and the difficulty of coming out to her in a language she doesn't know well. The way that they navigate this relationship is through fairy tales reflective of their Vietnamese heritage.  You see familiar stories about Cinderella and The Little Mermaid, but through the lens of another culture. The focus and details will differ, like when we talk about the evil step-mother and her daughter who are abusing Cinderella emotionally and physically. Taking away things that she holds dear and eventually killing her. A stark contrast from the story that we are told in the more popular tellings of this tale. One of th...

Last month, the run for Spirit World, written by Alyssa Wong, art by Haining, lettering by Janice Chiang, and Sebastian Cheng as colorist, began. A new series in DCs lineup that is headlined by newcomer Xanthe Zhou and Cassandra Cain of the Bat-Family. Prior to this series starting, the prologue was featured in Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate. In the prologue we saw Cass and Xanthe fight against Jiangshi at the cemetery in Gotham's Chinatown, with help from John Constantine. A fight that would send Cass to the Spirit World while Constantine and Xanthe would now have to make their way to help her. We are given a compelling setup that led us into this current run.  For me, I became interested in this story because Alyssa Wong was writing this story. I am a big fan of their work as I am reading the current Deadpool run. And that story is filling my need for queer romance with a side of bloddy violence and body horror. A comic I would absolutely recommend with my whole chest.  As for ot...

 My post this time around is to go support Games Done Quick if you are reading this the week it is happening. Sadly, due to the schedule I have made for these posts, I cannot do a recap like I did with Awesome Games Done Quick earlier in the year. Seeing as we are on day three of the event, there is still plenty of time.  There have already been entertaining runs like the Banjo-Kazooie 100% No FFM that was ran by duck or the Bloodstained block that featured runs from The Blacktastic and DanTheVP with the bonus run of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night being ran by Dr4gonBlitz that capped the block off. Different skill points in speed tech being shown off across these games with engaging commentary to boot.  There is no doubt that the rest of the week will feature some absolutely insane games that I have never seen before, much like every GDQ event. So, I will have the runs playing in the background for the whole week like I always do, shifting focus for my most anticipate...

 I recently went back to Elden Ring in my attempts to finish the last few remaining achievements in the game that I needed. This included the Elden Lord Ending, Frenzied Flame Ending, and the Legendary Armament achievements. Nothing too crazy, but the bulk of the work came with knowing where to cut time. Luckily, Elden Ring is one of those games that has a fast track to the end of the game if you know what works and did a bulk of the work on new game. Which is where I was at before I decided to sprint to the finish. While I wasn't concerned as much with the Elden Lord and Legendary Armament, I was a tad uneasy with how Frenzied Flame would go. Surprisingly, it was easy. The ending requirements were almost identical to Elden Lord with the exception that I had to go into the sewers below Leyndell. Which is running through and fighting Mohg, the Omen. Not as tough as regular Mohg, but you still have to fight Mohg. Then afterwards, you roll into an altar to reveal a secret passage wher...

 The name Birdie Wing might not evoke anything out of the general anime audience despite coming out of a large corporation like Bandai Namco.  But, I'm here to spread the good word on this golf anime. This original title from Bandai Namco Pictures is now partway through its second season. And to be honest, it is one of the most entertaining week-to-week shows out there. The energy and plot lines are so chaotic that trying to predict all of the outcomes requires attentive details at times.  One of the bigger reasons I can think of as to why people are not tuning in would be the inclusion of sport, and golf specifically. Sports anime are relatively popular, yet golf isn't the most gripping sport to display. So, the sell on an individual sport like this one is rather difficult. The hotness right now are these heavy action series by miles and they're not slowing down. But as Birdie Wing falters in this landscape, it makes up for in having heart and the willingness to top the ...

 I was recently able to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and it was solid. Not amazing, nor was it terrible. The film has some amazing action set pieces that made me elated in the theatre and some instances where I was just baffled.  As a movie, there aren't many interesting things that transpire or happen to the characters across the film in terms of development that aren't named Mario. While some people might say that, "Well, it's for children." This problem isn't persistent across all films for kids. The first Sonic movie did not deal with character and story issues like this even while being a template movie. Regardless, the movie works fairly well as a piece of Mario media because writing has not been a strong suit in the series' main 3-D titles quite like the Blue Blur has. While I am not an expert on Mario games, this is what I have gotten out of the franchise's attempts to inject me with their storytelling.  So, if you would rather not be spoil...

 A little over a week ago I decided that I was going to clean up the last of the achievements in Fallout: New Vegas. Not my favorite Fallout out of the 3D titles, but one that I don't mind playing again. Many of my remaining achievements were ending and faction based, so there was not much trouble there. The big hurdle was going through the casino bans and caravan games because I had always found them to be annoying and wasteful of my time.  Much of my early time was sitting at the Blackjack tables or farming Ringo for Caravan wins. Without the helpful guides that have been made over the years and watching Fallout related videos on YouTube, I probably would have left the game unfinished. While Caravan can be gamed pretty easily, getting kicked out of the three major casinos is tedious. This was especially true when the dealer top decks an ace and a face or 10 card. It really made the experience feel like a chore more than an achievement. On the upside, the money I got for this...