Monthly Archives: December 2022

Things I Enjoyed: Nov 2022

Unclear and Present Danger/Patreon

They really should have listened to Jamelle’s wife and called it “Patreon Games” seriously: what a mistake.

I don’t really listen to podcasts (I tend to find them frustrating), but I’ve been enjoying Jamelle Bouie* and John Ganz‘s Unclear and Present Danger podcast, which is about the political thrillers of the ’90’s and what they say about American politics of that time. I was in high school and college through the 90’s and went through some associated, significant shifts in worldview during that time… and importantly lived through it. So the look back has been an intensely refreshing perspective on my young adulthood that I was too in the weeds of to appreciate at the time.

That they’ve since started up a second feed, Unclear and Present Patreon (that they didn’t listen to Jamelle’s wife and call it “Patreon Games” is truly a tragedy) dedicated to spy movies of the Cold War is an extremely easy sell to me. Opening up with a contrast between Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Thunderball, and Our Man in Havana is just a great start.

* Won’t link to his NYT profile page because I don’t want to cross the picket line.

Andor

We could not finish The Book of Boba Fett. As much as I enjoyed The Madalorian, it was starting to seem like Star Wars stuff I enjoyed was the exception, not the rule.

I guess that’s probably still true, but wow: Andor really, really did live up to the hype. We enjoyed it immensely, and I’m looking forward to the next season.

Vampire Survivors

I don’t spend a lot of time playing computer games any more: time spent playing them is time not spent painting minis. Further not helping things: I am a morning person. My evenings are spent with my wife and we’re in bed by 10PM, normally… which is about when my close friends who are not morning people tend to be getting online and firing up Deep Rock Galactic. This is why I haven’t picked up, and likely won’t pick up Darktide.

But: the past few month’s been brutal on my time and energy for painting minis… and for whatever reason I picked up Vampire Survivors to pad out what free time I have in which I’m unable to paint.

It’s hard to describe: Castlevania-themed random swarm survival, with heaps of replayability. Early on (in theory there’s an unlock that removes this, but I haven’t gotten it yet) there’s a hardcap at 30m/level. If you can survive to 31m, you get an unlock, but that’s difficult. So you just grind away. Sometimes I think the goal is to get so much going on it melts your graphics card; no mean feat with Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest level pixel graphics.

It’s a deeply stupid game, but I’ve absolutely gotten my $5’s worth out of it..

Workbench

I’m emotionally bottoming out in these Black Templars. Not a one of you warned me about how awful it would be to have to go back and paint the black on these guys last: you are all awful friends. Shame.

So I’ve gone back to Stormcast. Pretty close to having these guys done, and it’ll be one batch left after them.