This reminds me of a silly joke I made for myself. Maybe someone else made it first, but it was “What is up with The Postman Always Rings Twice? I got through all but the last 2 minutes and nobody even rang once, so that must’ve been a stupid title. Plus there was no postman. So I gave up.”
That said, it is nice to have tied up the end of various movies I only partially saw on television, for better or worse. The Dark Backward is one such movie where I think I was channel surfing between it and a sporting event which got exciting right when TDB ended. It’s hardly a top-notch movie, but it was gratifying to sit down and see all the way through.
1.) IF game: Photopia
2.) Non-IF game: Final Fantasy IX (Inscryption is on my want-to-play-at-some-point list!)
3.) Book: Kahawa by Donald E Westlake (I see a couple of Douglas Adams shoutouts: Mostly Harmless, Dirk Gently, and I briefly considered him too)
4.) Movie: The Truman Show
5.) Music: Karen O and Willie Nelson - Under Pressure (Hmm. Music really dropped off my radar these part couple years. My answer from pre-pandemic might’ve been something like Arcade Fire, but I just haven’t listened to any of their stuff in a long while, and then there were some allegations that came up last year. It feels too far gone at the moment. Most of the music I have listened to more recently are just songs searched on Youtube. I was going to write down Charly Bliss then, since they’re the only band I really listened to more than one song of, these past couple years. But why not just list a song then? The Under Pressure cover is the music I specifically sought out at certain moments.)
The Menu was so good. I posted on Mastodon about it:
After seeing THE MENU, I can’t not in my head be Ralph Fiennes as I plate the various dishes for my cats in the morning:
“Fancy Feast filet mignon-flavor kibble, moistened with warm water creating its own sauce; dry kibble on the side for cronch; wet-plate Meow Mix with REAL tuna and salmon; clear, snow-cooled tap water in a large metal bowl filed to the brim. Please - do not eat. Savor.” [LOUD CLAP]
(INSERT TITLE CARD: Kitties’ Bullshit: From a bag and a can.)
I’ve watched other people play it–I’m about halfway through my first-ever run of it atm. The idea of playing Kaycee’s Mod myself is the reason I finally shelled out and actually got it.
What’s Kaycee’s Mod, if you don’t mind sharing? I played the vanilla version last year and enjoyed it OK, but if the mod is that much more appealing I might dig it up again!
(Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t played Inscryption)
It’s essentially an endless version of Act I in Leshy’s cabin. You can play through his campaign repeatedly with additional restrictions to make it more challenging. A few different cards and mechanics have been buffed or nerfed. It now comes with the main game and unlocks when you beat the story for the first time, I believe.
Yeah, Kaycee’s Mod is just Act 1 of the game, rebalanced to make it more fun as a pure roguelike. A lot of the more broken mechanics (that were intentionally broken to serve the narrative purposes of Act 1) have been removed or rebalanced, so e.g. when Fecundity makes a copy of a card, that copy doesn’t also have Fecundity, and the Ouroboros’s stats reset between runs.
By winning runs you also unlock a series of dev notes from Kaycee, who, well…if you’ve played the full game you know why she’s significant to the plot.
Personally I liked Act 2 better, but it’s definitely a lot less replayable than Act 1.
1- be with my frinds playing in a session my favorit instruments: fretless bass, feadog, violin, spanish guitar…
2- walk in nature looking for mushrooms and cook it later, specially mushrooms desserts.
3- smoke a pipe charged with Balkan Sobraine while tasting some cognac.
4- play or test an if game or spend time reading a good novel
Tough choice between many great candidates (in every category).
1.) A Mind Forever Voyaging
2.) Casual games like Sudoku (on PC) and Patience/Solitaire (on PC, too)
3.) Non-fiction: Essentialism - The disciplined pursuit of less
Fiction: The hobbit
4.) The secret garden (Japan 1997)
5.) Queen
It’s nice to see other people who like both Rock and Classic (like myself).
About “All creatures small and great” I love the 1980s series.
I really respect the Ultimas, but for me… it’s Ultima VIII, Ultima: Underworld and Ultima IX. I must have something against party-based RPGs… or maybe I just really like the feeling of discovering things that were right under your nose all along. Very few games scratch that kind of itch, but those 3 Ultimas do.
Ha - I haven’t played U8 or U9, but congratulations on having the most contrarian imaginable take on the franchise! (Underworld I have played and it is quite good, but it was not actually intended to be an Ultima title and you can really see the scars from where it was crowbarred in to fit).
My only slightly contrarian opinion is that 5 and 6 are my favorites; they expand on the open world aspects of 4 to make exploration really fun, and add a more compelling plot. Meanwhile, 7 has its moments but the world feels much smaller, and it really needed either way better, or way less, combat.
