SecretAsianMan

The runs are almost all up already on the YouTube channel. They've been doing a remarkable job these last couple years of putting them up just a day after the run. I've watched a handful in chunks, the ones that standout to me so far are Super Mario World Blind Race - seconding what Ben said, really close race with lots of excitement Grand Poo World 2 - an amazing run of one the hardest, if not THE hardest Super Mario World rom hacks out there Link to the Past + Super Metroid randomizer - a co-op run with some great couch commentary. I was literally brought to tears at one point I was laughing so hard Divekick - a race through the game's story mode between a CEO and EVO champ. It's short and sweet

Thanks for making this Ben. I've been too busy/forgetful/other excuse lately to remember SGDQ had started. I doubt I'll have time to watch much, either now or later. As such I probably won't be making my usual public playlist of runs but someone else is more than welcome to.

I mean... Chernobyl is certainly sad but that's not what the show is about. It's not about making you feel bad or guilty or even sympathetic (though you probably will as a consequence), it's a frank presentation of the events (with some dramatic liberties but for the most part it seems genuine). The biggest emotion I felt was fear. Not fear of what transpired but fear of the chain of lies, ignorance, and straight up denial that lead to it even happening, coupled with the fact that IT'S STILL GOING ON RIGHT NOW. Anyway I finished the last episode. As someone who is very interested in the technical side I rather enjoyed his simplified explanation of what happened. It's pretty accurate if not minimalistic but more than enough for the needs of the scene. It drags a bit at times but overall I quite liked the series and recommend it to anyone with even a remote interest.

I've been slowly watching the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. While I have a better than average understanding of the technical side, seeing all the mismanagement that occurred is absolutely terrifying considering that we're still doing it (not necessarily in the nuclear industry but certainly in other areas *cough*climate change*cough*).

I love the idea of being able to play in bite size chunks on the go. But as someone who lives in the suburbs with no access to public transportation and works in an office in the middle of nowhere I'm forced to drive everywhere so portability is just not a factor for me.

I forgot that was a thing. As a concept I'm glad its going to exist but I'm just not really interested in getting back into that universe.

The thing I feel like would turn me off is all the additional systems in the game I'd have to deal with, like weather and food and gear. On paper they might sound interesting but in almost every game that has them I end up annoyed rather than entertained. I mean you could also be totally right but these days my time and budget are limited so I'm much less willing to risk getting something on the chance I'd like it and stick to something I have fewer reservations about.

Oh man, Deus Ex. I bounced off that game so hard. I had never played a Deus Ex game before Human Revolution and I was quite excited to get into it. The story seemed interesting and it has all the world building details I normally love but I HATED everything about playing the game. It felt so ridiculously clumsy and awkward. Attempting to do anything either in stealth or loud was a comedy of errors as I never managed to accomplish either one with any amount of grace. It could be a personal failure on my part but I very quickly gave it up after much frustration.

I considered that but AoS isn't a Netflix show. Although I guess I could rename the thread since I guess I started it (technically I didn't create the thread, I think it was Chris when he started splitting all the megathreads into individual ones and I just happened to have the first post).

To be honest, I haven't watched anything recent. The last thing I saw was last season's awful crossover episode. I got tired of how repetitive every one of those shows are (except for Legends which has it's own unique brand of terrible). The only one I'm considering watching again is Supergirl and frankly I just don't feel motivated to do it.

As much as I actually like AoS, if you reached a satisfying conclusion then I wouldn't recommend getting back into it. Most of what follows after that has LOTS of open plot threads that have never been resolved. It's one of the things that drives me nuts because I hate loose ends. When it looked like season 5 was going to be the last one I was mainly bummed about not getting any resolution to those stories. I really hope season 6 at least attempts to close some of the gaps but I'm not hopeful it will.

It's not a movie but I watched the new Agents of SHIELD last night and we don't have a separate topic for it (that I could find). I don't think its worth making one so I'll talk about it here. They do their normal thing of throwing you right into the thick of it without really explaining anything so that they can string you along over the season with bits and pieces of information. And even though that sounds negative I kind of like it because it keeps me engaged more than a straightforward story does. (Contains Endgame spoilers in case you haven't seen that)

Thankfully, it ultimately ended up being a false alarm. We'll need to keep an eye on her but she's ok. I appreciate everyone's concern and support. It really does mean a lot.

I'm really stressed right now. My wife and daughter are in China visiting my in-laws and my daughter has developed a medical condition that may require surgery. They're going to see a specialist in the morning (which is night for me). We'd rather have it done here if need be but that means it'll be at least a couple days, not even counting the time it will take for the doctors here to examine her. The other issue if it needs to be done right away is the way health care in China works, you have to pay for everything up front. I don't know if my insurance here will cover this in the first place, but I guarantee they won't pay for anything up front even if it is covered. I'm not sure I'll be able to to pay an up front cost in addition to flying out there myself. Right now I can't do anything but wait until they can see the specialist. I don't know what to do. I hate this so much.

Galaxy was a huge surprise for me. I was totally expecting to be blown away (-ign.com) by it and was really disappointed that I wasn't. Again, I don't think it's bad it just didn't work for me in a way I can't fully explain. It's entirely possible I'd have a different opinion now. I actually wouldn't mind the opportunity to try it again.

I don't own a Switch so I've never played Breath of the Wild but I feel like I'd also bounce off it pretty hard. And speaking of Nintendo games, Super Mario Galaxy didn't do it for me. I totally see a great game in there but for some reason it never felt right to me. Mario 64 is one of my favorite games ever. Even though I never finished it I enjoyed Sunshine. So 3D Mario isn't an issue for me, I just never got into the groove with Galaxy. I really want to play Odyssey though.

My Endgame musings

Once upon a time I tried to get into Red Dead Redemption. I can see what other people might like about it but nothing clicked for me. I wasn't pulled into the story, I didn't enjoy any of the mechanical aspects of the gameplay, and I found a lot of it very tedious and uninteresting. I shouldn't have been surprised because it's a perfect storm of things I really don't like: Westerns, open world games, and Rockstar jank. When RDR2 was announced I felt like the only person in the world that was completely uninterested in any part of it.

I really want to watch season 2 of One Punch Man but I seriously don't want to get Hulu. I have enough scattered streaming services as it is.