We return to the Ether Mines for a heart-to-heart and some additional sidequests.
Manga Review: We Started A Threesome Vol. 3
Volume 2 of We Started a Threesome put a lot of time into developing Emito and his backstory, along with the setting up that Emito was bisexual and also loved Suisei – who so far hadn’t shown any signs of being bi, and was also dealing with some of his own jealousy. So, theoretically, the ending that has been established for the final volume was – “What’s Suisei’s own backstory, how will he handle his own jealousy, and is he closeted bi, or is he heterosexual and this volume will be about how nested polycules handle situations where two members have incompatible sexual orientations, where one of those members is into the other, and both have a common person who they’re both compatible and romantically into?” The question becomes – how do they handle that topic (if they do), and will they have enough time to do it justice?
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Documentary Review: The Dreams in Gary’s Basement
A couple years ago I reviewed Secrets of Blackmoor – a documentary about Dave Arneson, and the development of the Blackmoor campaign leading up to the development of the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Kickstarting around the same time was Dreams in Gary’s Basement, a documentary focusing on the life of Gary Gygax. I’ve covered a couple of biographies of Gygax’s life in the past – Empire of the Imagination and Rise of the Dungeon Master. When Dreams in Gary’s Basement went up for Kickstarter, I felt that this was an appropriate documentary to back as well. Well, now I’ve received my physical copy and I’ve watched it – so now it’s time for my thoughts.
Continue readingThis week I’ve got a book review of one of the more recent Sword and Laser Book Club picks.
Keyboard Review: 8bitdo Retro Mechanical Keyboard
Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate a proper mechanical keyboard. Not just because of the nice, satisfying “click” sound when you press a key, and the tactile sensation of pressing them compared to using a membrane keyboard. They’re also easier to clean and less likely to get gummed up by the general debris and detritus of regular usage. When 8bitdo, whose controllers I’ve been using for a while, branched out into keyboards, I had a moment of “Do I really want to swap out my Logitech keyboard for one of these” – until one of them went on sale by enough that I decided that yes, I did want to get one. Now it’s time for my thoughts.
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Film Review: Hard Target
Hard Target was John Woo’s first big film in the United States and Hollywood, and it paired him with one of the top action stars of the early ’90s – Jean-Claude Van Damme, a star who was very much not known for his gunplay, and was much more known for his martial arts. It’s generally been held up as a rough start to Woo’s Hollywood run, but that said, I think it’s still an okay fun little action movie, even if it doesn’t reach up to the heights of his earlier Hong Kong career.
Continue readingI’ve got an opportunity in my schedule to talk about the Olympic Games and newer Olympic sports – and why I think getting some of these new sports in the Olympics matters (albeit a month after the Olympics because of how my schedule worked out).
Film Review: Golden Bat (1966)
When looking at the 1966 Golden Bat film, it’s interesting to see how much it innovates – if not outright invents – in the realm of cinematic hero tokusatsu. The main hero – Ogun Bat (Golden Bat) is widely credited as basically being the first 20th-century superhero, with characters from DC having parallel evolution in the US – his cinematic counterpart innovates considerably more then he invents, but those innovations are nothing to sneeze at.
Continue readingI Am Running A Tabletop Game!
I will be running a Tabletop campaign! For Real Humans! Who I’m Not Related To!
Starting next month I will be running a D&D 5E campaign for some friends, playing through Dragonlance: Shadows of the Dragon Queen. I’m not livestreaming it, and I’m not going to be giving the players names, but I will be giving some after-action reports here, since I haven’t run a game in a while, especially not for people who aren’t in my family.
We return to Nintendo Power, with a N64-focused issue (with a recap of the N64’s showing at E3 ’98), and also a certain bird and bear.
Blaine joins us again for a discussion of Bubblegum Crisis, along with the tabletop RPG.