Running low on Nongshim ramen. I ain’t eating that Mr. Noodle crap…

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

It’s been gloomy and/or pouring rain all day here now for 3 days. This shouldn’t bother me as it’s not like I was going out anyway, not to mention the fact that I have the merest sliver of visible glass that passes for a window where I spend all day, but somehow just knowing how yucky it is outside is affecting my mood.

The only cure for this, as far as I can tell, is to throw some brightly coloured and trashy anime dubs up on the big screen and maybe play pop music very very loudly. Something with horns and loud guitar I think.

The sun has to come out eventually, let’s just keep grinding away until it does.

Currently Playing: Asian Kung Fu Generation – “Magic Disc”
Currently Reading: MONA LISA OVERDRIVE, William Gibson

I have a weird urge to try Matzah… Can I get Matzah on doordash?

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

A new thing I’m into is watching gaming “evolution” videos on youtube. Long compilations of gameplay footage from every incarnation of a particular series from its inception to the modern day. I love seeing gameplay of weird games that only ever came out on computers that were only ever in Japan. I also love videos that just show every single port of different games. I watched an over 60 minute video covering every single port and version of the Midway arcade game RAMPAGE (a childhood favorite that has NOT held up). This might be one of those things that require your brain to be broken in the very specific manner that mine is to enjoy.

I’m mentally ill and that keeps me pretty busy.

Currently Playing: Masayuki Suzuki – “All Time Rock ‘n Roll”
Currently Reading: RECORD OF LODOSS WAR: THE GREY WITCH, Ryo Mizuno

Gunther was slain in the catacombs.

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

It’s movie night here at the hovel. The plan is to watch SCOOB with the tiny anarchists who live in my house. I am looking forward to hanging out with said anarchists, but I am NOT looking forward to this movie. Before even seeing the trailer I was pretty sure this movie was going to be an abomination.

Scooby-Doo is one of, if not my favorite cartoon series of all time? Gang of meddling kids and their dog solve mysteries. It’s simple and perfect. It’s so good that it has been going for ~50 years at this point. It’s an infinitely repeatable premise that needs no updating. That’s why in the last 50 years every time they HAVE tried to change it it’s always failed. Adding (literally) Scrappy sidekicks, or worse making the monsters they investigate ACTUALLY supernatural (completely missing the point) always ruins the magic. For the past 10-15 years there has been a tremendous run of fantastic Scooby shows and movies. The direct to video film series has been putting out mostly good (and some fantastic) installments twice a year like clockwork. Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc, Be Cool Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? have all been spectacular and all have the same voice cast (with one or two exceptions, when someone retires and is replaced). The current line up of Frank Welker, Grey Griffin, Matthew Lillard and Kate Micucci is my S-Rank, canonical Scooby-Doo cast. (Welker has been voicing Fred since the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You? series). Which brings me to why I was already pretty sure SCOOB was going to be dire.

They cast celebrity dipshits instead of the people who’ve been voicing these characters for (in some cases FIFTY years). Get the fuck out of here WILL FORTE. You are not now, nor will you ever be Fred Jones. Gina Rodriguez, I don’t know who you are, but I know who you’re NOT: Velma Dinkley. Amanda Seyfried, I thought it was cool that you were on Twin Peaks: The Return, but it’s NOT cool that you’re scab-Daphne Blake. Zac Efron? Just… just get out of my sight.

Anyway, this movie looks like dog-shit, I hope my children hate it so I never have to watch it again.

Currently Reading: THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, Edgar Rice Burroughs

They announced a new Paper Mario game and it’s out in 2 months!

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

Today I learned about a Super Famicom game called “UFO Kamen Yakisoba – Kettler no Kuroi Inbou”. If you don’t know, the Super Famicom is name of the console that would be released in North America as the Super Nintendo. The game is a side-scrolling beat-em-up of the type that was very common in the mid 90’s in the arcades and on the 16-bit consoles of the era. It features as its protagonist the mascot UFO KAMEN YAKISOBA, a costumed vigilante from a series of commercials for Yakisoba instant noodles from Nissin Foods. He would do battle with a nefarious villain named Kettler who appears to be a man in a onesie with a kettle on his head. There was apparently a feature film produced in 1994.

So. To review: A super-nintendo beat-em-up based on a commercial for instant noodles that would go on to be a major motion picture.

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Heck of a start to a thursday.

Currently Playing: STYX – “The Grand Illusion”
Currently Reading: SQUIRREL SEEKS CHIPMUNK, David Sedaris

I’ve begun talking to myself so much that I’ve started to answer myself and get into arguments. No I haven’t. Shut up, you.

Greetings from our hovel on the shores of the Bow.

I have the theme song from My Little Pony stuck in my head. I bet if I drilled a hole in my forehead… it would hurt.

Today is the first day in the last couple weeks I haven’t had terrible back pain by 3pm, I am celebrating by sitting in this chair for another 6 or 7 hours tonight. I got this butt pillow what’s supposed to help with back and tail bone pain and for the most part it has worked beautifully, at least for the tail bone. Some say with age comes wisdom, but actually age just brings more and more stupid doodads and contraptions you buy to mitigate the ever-mounting agony of simply existing. I spent entirely too much of my youth consuming too much pizza and doing painful pratfalls. So desperate for attention was I. I would routinely reenact a Monty Python sketch wherein Graham Chapman would wrestle himself (Colin “Bomber” Harris!) and pulled zero punches. I regret taking some of those bumps now, or at the very least not marrying them with some kind of physical fitness regime as I now have all the nagging, wear-and-tear injuries of a career athlete with none of the accolades, accomplishments or slender frame! At least I have the memory of the echoing gales of laughter… well, at least of my friend Bernard laughing pretty hard. Memorable laugh on ol’ Bernard. Good guy. Lives in Toronto now.

Currently Playing: MYTH & ROID – “MYTH & ROID ベストアルバム「MUSEUM-THE BEST OF MYTH & ROID-“
Currently Reading: I have like 20 pages left in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Jules Verne

Those next gen XBOX games sure do look like current gen XBOX games, don’t they?

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

I ordered a baggie of elastic bands for the bride to bundle up some of her new stuff for her etsy shop (which has a url and I’m going to find out what it is and tell you about it some day) but mistakenly sent them to the office and not to the hovel. I’m mostly surprised I haven’t done that more often.

The tiny anarchists who live in my house have discovered Pokemon Go and are now patrolling the house seeking out AR monsters at which to fling virtual pokeballs. It’s an improvement from their usual antics of patrolling the house seeking out the bride and I to fling any and everything to hand at. And the cost? Why only a live feed of their GPS coordinates to a giant shitty corporation! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?!

If they could read I’d buy them Switch lite’s and Sword and Shield. At least then they could play an actual game instead of the dumbshittery that is Pokemon Go. Oh, well… I need to lay down.

Currently Playing: Heinali – “A Wave Crashes”

Currently Reading: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Jules Verne

I felt lousy this morning and went back to bed after about 2 hours today and am only just now getting spun back up again at 4:00. Gonna be a long night, I think.

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

For some reason I am feeling like I want to rewatch Wrestlemania 17. I’ve seen that show many times since seeing it for the first time live in a movie theatre with a bunch of other screaming, excited adolescents, but I feel the urge to see it again… Have thusfar resisted walking over to the shelf with the dvd on it, but suspect I’ll only be able to hold out for so long.

At the time I remember the TLCII match being the most amazing thing in the universe. When I’ve revisited it later I find it VERY hard to watch. There is basically no psychology, it’s a giant stunt show and the stunts and bumps the wrestlers take are HORRIFIC. There are moments in this match seared into my memory but seeing them again they’re always more terrifying than I remember. The fact that any of these men are still walking is incredible (though at least 2 of them had to retire early due to concussions or neck issues). Don’t. Do. These. Matches.

Currently Playing: Machinefabriek – “Stillness Soundtracks”

Currently Reading: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Jules Verne

Remember the Galaxy Rangers? That was the best show…

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow!

Today in “get some better problems, Joey” I ordered the first 5 volumes of PARASYTE by Hitoshi Iwaaki but only volumes 1, 4 and 5 have arrived. I wanna reeeeeeeeeeeead. Now I’m stuck reading one of the other 7,000,000 unread books and comics in this house.

It’s now been long enough that I need to clean up my home office area. Weird how that happened… I’ve got stacks of papers, manga, sound equipment, synthesizers, mixers, computer equipment, office supplies etc etc and they’re now being joined by anime funko pops. Once the Gundams start nesting you know Spring has arrived.

Currently Playing: The Sorority – Pledge

Currently Reading: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Jules Verne