the occasional post

We ended the summer with a trip to the amusement park. My daughter, 7, wanted to go on all the rides this time except the upside down one. That was new. She wanted to go on the teacups about 100 times. I made myself sore and sick from spinning, but I also got both of us out of there without any sunburns. Big Win.

As far as CONSUMING CONTENT, here’s where things stand in my life right now:

• Death Stranding 2
  • I am deep into DS2, somewhere around Chapter 14 or 15, rushing through the climax as fast as I can. There’s a mission on a bridge before the final Australian connection (if you’ve played it you know), and the save points were too far apart. I can’t be repeating myself at 11:45 on a weeknight man. So, story mode it is for the rest of the game. I love the world of Death Stranding and the more action-oriented gameplay of the sequel is working for me, but I’m like 30-35 hours in now and ready to be done with it.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • I’m only maybe 10 or so hours into this one. I got it for sale on Switch 2 mostly because I wanted to see some good handheld graphics. I have never played the original, which is my wife’s favorite game. Sometimes I play this one docked while we’re hanging out. I’m playing on full easy mode and in no hurry.
• Final Fantasy XIV
  • I downloaded the FFXIV Free Trial the day it hit Switch 2 just because I wanted to see how a Nintendo handheld would handle a real actual true MMO experience. I did not expect it to rekindle my forgotten WoW addiction. I’ve since spent 17 American dollars to dress my character like a 2008 mall goth, and I have many more hours in FFXIV than I have in the FFVII Remake. There’s some really great second screen fetch-questing here, and it absolutely devours batteries to keep sessions short.
• Elden Ring
  • I’m only a little bit into Elden Ring, also on Switch 2. I borrowed this one from a friend when it first came out and clocked maybe 20 hours on PlayStation. This time I’m going all in on sorcery. I recently defeated Margit on the bridge and explored some of Stormveil Castle. I won’t be rushing this game either.
• Tomodachi Life
  • It’s kind of like a Sims-style ant farm. I have a bunch of friends and family Miis on my island (Coffebean Island), and some other characters like Counts Orlok and Dracula, Dr. Manhattan, Rick Sanchez, Juno from Overwatch, and Totoro. It’s fun to dip in for a few minutes every day to see what everyone’s up to and check the stores for new clothes and foods.
• Cyberpunk 2077
  • Cyberpunk is my cozy game. I love exploring Night City, finding new places to take pictures with the game’s robust photo mode. My Switch build is all Int/Cool, so he’ll be a slippery hacker eventually. Right now I’ve done every single side quest available before the Konpeki Plaza heist. I have to bring myself to **** ****** sometime so the rest of the game opens up.
• Splatoon Raiders
  • This is an extremely fun game with extremely short play sessions. Great for a lunch break at work. My only criticism (literally the only negative thing I have to say about the game) is the lack of style options. The mainline Splats are 40% dress up games. You can’t even mix and match shirts and pants in this one.
• Fortnite
  • I’m sick of Fortnite and I am addicted to Fortnite. Sprite collecting has made it more fun to Fort and trade with my cousins, but I’m burnt out. As soon as I hit level 150 or whatever I need to get the two BP super styles I want I am done with this game for a while.
• Overwatch
  • Unfortunately, I love Overwatch. I will never stop playing Overwatch.
• Marathon
  • Marathon is still my favorite game of 2026. I watch more Marathon strategy and lore videos online than I actually play these days, though. Mostly that’s because I’m trying to be done with these other games (DS2 and Fortnite) before I lock in on anything else. It’s also partly because the game is getting a new battle pass in October and a huge revamp in December, and I know I’ll want to play hard when both those things happen.
• Kirby and the Forgotten Realm
  • I’m replaying this one with my daughter. She loves it. They both love it.

As you can see, I’m playing too many video games right now. My goal is to wrap up DS2 quickly so I can finally play through the Alan Wake 2 DLCs in the seasonally appropriate month of October. In November we have the biggest game of the last 10 years dropping (Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, aka God DaMM). Then GTA comes out and I’ll be focusing on that for a while. I’d like to blast through the campaign as fast as I can so I can participate in that discourse. Hopefully the story is more Red Dead than GTAV in terms of narrative quality.

Bookswise, I’m reading through William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy right now, currently on Count Zero. I have Exit Party, Angel Down, and The Rouse on deck, probably in that order. Apologies to my book club but I am on My Own Journey for a minute.

I canceled my Marvel Unlimited sub in exchange for a Manga Up sub, so I’m reading One Punch Man, One Piece, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You, Dandadan, Fullmetal Alchemist, DBZ, Wild Strawberry, SpyxFamily, and Apothecary Diaries there and on Shonen Jump.

My TV lineup is Reacher, Slow Horses, Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You, Taskmaster, and Kaiju No.8. I’m rewatching The Bear and Frieren S2 with my wife, who hasn’t seen them. Knowing how The Bear ends colors the whole rest of the show in a really interesting way that I’m enjoying a lot. I’m also watching loads of random YouTube.

That’s about it. I started this blog as a way to maintain some sort of critical arts writing practice. Sometimes a compilation is in order. Todays one of those days.

Posts have been and will continue to be occasional.

❤