Mixtape Mondays: Spectacle Politique

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Good Morning, Folks! Also, Happy Memorial Day to those who celebrate both the meaning behind it… and just the fact that we as laborers get the day off. Normally, I would not make a post on a holiday, but given that this series is called Mixtape Mondays, and I have a Mixtape in the hopper ready to go, I am doing the thing and making the post. For those new to this series, Mixtapes are probably the artifact of the 80s and 90s that I am the most nostalgic about. It used to be a currency that you traded with your friends, and at least for me attempted to use them as part of a largely unappreciated complex mating ritual. Since I no longer have cassette tapes, and my dual tape deck is no longer a super power… I now make these largely for me and for you, my readers. When you listen to one of my mixes, you are hearing a part of my soul, because I spend so much time laboring over the correct order of the tracks so that they flow nicely and become what we used to refer to as a “listen through” album. I might be nonchalant about most of the things on this blog, but these mixes mean an awful lot to me on a fundamental level. You can always find the full archive of what is not 30 mixtapes over on the landing page for this series.

30 – Spectacle Politique

I love Eurovision, but that relationship has become a bit more complicated of late, especially with so many countries and contestants boycotting this past year. There are, however, a whole slew of songs from recent Eurovision outings that live rent-free in my head. There have been a lot of great moments that were honored, but also a lot of songs that I feel like deserved to win but were not really given the love that they deserved. There are two tracks that did, in fact, go on to win, but I included them because I love them as well. What you end up with is a really solid mix that is super good to “listen through”. I’ve played through it several times and farmed it out to my team of beta testers, who I thank greatly for putting up with my nonsense. Sometimes I have some greater purpose or nostalgia behind a mix, but this one is just a list of bangers that I think everyone should know about. I will be honest that sometimes I think of Eurovision as this bubble where only things exist there, without realizing that every single one of these artists has a rich career outside of the contest. Side note… apparently, I really like Finnish music because I included four artists in this list from that country. Onwards to the track list, and I am including the country of origin just to make it interesting for folks.

Track List

  • 01 – Viva, Moldova – Satoshi – Moldova
  • 02 – Rim Tim Tagi Dim – Baby Lasagna – Croatia
  • 03 – Ich Komme – Erika Vikman – Finland
  • 04 – Eins, Zwei, Drei – Look Mum No Computer – United Kingdom
  • 05 – The Show – REDDI – Denmark
  • 06 – Zitte E Buoni – Måneskin – Italy
  • 07 – Cha Cha Cha – Kaarija – Finland
  • 08 – Choke Me – Alexandra Căpitănescu – Romania
  • 09 – Blood & Glitter – Lord of the Lost – Germany
  • 10 – Jezebel – The Rasmus – Finland
  • 11 – Dark Side – Blind Channel – Finland
  • 12 – Doomsday Blue – Bambie Thug – Ireland
  • 13 – Stefania – Kalush Orchestra – Ukraine
  • 14 – Bara Bada Bastu – Kaj – Sweden
  • 15 – Milkshake Man – Go-Jo – Australia

Listen to it yourself

So there you have another one of my Mixtapes. This one was not necessarily premeditated like so many of mine are, but largely just something that popped into my head the other day. I wanted this mix for myself, and like always, I end up sharing it with you, my readers. This round of chemo has been a bear, and I start back with my fifth round tomorrow… and I never felt like I fully recovered this time. It is supposed to keep ramping up from here, so I feel like the back half of the chemo is going to be a nightmare. Thanks for all of the support, but I will probably get more scarce as some days I just don’t have it in me to sit down and write. I am banging this out on my laptop downstairs, and its keyboard is sort of shit for long-term typing. This is what happens when you buy a laptop and prioritize gaming prowess over its ability to be a functional laptop.

I still have the challenge from Ace in the back of my head, but honestly am not even sure how to approach a mix for They Might Be Giants.

AggroChat #569 – Eggplant Cousins

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Featuring: Ace, Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen

Hey Folks! We had a stacked show last night and had a bit of a rolling start as Thalen joined in a little late.  We start off with Tam talking about re-exploring Xenogears, and then Ace finding their groove in Dead as Disco.  Tam has a kid who is rapidly becoming a Pokémon fiend and, as a result, has been exploring the latest entry, Pokémon Violet.  Ace convinced Bel to ignore his fear of deep water and play some Subnautica 2 Multiplayer. Bel and Kodra discuss their plans for the upcoming Path of Exile II League Start this next Friday, and Tam discusses his enjoyment of Zero Parades.  Finally, we have some pen and paper talk about Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition and Public Access Kickstarter Edition. Lastly, a few rapid-fire topics as we join the Landsraad in Dune Awakening and Destiny 2 enters maintenance mode.

Topics Discussed:

  • Xenogears
  • Dead as Disco
  • Pokemon Violet
  • Subnautica 2 Multiplayer
  • Path of Exile 2 League Start Plans
  • Zero Parades
  • Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition
  • Public Access Kickstarter Edition
  • Dune Awakening Landsraad
  • Destiny 2 Ending

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Kombating Mortals and More

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Mortal Kombat II

Good Morning, Folks. With my brain as muddled as it currently is, I have spent quite a bit more time watching media than I normally do. This morning, I thought I would talk a bit about some of the things that I have watched recently. In 2021, we got an update to the Mortal Kombat franchise that took into account a lot of the changes that have been made since the first movie came out in the 90s. It was a bit of a reboot of the entire movie franchise, and this year, we got the official sequel that builds directly upon that 2021 movie. I’m always a bit hesitant when I sit down to watch a video game adaptation, but this movie was a heck of a lot of fun. Was it high-brow theater? Hell no. Did it drop constant references to the franchise as a whole and make it fun? Heck yes.

The real winner of the movie, though, was Karl Urban as Johnny Cage. Cage is that character that you love to hate… but also secretly love, and he has been that way since the first game. Urban nails the role of Cage so perfectly, and I say this as someone who has never watched The Boys, so I have no frame of reference to his Butcher character. Truth be told, I have pretty much liked Urban in every role he has played. I even liked him as Bones in the Star Trek reboot series. Back to Mortal Kombat II however, if you have ever been a fan of the game series, I highly suggest this movie. Especially if you have played any of the more recent outings where they tweaked the core storyline a bit. The only thing that was missing that I would have liked to have seen was Reptile. We did get a great version of Baraka, which has been one of my favorite characters since the second game in the 90s.

Daredevil Born Again Season 2

I also finished Daredevil Born Again season two, and it was a bit of a mixed bag. So much of that season is so oppressive and keeps Daredevil from getting to be Daredevil. That said it is all building to something pretty great, and when that happens in the last few episodes, it becomes a pretty phenomenal series. The longer I have sat with the conclusion to this series, the more I have appreciated it. I was not fully on board as I was watching this show, and I complained a bit on social media about it. However, they nailed the landing big time. It is going to be a bit of a chore to get through those first episodes, or at least it was for me. Right now we live in a real world where everything is going wrong…. so to watch a show where things keep going from bad to worse is a bit of a large ask at the moment. The payoff really does make it worth the effort.

The Punisher: One Last Kill

Unfortunately, we are ending on a bit of a downer. I have loved The Punisher since I bought my first episode of Spiderman that featured him, which I found in a thrift store in the 80s. I was there for the limited run comic, the standard series, and even War Zone. Probably my favorite version of the character comes from the youtube short Dirty Laundry, featuring Thomas Jane. That said, my second favorite is the Jon Berenthal version, but unfortunately, One Last Kill is a fucking mess. This is one of the more confusing projects that I have seen… it is being released like it is a movie, but it is only around 45 minutes in total runtime. It feels like the first episode of a television series, but there is no more of it coming as far as I am aware. Maybe this was a teaser for the next Punisher series, setting up the key conflict… but what we get is mostly a bunch of gunplay pornography without a satisfying climax. I do not recommend it, because you will only come away unsatisfied, I fear.

Other than that, I have been catching up on Frieren Season Two and watching a lot of Regular Show. I had never watched the series from start to finish, and I find Regular Show just about the perfect comfort television to have on in the background. It was always something that I enjoyed, but I only really caught episodes out of order while watching Cartoon Network, as they replayed past episodes. At some point, I will probably go through my backlog of movies, and for those who are interested, I have been reviewing what I watch over on Letterboxd. That essentially has been what I have been up to in my media viewing habits. If you have any strong opinions that conflict with mine, feel free to post them below. I read every comment, I just don’t always respond to them.

Slug Shakes with Friends

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Good Morning, Folks! Last night was our regularly scheduled Sibling Time ™, and I spent it with my sibling Ace. One thing that you have to know about Ace is that they love ANYTHING to do with the ocean, which means that I have more or less lost them completely since the release of Subnautica 2. Last night we decided to dive into the realm of multiplayer, and I have to say… much like it is with EVERY survival game… Subnautica 2 is better with friends. That is not to say there are no problems. Subnautica 2 has way more of a specific story than the first game, but less so than the expansion. The unfolding of the story happens in a very non-sequitur manner if you are not the person clicking on all of the objects. You will be exploring the world and have a sudden voice clip play from out of nowhere.

The game more or less follows a similar flow to the first one. You are on an Ocean planet, working for an evil corporation, and the first steps in this new world are to unjam your pod and send it to the surface. From there, you are gathering resources to build a more permanent structure and upgrade your kit of equipment to do various things. Where this game differs from the first one is that it adds to the mix genetic mutations that allow you to interact with various things that you cannot from the start. For example, before you launch your pod, you have to take an adaptation that allows you to process oxygen under the high atmospheric pressure of this planet. One of the first mutations that you seek out when oceanside is something that will allow you to process water and nutrients from the planetary wildlife. This is where the slug shake comes in, because effectively, you end up picking up these adorable sea slugs and drinking the filtered water inside of them.

Last night was a heck of a lot of fun, and we plan on playing on this same save file next week during Sibling Time. Probably the highlight of the night was disturbing this giant crab monstrosity that seems to churn up resources as it moves around. The other highlight is just how fast resource gathering goes when you have multiple people working towards the same objectives. We ended the night with a pretty sweet base, after our first one did not really meet our long-term needs. We had a lot of issues with that first base and object collisions, but in the second base, we largely built it once we opened up the ability to create rooms, so we have so much more space for “activities”. Right now, we are sort of working towards our ability to get a vehicle, and with that, I know that Ace is going to push me to start exploring the deep dark ocean that terrifies me so.

Since I have largely stopped playing Diablo IV, that means I am back in Path of Exile for the moment while waiting on the launch of Path of Exile II’s new league on the 29th. One of the characters that I really enjoyed this league is my yolo build around taking a guardian and then using a few new uniques to create a giant army of minions. Mostly, I guess I am seeing how far I can push this build before I lose focus again and start playing Path of Exile II. It is shocking just how well this build works and how tanky it actually is. It is nothing like my Righteous Fire characters, but it still has a fair amount of block and over 5000 life. I have been doing Delve with this character, which seems wild because you need a very tanky character for that. I’m not sure if I have ever had a Minions character that felt this comfy. Do I think anyone should follow this build? Probably not. It was super easy to level, and I mostly just typed Minion into the search box and went for those nodes.

I think for Path of Exile II, I am once again going to go with an Infernalist for minions. There does not seem to be any really popular overpowered build guides for this class, but my plan right now is that I am going to do what I did with the above build and just type “minion” in the search box and go where the nodes are. If nothing else, that should get me through the campaign pretty easily, and then I just have to work on defenses. My hope is that going Infernalist is going to allow me to pivot pretty easily into Raven Righteous Fire whenever I can get my hands on that staff. This first character will also serve as something to acquire some easy currency and buy some of the other new build enabling uniques. I want to try and shield throw/slam build with the new Tul unique. I am contemplating trying to do that build as a strength stacker with the new water sprinkler unique. Honestly, I am looking forward to playing some POE2 way more than I expected.

This was a bit of a mixed bag of topics, but as is the case often with my muddled chemo brain.