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..

Jack Guignol does a monthly “things that brought me delight” posts; I always appreciate them and, as my presence on The Socials distills back down to this ol’ blog and nothing else, it occurs to me that maybe I should ape that.

So, let’s give it a try: three things I enjoyed in October (and nothing negative).

Chris Wraight’s New Imperium Books

I hop on all the Black Library bundles I can find, because they’re incredibly good deals and I tend to haul ass through them. This year’s was no exception. I’m tackling them in the order listed here, which means I started with books in Chris Wraight’s Vaults of Terra and Watchers of the Throne series. And they’re great! Especially the Vaults of Terra: he does a great job of painting The Imperium, and Terra in particular, as corrupt, decadent, grimy, miserable places and hitting really badass cinematic moments.

I don’t know that I’d rate him Abnett or ADB-level, but Wraight is A-tier for me, now.

Slow Horses

I wanted a LeCarré-esque British spy story; I got a LeCarré-esque British spy story. It might have been a little shallow, but it was as-advertised. Oldman was notably odious, which was fun.

Barbarian

If you haven’t seen Barbarian, you really should. Do not let anyone spoil anything of it for you; the foundation of its effectiveness lies with its play on expectations.