April 1st, 2023
Greatest Game Ever Made Edition
Hold on tight to your spider-monkeys, it’s time to give some love to the most fun thing you’ll ever play in the history of forever.Twilight: The Board Game
Do you love Twilight? Do you like board games with questions based more on the books than the advertised movie on the box? Well, where the hell have you been, loca? It’s time to bring out your inner “Twihard.” Immerse yourself in the universe that enthralled a generation by playing mediocre trivia and write down answers to questions like, “Close your eyes. How many windows are in the room?” Move your pieces along the board and follow the instructions found on each square you land on. Challenge yourselves and your friends by calling upon your vast vault of useless Twilight knowledge and be the first to collect all eight scene cards.If there was ever a game to brag about winning, it would be this one. Putting the “board” in boardgame, go out and play this timeless classic today.The average online price from Amazon is $40.00. For no reason. Or get it at it’s real worth and buy it used for $6.00 off Ebay.
Have you ever wanted to play one of the best dating simulators of all time? Well, then this is the game for you. My Horse Prince is a mobile dating simulator about a businesswoman who has grown tired of her city life and decides to quit her job and head to the countryside. She has been single most of her life, so as she leaves the city, she is also on the search for a romantic partner. The woman decides to check out a racing-horse ranch to find her true love, but the one guy that catches her eye isn’t quite what she was expecting. This gentleman is tall, handsome, and kind, but he also has four legs. Our protagonist has fallen for a horse with a human face. This app does an amazing job of building the relationship between this girl and the horse. Their chemistry is off the charts, and this horse is as charming as they get. Not only does this app have amazing storytelling, but it also has mini-games as you help take care of this handsome horse. I highly recommend everyone check out this game once as it is an experience I will never forget. It is free in the app store on most devices. Available for Android and iOS. 
The graphics of Talking Horse are quite honestly amazing. Horse is absolutely adorable with a charming smile and a little laugh when you click on him. Horse also comes with a pet fish! There is a cute little chick that winks at you and her egg siblings that hide in the horse’s dresser drawer. For some reason, there is a TV that says hello and then shows each letter of the alphabet in green letters, and sometimes when you click on it, a little kid even reads off the letters to you. The horse has a dance button that makes him dance to music. He also has a fart button, and two other button options you can unlock with coins you gain by playing games, watching ads, or by purchase.
Ride to Hell: Retribution set out to be the next great Grand Theft Auto, riding around on your motorcycle, kicking ass, and not letting anyone tell you what you can or can’t do. Sounds like a great idea for a video game, right? Unlimited player freedom? Live life as a dangerous biker? Get the girl? The only thing that Ride to Hell: Retribution has accomplished is the actual sensation of what it is like riding into hell when you play this forsaken video game. It is, by far, one of the worst games ever made and published. Why is it so bad? Everything. God. Damn. Everything. The graphics look like what happens when you put a blow torch on a Barbie doll, all melted plastic with a fresh coating of paint to make it resemble something human. The sounds in this game make me want to hurl my headphones into the wall and slam it
Something about teen-dramas always keeps me hooked, and this one is no exception. This show puts a fun and unique twist on the concept of werewolves. Wolfblood is about a teenage girl named Maddy who has a deep secret that no one else can know about—this secret, of course, being that she is a “wolfblood.” Unlike werewolves, wolfbloods don’t turn into a humanoid wolf monster; instead they transform into normal wolves. Maddy and her family have to keep this power a secret as normal people see them as monsters. Out of the blue, an inexperienced wolfblood starts attending Maddy’s school, and now she has to teach him how to keep the secret and to stay out of trouble. Each episode, the two have to find ways to keep everyone from finding out what they are, on top of trying to hide their wolfy urges. Wolfblood seems to scratch that inner itch of mine that wants to be free and run in the wild. The show is meant for a younger audience, but that doesn’t keep it from being entertaining; it just makes it easier to digest. The graphics might be old and cheesy, but that just adds to the charm of it. I highly recommend people check it out if fantasy teen-drama is something that one either enjoys or wants to start getting into. Free to watch on YouTube.
Voltron: Defender of the Universe: In 1984, World Events Productions released the first episode of an anime-ish cartoon—a mashup of two series by Japan’s Toei Entertainment—that would take America’s permed mullets by storm. The premise of Voltron: Defender of the Universe was fresh and fun: Five space explorers are sent from Earth to the planet Arus to bring back Voltron, a mighty robot that, as the legend went, had once brought peace to the galaxy. With a new threat looming from a villain named King Zarkon, the Earth explorers know that Voltron may be the galaxy’s last hope. The men (sigh) find Princess Allura and her mentor Coran are the last of Arus’s people, and fortunately, the two are just waiting for five space explorers to drop down out of the sky. Because as luck would have it, they do know where Voltron is—underneath Allura’s own castle, broken up into five robot lions that can join together to form Voltron. The explorers all happen to be men, and for some ungodly reason, Allura hands over the lion keys to all five without wanting to pilot one herself. Never mind that as the daughter of the Voltron force’s last captain, Allura knows more than any of them about how to make the lions roar. Fortunately, explorer Sven has the good sense to get injured and sent to a space hospital in episode four, so my girl Allura could don her pink space suit and join the darn force as she was OBVIOUSLY BORN TO DO. 
Each one of the fives stories featured in Carroll’s debut horror comic anthology features, in some form, woods—ventured into, avoided, emerged from. I first got into Carroll’s work when her short comic 
After her town is besieged by monsters and she is left stranded, high school student Yuna meets Kawachan, a silent, sweet individual dressed in the costume of a local theme park’s mascot. The two become fast friends as they travel through the Japanese countryside, searching for Yuna’s missing friends and family, dodging ravenous monsters along the way. And then there are the opportunistic people they meet along the way, who might prove to be just as dangerous as the monsters. Yuna & Kawachan is a page-turner in every sense of the word, except that, as a webcomic, it doesn’t have pages to flip. Perhaps it’s time to think of a new word for digital properties. Scroller? Page-clicker? Whatever you’d like to call it, with its lovable cast and gripping story, Yuna & Kawachan is one comic you won’t want to put down. Read it for free 
Welcome to the future, where sorcerers and humans fight for power, devils run rampant, and acid falls from the sky. After an encounter with a sorcerer leaves our protagonist, Caiman, with a reptile head and no memory of his past life, he vows to hunt down the sorcerer responsible with the help of his friend Nikaido. This, of course, involves biting the heads of every sorcerer he encounters. Simple, right?
Meditative and Ghibli-esque, The Girl From the Other Side follows a human girl and her monster caretaker whose touch could curse her. It’s very sweet, and the scenes between the girl, Shiva, and the being she refers to only as Teacher is surprisingly calming. There’s more going on in the broader world around them, of course. Nagabe unravels the workings of our characters’ world slowly, allowing us to learn about the world naturally through our characters—particularly the naive Shiva, who has yet to realize that she has been abandoned by those she loves in the Outside, where cursed beings reside. Nagabe’s artstyle is easily one of the most endearing in manga today. The backgrounds resemble Monet paintings, simple and lovingly rendered. The character designs themselves are just as gorgeous, making The Girl From the Other Side a feast for the eyes as well as the heart..
Brandon Sanderson is renowned in the fantasy community for his interactive style of world-building and the deeply interesting characters he writes. The Way of Kings is no exception and is considered by many to be the first novel of his greatest and possibly longest series. The story follows multiple characters but begins with the protagonist Kaladin as he is branded a slave for being falsely labeled a defector from the military. We follow Kaladin’s journey to his station as a bridgeman in a bridge crew. In the war against another race, the Parshendi, bridge crews carry bridges to span across crevasses but are also on the front lines of battle. It is in this horrible station that Kaladin proves himself a leader, and our unlikely hero is born. Along with Kaladin, the story also follows Shallan, a young girl who seeks to become a ward of the scholar Princess Jasnah, while hiding dark secrets of her family and her past. Will Kaladin find his redemption? Will Shallan’s secrets come to light? Having read much of Sanderson’s work, I would agree with the consensus that The Way of Kings is the start to his magnum opus. As a first act, it is compelling and thought-provoking. This book truly takes the realm of fantasy to new heights. The characters are complex and easy to love, and the world that Sanderson builds is vivid and awe-inspiring. I would definitely recommend securing a copy and hopping aboard this series while it is still growing!
“Winter is coming.” These are the words spoken to the children of House Stark, the rulers of the North of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. It is a morbid reminder that the great summer will end in a bitter cold that will last for decades. Yet a different morbid message arrived well before winter: The death of a friend. Eddard, the head of House Stark, learns that his close companion was murdered, and it falls upon him to discover the truth. Yet the further he digs into the mystery, the more he unravels the secrets of the Kingdom, secrets that threaten the stability of the realm and his family. It becomes a game of plots, of murders, of betrayals, but most of all, of thrones.
After escaping certain death in a city under siege with the help of a turncoat prison guard, vagrant Wilfrid quickly finds themself in the hands of enemy soldiers seeking a way inside. Luckily for Wilfrid, this is just as they planned. Now, they can lead the margrave’s enemies back through the tunnels that run underneath the city in pursuit of the vengeance that they have dreamt about since they were a child.
If you are looking for a unique podcast with just three dudes sitting in a room talking about life, then you have come to the right place. Distractible is a podcast hosted by Mark Fischbach, Wade Barnes, and Bob Muyskens. These individuals are close friends who are usually known for their individual YouTube channels, especially Mark who is famously known as Markiplier. The guys like to come together to share their stories and interesting views on life. The concept of the podcast seems simple as the guys discuss different topics each episode, such as aging and pet stories. Yet they always know how to keep it new and fresh. Since the guys are very close they are really good about matching each other’s energy and getting on each other’s nerves in all the right ways. The humor can be crude and vulgar, but for me, that didn’t take away from the unique and fun conversation. The episodes never fail to make me smile and always seem to get a chuckle out of me. I’m never left feeling bored or unsatisfied while listening to this podcast. I highly recommend you check out Distractible if a discussion podcast with a twist is something that piques your interest.
Rachel Scanlon and McKenzie Goodwin host this hilarious podcast. The two lesbians cover an extreme range of different topics, from talking about queer media, to their own queer experiences. They even have guests on the show who are popular in the queer community, such as fellow comedians and influencers. All of their segments are pretty much exclusively LGBTQ+ and are extremely relatable for anyone in the community. Scanlon and Goodwin riff off each other and their experiences as queer women in ways that have had me crying with laughter. Every one of their hour-long episodes is a total ab workout for me! As podcast hosts, they are everything audiences want them to be and more. They are talented comedy personalities that never lose their relatable edge. Two Dykes and a Mic is a must-listen for everyone and is released once a week. Get ready to laugh, and go find it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
If you’re looking for a movie about the multiverse that’ll leave your head spinning from start to finish and even after, look no further, Everything Everywhere All at Once does exactly that and includes creative scenery while doing it. The visuals of this movie are absolutely insane. The way the characters hop between realities is visually enticing. The broad theme of the movie is about an exhausted and overworked Chinese American woman who has to get her already late taxes done on her laundromat, under intense pressure from the IRS. She instead is forced into jumping between universes since her “husband” sends her on missions to defeat an evil that is disrupting all the parallel timelines. But if we read deeper into the movie, there are also underlying themes such as the difficult relationship between parents and children; generational trauma/curses; LGBTQ+ acceptance, especially in other cultures; burnout; pressure to be a perfect child; the harsh reality of marriage and divorce; and many, many more. This movie is the perfect mix of wacky scenes and heart-touching messages. If you can manage to follow along with the silliness and chaos, I bet that this movie will leave your heart as warm as mine was after finishing. I personally give this film at least a solid 8.5/10. I strongly recommend sitting down and devoting some time to actually getting into this masterpiece of a movie. Available on Showtime and Parmount+, and to rent from other streaming sites.
I caught this indie film by accident quite some time ago and remember being rather charmed by it. Interstate 60 (2002) opens with a mysterious man named O.W. Grant (which we later learn stands for “One-Wish Grant”), who offers a single wish at random to people he meets. We see one man take him up on it early in the film and suffer rather catastrophic consequences as a result, the obvious message here being to be careful what you wish for. The next time we see Grant, he’s serving cake to our protagonist Neal Oliver (a young James Marsden), who wants to be an artist but is under considerable pressure from his father to go to law school instead. He wishes for an answer to life, walks outside, and is promptly knocked out by a bucket falling on his head. (Again, be careful what you wish for!) What follows is Neal’s surreal road trip in a world that feels like a parallel universe (whether it actually is is up to the viewer), as he seeks an answer to the question that is his life. Neal doesn’t know where he’s going, but somehow, a sign always presents itself, both literally and figuratively. For example, he’s told a nearby billboard is blank, but when he looks away and then back again, a woman has appeared on it, advising him to call a certain number with no other explanation. When he gamely calls, a recorded message addresses him by name and provides him with an address, telling him to go there for his “appointment,” and so his journey continues. And the Interstate 60 of the title? It isn’t on any map and therefore doesn’t exist, Neal discovers; it just is. As he continues following the universe’s lead down this mysterious road, he meets a collection of strange and interesting people who seem, like him, to be seeking something, often in unhealthy ways. Will he, too, get stuck in one of the bizarre dead ends he discovers at each stop? Or will he find the true path that his life will take? It’s no Best Picture frontrunner, but the film, written by Back to the Future scribe Bob Gale, provides a pleasant and often unique combination of armchair philosophy and goofy fun, plus enough A-lister cameos to add a dose of surprise to a movie already full of them. Back in the early 2000s, I wondered why it never seemed to find a bigger audience. Maybe it’s just too smart for most people? Yeah, that must be it. Smugly pat yourself on the back and enjoy this oddball little film. Available free on Freevee, Tubi, and Peacock, and to rent from other streaming sites. 
Modest Mouse has had a varied career in their over 25 years on the scene. Chances are you’ve heard their megalithic track “Float On,” by far their most popular song. It’s upbeat and positive, almost kind of pop-ish; a far cry from the contents of Lonesome Crowded West. In contrast, the album has way more angst and anger for society. The entire album is tied together through its anti-consumerism ideas, targeted mainly at strip malls and what they stand for. The instrumentals are fairly bare-bones in terms of gear, mainly only lead guitar, bass, and drums, but by God, the band really does put their heart and soul into the music, laying down a sound that would help define the late ’90’s indie-rock scene. Being a double album, it is a bit on the longer side, but the balance of the tracks remedies this quite well. At times, it’s fast, active, and in your face. Other times, it’s slow, melancholic, and introspective. The album stands as a snapshot of a bygone era, whose messages still ring loud to this day.
In 1993, the Irish rock group The Cranberries created the melancholic yet vibrant Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? This was the band’s first full-length album, and it reflected influences of rock and dream pop. Beginning gently, this album proceeds to lift the mood by the second track, “Dreams,” which is one of The Cranberries’ most successful singles. This band is known for their alternative sound, stunningly distinct vocals by Dolores O’Riordan, and their post-punk presence, especially with their popular music videos on MTV. “Linger” provides a bridge between the slower, and more mysterious songs.
That’s right, Hues and Cues is a silly little guessing adventure all about finding the exact shade of a color in the player’s hand. Referencing the board with over 480 squares, players will draw from the deck and select a single color from the four options on each card. They will then try to describe that color in one-or-two word phrases. The closer you are to the exact shade, the more points you earn. The game concludes when one player has accumulated 50 points.
Hungry Hearts Diner is about a sweet old lady who struggles to run a small shop in a big city. The premise is to play as the woman and cook meals for various customers while learning more about their lives with each dish served. With every item you make, you not only unlock the stories of customers but also new things to make for them. The plot is full of twists and turns, and some tales you hear will leave you more emotional than you’d expect from a typical cooking game. This app is rated 4.9/5 on the Apple store and deservingly so. If you like relaxing, storytelling, casual/idle mobile games, or even if you’re just a fan of cooking games, then this app may be right for you. As one comment left by a player says, this is a “poignant story hidden inside a cooking sim.” Hungry Hearts Diner is free, so you might as well give it a go and see if you enjoy it for yourself. Available on iOS and Google Play, and for Mac/PC.
I’m just going to get it out of the way immediately, Portal 2 is probably my favorite game of all time. I can remember when I first got it back in 2012 as one of my first games for the Xbox 360, spending weeks tearing my ten-year-old hair out trying to beat it, and a genuine feeling of triumph as I did it for the first time. I remember a few years later, seeing the game on sale for $5 on Steam and popping back out the other end a couple of days later having an even deeper appreciation for it. I remember coming back just a few months ago and being drawn into the speedrunning community (people who try to beat the game as fast as possible), and after a LOT of practice getting placed 627th on the leaderboard. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but the point is this game has stuck with me for over a decade now.