Tale

For the past two years, I've gone to eat ramen on a Saturday. Only in the past few months have I started branching out to explore the many different ramen shops in the Dallas area. It's getting harder to differentiate between places that simply have ramen on the menu and genuine ramen shops. I've been to places that I'm positive served me instant ramen. Literally one place I went to had the ramen be a stuck together round mass at the bottom of the bowl, like it was an unstirred brick of Shin Ramyun Black. Yesterday I was at the place that's giving a good run on being the favorite. Had a Tan Tan Men with tempura shrimp. The broth was fantastic, but it was apparently a mistake to add additional spice. The mild built up on the tongue until the broth's natural flavor was impossible to taste anymore.

Beat Hunted: Demon's Forge. I rather enjoyed it and would be happy to play a sequel. You just know that in the pitch meeting "Gears of War" was probably said a good dozen times, though.

I just got back from Glass. Near the end people were walking out. I get it, I don't agree. I'm waffling between saying it was good or great. It's not as good as Unbreakable or Split, but that might be just because I was prepared for this one. I was on the verge of crying near the end. And if it had added one tiny thing, it would have done it for me.

Why am I playing Skyrim? It strikes me that I'm just looking for something that's easy to get into. It's not even that fun. But playing Skyrim isn't intimidating. I feel like I can pick it up and put it down at any time. The story is so bare that if I put it down for a week I won't care about anything I forgot if I pick it back up. And it has a satisfying loop where you go to the dungeon, then head home and grind potions and enchanting and sell stuff. Even if the actual gameplay is a snooze. There are far more interesting games in my library (I just got the Humble Monthly for Yakuza 0 yesterday), but I'm afraid to start them out of a fear I'll feel the need to be committed to it.

After Doctor Strange I decided I could skip until Netflix for any character centered ones. Ended up skipping Black Panther and Ant Man 2. Saw Black Panther on Netflix and it didn't change my opinion. If I wasn't a Captain Marvel fanboy I'd skip that one. Same for Spiderman 2. Whoever else they have planned won't be so lucky for my viewership.

Killing Eve It's so good that Netflix Twitter recommended a Hulu show. And it's actually pretty darn good.

I can only hope they plan a bunch because they expect a bunch to fall through. Leaving them with only 1. But I think I'm just being optimistic.

I finished Iconoclasts. I really liked the twist in the ending. I just wish they'd done more with all those characters. It's a bit defied expectations for good and bad. Like I thought Elro and Black would become party members and we'd all fight the final boss. But the whole "party" thing in the game is practically a red herring. Aside from a couple of fights where Mina helps or a couple doors Royal opens, the other characters don't do anything. But it made one line in the epilogue all the funnier.

He's Batman if Batman had style and fewer objections to mind control.

Twists haven't been a strong point in the MCU. Good characterization of the villains has been. Not one they've always managed, but when they do, it works. Like their version of Thanos or Vulture. If he has a sympathetic motive, he can be likable.

Think about what his powers are and think about what's going on.

Captain America: Civil War I'm going through some of the good Marvel films I've only watched once. And this was as good as I remember it being. Next will be Thor: Ragnorak and Infinity War. Edit: 20 minutes into Thor: Ragnarok and I'm laughing out loud. Why don't I own this on Blu-Ray?

Iconoclasts This hit the right spot. Character, pacing, and fun.

Has this made the rounds here? It's from December, so maybe. Since I was complaining about Sony earlier, it's even more interesting that this looks like a good one. They can do well when they can grab talent.

It really shows me how far Columbia has fallen when I went to see Into the Spiderverse and the only two Sony trailers were that and some Christian film that looked like it was filmed with a budget scraped up during a potluck lunch.

I think the fact that it has been 4 1/2 years suggests that self-respect would be best expressed by avoiding this thread.

What did they screw up? I liked Westworld season 2.

HBO? I'm willing to consider it being good.

I was going to buy that along with the sequel last night but I didn't because I wasn't sure if the PS3 was the best place to play it with all the remakes and ports around. Also, I haven't played the first game yet. Still, they are dirt cheap right now. 4.99 each...hmmm... I've played the first one, it's fun just for the puns and references.

11.22.63 8 episodes in and I've decided I just don't care enough to finish it. Happy! 1 episode in and I hope it continues to be this entertaining.

One of my acquisitions over the steam sale was Cross Code. An indie action RPG with a 16-bit style and overwhelmingly positive reviews. And it's kind of a drag. Go through the first area doing a bunch of mindless quests. Get more quests for going through it a second time. Then move on to the next area, grabbing mindless quests. All the while the actual story is on hold until who knows when. People really put too much value into how much a game takes to beat, in my opinion. Not enough questions about if that time was used well.

I may have complained that I had nothing to buy and then bought a bunch of stuff.

Into the Spiderverse I'm mad about two things. 1) That I missed Miles Morales original origin in the comics. This was powerful and I'm amazed they were able to pack so much into this film. 2) That I left after the midcredits, came home, and found out there was a true end credits scene.

I played Tacoma over the weekend. It's from Fullbright, the people who made Gone Home, and I like it a lot more. Mostly because I got completely lost in Gone Home. Tacoma is a very guided experience and tells its story pretty much outright, though it has lots of details you can find that flesh it out. And it tells the story well, with reveals I thought were very clever. Oh, and I played The Hex sometime in the past week. It's from the guy who did Pony Island and it's similarly bizarre and meta. If you like metafictional games, or games within games, you'll probably love this one.

Bandersnatch on Netflix, a choose your own adventure Black Mirror movie. I think it was pretty fantastic at points.