CURRENTLY PLAYING: Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERGRADE

 It has thus far been worth the wait. From the very first seconds within the title screen, I was treated to the timeless 'Prelude' piece, the quintessential Final Fantasy tune. Since I didn't play any of the 8 or 16-bit titles growing up, my first exposure to a Final Fantasy game was via the original VII game back in 1997, though I had been aware of the series before that with Final Fantasy III/VI being a prolific title in gaming mags at the time.

The combat is fast-paced and actually strategic, which I couldn't really gleam much off of from the few pieces of gameplay I watched over the years. I'll always take turn-based combat in a Final Fantasy game over an Action RPG system, but what they do here is pretty cool in how they incorporated the ATB into real-time combat. Much like Secret of Mana did way back when.

Christmas 2023

Well, Christmas 2023 has come and just about gone as of the time of this post, and as I prepare to flee Facebook where my ramblings are probably viewed as unwanted or weird, I felt it was more appropriate to publish more and more here going into the new year where I can post and ramble and not have to worry about, well, anyone reading it. 

Anyway, 

My Christmas was relatively peaceful. Christmas eve was it's usual high energy self, more so this year with my having the day off from work, so I spent a good few hours in the kitchen throwing together a cheesecake and a yum yum.

Later in the day, I went to KFC and picked up dinner. It was a fun evening, followed by the first round of gift giving where gifts bought between family were exchanged, as per the tradition. Santa Claus would too the whole event on, another tradition that our parents are ever so adamant about continuing. 

Christmas day has been far less energetic, with clouds moving in and rain beginning to fall. We opened our stuff and I began putting dinner together: A turkey and a ham, along with some vegetables. 

Without naming off everything, I did get a nice new Helluva Boss shirt, a Loona pin and some Steam gift cards, to which I used to purchase Cassette Beasts, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Coral Island. I also received Chrono Cross from a friend. 

I immediately began Cassette Beasts and am in love! Playing a brand new monster catching game on Christmas brought me back to the Christmas of 1998 when got Pokémon Red Version. 

Steam Deck in 2023

I bought the official Valve Steam Deck Docking Station for myself for Christmas, "completing" my gaming "setup". Though I seldom play on the big screen, having the official dock to output the Deck to my TV just felt like it was necessary, even if I did have to modify the grip so that the USB-C nub could fit properly.

I bought the Steam Deck from a seller on ebay back in January, just one week before putting in my notice at Food Lion. I initially bought the Deck as a companion piece to the Switch, which had been my (only) primary means of gaming since it launched in 2017. Little did I expect it to not only knock the Switch out of the rota, but to also make me reconsider any day one purchases of Nintendo consoles in the future. The Steam Deck changed gaming for me forever, refining the road that which the Switch initially paved for me.

The added benefit of being able to natively play modern releases is the expansive emulation capabilities of the Deck. I could even emulate Switch games on this thing if I really wanted to. 

I will definitely still be buying future Nintendo consoles, but I think the days of being a Nintendo-only gamer are done. My plan is to just hold off until the next Animal Crossing game launches and then pick up the next gen console, which is for sure going to be announced/released in 2024.

The Rankin-Bass Santa Claus Trilogy

Violent Night is the third film in Rankin-Bass Santa Claus trilogy, and here is why I think that is so:

So Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is an origin story; It sets Kris up as an orphan that gets taken in and raised by elves and eventually finds himself slowly becoming Santa Claus over the years.

The second film, The Year Without a Santa Claus, sees a disenchanted Kris pondering taking the year off after who knows how many years in the role of Santa Claus. Mankind becoming non believers and taking him for granted fueling his decision to take a break.

Finally, Violent Night has seen Kris spiral into a drunken, disenchanted state, echoing a lot of the same sentiments he expressed in 'Year Without' while expressing further interest in giving up the role all together, with that particular night possibly being the very last.

CURRENTLY PLAYING 🎮: Grand Theft Auto 5

It's been, oh, maybe something like eighteen years since I last sat down and played a Grand Theft Auto game. The Xbox version of San Andreas was the last game that I finished the story in while attempting to do as much as side stuff as possible and just generally submerge myself in the game world.

I started up GTA5 last night on a whim after completing Tales of Berseria as I needed a pallette cleanser, but found myself engrossed in it five hours later. I hadn't realized that the series had come so far since the PS2 trilogy days; from a story telling stand point to giving you things to actually do in the big, normally dull world.

I don't know how much I will actually do of the game by Christmas day when I pick up the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but I imagine it will be a good amount. 

My Top Ten BOOKS of 2023

 Starting last year, I started doing top ten lists for various pieces of media that I've consumed throughout the calendar year, and this year shall be no different. As usual, I tend to not consume the latest media as I'm either usually very far behind on a series as I've tended to discover it or fairly recently or just am that slow, so my lists always consist almost entirely of media from years passed; Their only qualification for making such lists like this is that I had read/watched/played them for the first time in the given year.

And so without further ado, here are my top ten books of 2023.

#10: THE RITUAL by Adam Nevill
This was the first of two books that I read this year that had connections to Norse mythology that I was unexpected but pleasantly surprised by. I'm one of those people who had been exposed to Nevill through the film adaptation of said book, and so when it came time to finally read the story that inspired the film I walked away disappointed a bit. There were some tense moments and really spooky scenes throughout, but halfway through the book takes a weird shift and does some things that the movie - thankfully - ignored for the most part.

#9: IT by Stephen King
Reading this had been a long time coming, having had it in my library since the newest film adaption came out(which I gave away to a friend and then bought the ebook version of). I knew it would be a long read, so I saved it specifically for the spookiest month of the year: October! It took me 3/4s of the month to read, but I had a blast. This was the first Stephen King book that I have read in full. A lot of which that was contained within that both adaptions have (largely) ignored was really surprising.

#8: ALIEN: THE COLD FORGE by Alex White
The last of the books I read for spooky season, somehow weasling its way in during the final week and a half of October. I've always been a big fan of the Alien series and wanted to read some literature that dove more into the universe and the Weyland-Utani company, and Cold Forge gave me just that. It wasn't groundbreaking and gave nothing new away regarding the "Xenomorphs", but it was one of the better tales in this series since Alien 3.

#7: THE SIBERIAN INCIDENT by Greig Beck
When it comes to horror, my favorite genre is definitely "parasitic alien comes to earth and causes mayhem", all thanks to John Carpenter's 'The Thing'. So when I stumbled across Beck's 'The Siberian Incident' late last year, I knew I had to read it. And wowee, it didn't disappoint on the alien side of things. I've not seen this sort of alien done in the way they did here. The Russian mafia side plot and weird brother-in-law side plots were a little odd, though.

#6: THE EMBER BLADE by Chris Wooding
I was hesitant about including this on the list at all. I was sold on the book with the promise of magic, a legendary sword, and high adventure, but I got Game of Thrones Lite. I still maintain that A Song of Ice and Fire and its rise to popularity had done serious damage to the fantasy genre that it still has yet to recover from in terms of having actual fantasy elements. But despite my grievances, I still really enjoyed The Ember Blade. Sure it wasn't what other readers had tried to sell it to me as, but what I got was still entertaining and had a cast of characters that I was mildly interested in re-joining enough that I bought Book 2 when it went on sale.

#5: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green
I picked this up after watching a few minutes of the film adaptation. I like romance in my stories, be it wholesome or tragic. The Fault in Our Stars was both and it left me like a gut punch.

#4: WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks
The movie adaption, this was not. Not even remotely close. The book is a collection of interviews from individuals all over the globe, starting from the very beginning of the outbreak to the "end" when the world began to find itself in the new normal. 

#3: STOLEN TONGUES by Felix Blackwell
Right out of the gate, Stolen Tongues hits the reader with an extremely creepy prologue involving a talking parrot. This opening chapter set the mood and atmosphere for the book that, to the author's talent, it maintained all the way throughout. The couple at the lead of the story were so well written and worked wonderfully with each other. It's always extremely satisfying to see healthy relationships in media.

#2: WATCHERS by Dean Koontz
This book surprised the heck out of me at every turn. I loved the trio at the forefront of the story, one of which was Einstein the Golden Retriever. The early plot of a woman oppressed by her upbringing and slowly finding herself. A supportive male lead that sticks by her and encourages her. And then there was the main antagonist; The Outsider and Einstein's counterpart. Though it only appeared occasionally throughout the book and at the end for the climatic final confrontation, it was written in a way that you HAD to feel sympathy for it.

#1: HIGH MOOR by Graeme Reynolds
Taking the #1 spot for the year is Graeme Reynolds' first book in his High Moor trilogy, titled simply 'High Moor'. A little bit of Stephen King, a little of American Werewolf in London, and a lot more impending apocalypse than I anticipated. High Moor, despite only getting a 4-star rating on my GoodReads, surprised me at every turn. It began simple enough but ended in a place I had not foreseen and with the promise of much, much greater things to come. I plan to begin the next book either on the first full moon of 2024.

CURRENTLY READING 📖: By The Light of Dead Stars

So it seems those weird Facebook ads that occasionally make it into my feed have finally worked and manage to sell me on a piece of cosmic horror for me to (hopefully) close the year out before I begin the year of Brandon Sanderson - The Cosmyear, as I am referring to it as. 

Currently Playing: Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood

It isn't the best or well-developed action game I've ever played, but the novelty of playing as a Werewolf was too much to pass up. And for the $6 I paid for it during the Steam Autumn Sale, I can't complain too much.

I love it when were transformations aren't tied to the full moon and are just something they can turn into at will, bonus points for added ability to take the form of a wolf.

The werewolf form itself ticks every box on my "What my ideal Werewolf should be" checklist. It stands upright but can go on all fours if needed, has digitigrade legs, retains it's tail and as an added bonus, is able to change between agility form and power form.

Visions of Mana is a thing and I have a lot. A LOT. I want to say about it. 

MONSTER SIGHTING #39: Godzilla Minus One

So I am home now and still trying to process this movie and all that it has brought to the kaiju genre. It was absolutely 100% worth the trip through the thick fog to the AMC Theater.

Minus One was, without mincing words, a masterpiece. Not just a great kaiju film, but an amazing, emotional story set during World War 2. And when I say emotional, I mean there were legit moments of human drama that - outside the tears of joy from just seeing Godzilla on a theater screen again - were tear jerking; Human characters and plots in giant monster movies do not get better than how they were depicted in this film, period.

The auditorium was filled up with people that were legit into the movie, even the annoying elderly couple sitting beside me that literally Haha'd(literally. Not a laugh, just saying haha as a word) or gasped out loud every time the scene changed, often times for no apparent reason other than the fact that they are very easily amused. But it was during one particular scene that lasted probably no longer than 20 seconds that everyone in the room held their breath and went totally silent; Even the kids and more talkative members in the group. Everyone was one, silent, unbreathing creature during THAT scene. It was so surreal and was something I have NEVER experienced in any film ever, let alone with such a huge group of people

Godzilla himself was a monster, unlike the current ongoing Monsterverse incarnation which is portrayed more animal-like. MinusGoji is creature that only wants to kill and destroy. He knows full well that he is king and that nothing and no one is above him.

I highly advise anyone that can get to a theater that is carrying this movie to do so as soon as possible.

I'm about to witness Godzilla Minus One!!

I had originally thought that the local large format theater in town was for sure going to pick this up considering how big a fan the manager of the place is, but time ticked on and it just never happened (I blame Taylor Swift, as an FYI). I had the day requested off way in advance and everything. 

Despite the gloomy weather, I drove forty minutes out of town just to see this movie on the big screen. Ain't no way I was missing the chance to see my king on the big screen.

As of the time of this posting, I am just a half an hour away from showtime and the hype is mounting. I have never been to an IMAX theater before, nor have I ever bought a ticket where I had to reserve a seat. As the time of purchase, the auditorium was filling up fast. 

Currently Reading 📖: Krampus the Yule Lord by Brom

Was debating over whether to read a timeless classic (Christmas Carol) or something a bit more intense. In the end I settled for one of the two books by author Brom, titled 'Krampus the Yule Lord'.

The opening page alone setup a rather intriguing premise, with Krampus talking about Santa, false identities and stolen Santa's real name, which Krampus swears he will not speak until he has the jolly red man's neck beneath his boot.

A good meaty 500 or so pages should last me a week or two.

Another Thanksgiving in the books

It is the Sunday following the 2023 Thanksgiving holiday and my first experience working Black Friday in a retail environment that actually saw a heavy amount of foot traffic; And while it wasn't nearly as busy as way, Walmart could and have been during such a sales event, it was extremely hectic in comparison to what else I have experienced over the last eight months here.

As for Thanksgiving itself, it mostly went off without a hitch. The food all turned out great, particularly that of my pumpkin pie which is my own personal recipe.

That night as per tradition, I watched the movie Babe. It's one of my favorite films of all time and is one that I watch only one time a year, much like A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve and Day.

The Steam Autumn Sale started the day before and I picked up several games in that, with Tales of Berseria and Trinity Trigger being a few of the major purchases, along with some Star Wars games, Halo collection and some Zeboyd studio games. 

Finally, I closed the covers on the 40th book of the year: The first in the Thrawn Trilogy. After having watched all of Ahsoka, I HAD to learn more about Thrawn and who he was, where he came from and how he got to be hidden away on that planet. 

Monarch Legacy of Monsters

The advent of Godzilla 2014 nearly a decade ago sewed the seeds to a multimedia universe that I don't think anyone could have ever predicted; The existence of the Gareth Edwards production alone was unbelievable at the time when all kaiju media seemed to be a supremely niche genre.

But now here we are, nine years later with four soon to be five American-made Monsterverse movies, two new Japanese films, multiple comic books, cartoon series and video games. 

And now this: A ten episode long TV series set long before and slightly after the 2014 Godzilla film. Filling in the blanks in the series history and hopefully retconning some other elements.

The Monsterverse has set a framework for so many cool things and events that they have thus far really only scratched the surface of, and now getting ten hours worth of it feels like a dream.

And it's good! Two episodes in and it's good! 

ReCollection - Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (November/December 2000)

My history with the Harvest Moon series dates back to just slightly after the series' introduction in the US, during the summer of 1998 which you can read about in another ReCollection article on my blog.


But what I'm here to talk about today is the fourth game in the overall series and my absolute favorite title that carries the moniker: 1999's 'Harvest Moon: Back to Nature!


I played the SNES game in August 1998. Received the Gameboy game for Christmas that same year and pretty much played it endlessly all of 1999, all the while consuming everything I could find via the net about the upcoming Harvest Moon 64, but even amidst the hype surrounding the Nintendo 64 game, articles started appearing on the net about a potential Playstation version as well, which was basically my primary console at the time despite having my N64 and my SNES still hooked up.


January 2000 came around and I did obtain Harvest Moon 64 I played relentlessly, but the promise of a new game for the PlayStation was there, and as the first screenshots and info started coming out, my hype continued to grow. I remember the first bits of info were related to an actual cooking system that expanded on the ability to collect recipes from the N64 game. The screenshots featured the boat near the docks, which also set the imagination afire with the potential of getting on it and going to the city.


I even have some home movies of me sitting atop my bunk bed and talking to my sister about the game's cooking system, mentioning how it'd be cool if you could have your farm animals sent off to be processed into meat for cooking.


I only remember a little between the time it was announced and during the holiday season when I put my plan into action to obtain a copy, so that's where the ReCollection will pick back up.


During those days, my grandmother would give each kid money for Christmas in November and just have us pick out what we wanted to be from her instead of her going out and grabbing something on her own. She always managed to get us exactly what we wanted each and every year. And so equipped with enough money to buy a brand new PSX game (which typically was in the $40 range), we had set out to good ol' Wal-Mart, with my sight focused solely on finding a copy of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature.


Alas, there was none.


Back then, the local stores weren't exactly fast on the uptake when it came to getting new releases unless they had notable names attached to them. I never saw Harvest Moon 64 on shelves around here either, having had to go out of town to Toys R Us to find it. Not wanting to do that this time, my parents opted to let me make my first online order ever, and thus to Gamestop.Com I went!


And thus, my patience was tested.


But why would something I wasn't even meant to play until Christmas Day even bother me? Heh, well, my reasoning was that I "needed to see if it worked" before we wrapped it up and returned it to my grandmother for keeping until the day of. But that would only come AFTER an excruciating week and a half wait for it to actually be delivered. Which in that time, I did everything I could to bide my time until the USPS made their run down our road.


Home videos exist of me just goofing around in my room, listening to Ozzy Osborne or whatever was playing on the radio. I even went outside at one point and pretended to be Steve Irwin as I explored the areas of our yard that I seldom ventured to in search of new and exciting things. During that excruciating wait, I thought I'd give Castlevania Symphony of Night a go to help occupy my time, but the disc was nowhere to be found (years later, I'd discover the disc behind the baseboard heater). Needless to say, thirteen-year-old Rick wasn't having a good time of it.


Upon a visit to the local Wal-Mart a mere week and a half before Christmas, low and behold, there was Harvest Moon: Back to Nature sitting in all its glory behind the glass case. Mocking me, laughing at my misfortune of having to order something during the holiday season and suffer the delayed wait times. I was gutted and really beginning to wonder if it got lost at this point. But luckily for me, the next day would prove to be the harvest I'd been waiting for.


It was a cold, rainy day. Christmas was fast approaching and not even (the frustrating) 'Zelda: Majora's Mask' could hold my interest. I craved the farm. I even tried the new Grinch game for the PlayStation that my brother had rented, but that wasn't taking the edge off either, nor was some Goldeneye multiplayer.


In anticipation of the game's arrival, I had entered some Gameshark codes for unlimited money and lumber because I was to have so little time to "demo" the game to "make sure that it worked" before wrapping it up and putting it under the tree as a gift from my grandmother. So when the fateful day arrived, I ripped open that bubble shipper and removed that glorious jewel case, feeling just like Genki did on the day he received that early copy of Monster 20XX in the mail.


When Christmas finally rolled around and I was allotted legit time to actually play the game, I erased that starter farm, removed the Gameshark and went into the game between bouts with Final Fantasy IX, which I also received for Christmas along with Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3.


Nowadays, despite it being redone as Friends of Mineral Town for the Gameboy Advance and even later remade under the new Story of Seasons brand, Back to Nature still remains my favorite game in the entire series. It was one of the last few games to maintain that weird, quirky feeling atmosphere and the hardy difficulty level; Both of which are sadly missing from the genre nowadays.


In fact as I write this, I am in the middle of another playthrough of the game in dedication to that time period, as well as just wanting to experience the game in all its glory via Retroarch on my Steam Deck.

I miss the internet as it was

I loathe the fact that every time I sign on to the internet that I run the risk of reading someone's opinion(s). I long for the internet when one had to venture into message boards for that sort of thing; When your main source of entertainment was the plethora of websites hosted by Angelfire, Geocities or Yahoo.  

IT'S BAGAN

In my lifetime as a Godzilla fan, having watched every movie and played every game made available to me, Bagan always stood out to me as something special. Maybe it's just a hefty amount of nostalgia for the Super Godzilla game and the killer final boss theme that plays while fighting Bagan, or the allure of an unused (at the time) monster that made it further than any other scrapped character on the cutting room floor at Toho. He at least managed to get as far as going toe to toe with Godzilla in an officially released capacity.

Surprising anyone in the know, Bagan's sudden revival in the Godziban series earlier this year was a huge deal; To the delight of Bagan followers and to the dismay of those that simply don't see the appeal, which is fine and dandy. I personally don't get the appeal of Shin Godzilla, but that is not the subject here today. 

Bagan's official arrival into the cinematic realm was super exciting for me personally, and while I never allowed myself to hype it much beyond absorbing every little bit of info about his new appearance that I could, there was a tiny seed of hope at the back of my mind that Bagan would receive a figure in the Bandai Movie Monster Series line of vinyl figures, and sure enough, in an early leak for what's to come on this year's Godzilla Day on November 3rd, we got the reveal of an honest to Satan Bagan figure, based on his unused finished design from the Heisei era no less.

I honestly expected Gabara and Godzilla 1998 to get figures long before Bagan ever had a chance, but alas, here we be. 

Currently Watching 📺: IT Chapter 1

Having finished reading IT over the weekend after dedicating three and a half weeks to it. Been a good long while since I read anything so massive, but it was time well spent and I really felt like I got most in Derry. It was the first Stephen King book I read to completion on top of that.

Now that that is over with, I can settle down with the film adaptations and watch them with knowledge of how the actual story went in the book. Picking up a lot more elements of the story that the films either didn't have the time to adapt in full or just chose to omit in favor of a more Pennywise-centric story. 

Froggy Tuesday

Went out to try some fishing today at the river, and while I didn't have much luck beyond a topwater hit from what I could have only assumed was a trout of some kind, I did encounter a frog!

A pickeral frog to be exact! 

Library Check-In

With the holiday season getting ready to begin in full in just a few weeks time, I had the idea of adding some things to my library that I typically wouldn't have have much consideration to otherwise due to space and money,

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol and to spice things up, Krampus. The books that I would like to tackle sometime between the second week of November and Christmas Day. Particularly A Christmas Story as the movie adaption is my favorite Christmas movie period, so I will definitely be reading that one.

Also got Nick Cutter's The Troop and Little Heaven. The former I read last year and loved to death, but had given the paperback away to an co-worker. Little Heaven will be an all new experience for me. 

Just shy of hitting the 80% mark in IT; I knew that it would be a long read considering how dense pages are and how big the physical book is, but I didn't expect that I would actually need the entire month to finish it! I have been giving 2-3 hours a day and still not feeling like much damage is being done. 

But that's okay, because I am having one heck of a time with it. 

I Unlocked The Phoenix!

Now here's something I never thought I'd own; The rarest of all Monster Rancher figures, the legendary Phoenix! Found only in the 18-pack of Monster Rancher figures released way back in 1999 as an ultra rare. Playmates had the admittedly genius idea to assimilate the game's unique ability to give you monsters based on the compact disc inserted into the PlayStation into the merchandising, making it so each set of figures - 4 packs, 8 packs and the most expensive 18 packs - each had their own assorted of random figures thrown in to encourage repeat purchases.

The catch was that, like trading cards, the figures were randomly chosen, had a rarity aspect on top of that AND each sku had their own unique rares, so you could technically buy an 8 pack and get nothing but 4 pack uncommons and not even see a rare from the 8 pack lineup.

The Phoenix, which was at the center of the anime's plot line for the first two seasons, was only available in the $20 set of 18 figures and was the rarest figure of all; Meaning that you could buy multiple $20 packs and see most everything the line had to offer, but never see the Phoenix.

So few of the figures were ever found, and the ones that were fell into the hands of adults that could afford to drop that kind of money back then. Nowadays waiting to find one of these pop up on ebay is a long drawn out waiting game. When I randomly did a search for this last week, only one had been listed and sold prior to that was last July. I was surprised as heck that the seller accepted my offer.

I need maybe three figures now. None of which are even remotely as rare as this one.

Currently Watching 📺: Alien vs Predator Requiem

The film gets a lot of hate that I've never felt was really justified. The only real complaint I personally have is that it's just too dark. The characters are nothing but gore fodder for the warring species, and while yes having likeable characters leads to more impactful deaths and story moments, I can't honestly see wanting that out of such a film as this where the main show is just watching the Xenomorph and Predator slaughter one another. 

Evil Dead (2013)

Dealing with a headache and not feeling much up to reading, though the chapter in IT earlier with Pennywise appearing before Ben during a winter storm was really cool.

I really love what Rise and 2013 did for the Deadite characterization; The first three films depicted them as bumbling goofballs that never posed that much of a threat even though they were capable, but when this and Rise came along, we got to see them as far more terrifying, dangerous creatures. Which when combined with their capabilities of wacky cartoon-like antics and ability to rapidly increase their numbers via infection/possession, makes them a super effective horror antagonist.

CURRENTLY READING 📖: IT by Stephen King

SPOILERS will be openly discussed. 

Owned the hardcover for years. Made a couple attempts at starting it but something else always crept it's way into my line of sight that would stop me about 70-something pages in. Lugging a 1000+ page book around wasn't exactly easy either, particularly when a lot of my reading was done in my car or, while working my old job, in the break room.

But alas now thanks to the Kindle my mother got me for Christmas last year and the decision I made to transition to a digital platform for my books to save both physical space and money, I have been reading books left and right with hardly a day's break between a piece. And now it's time for the big one, the horror masterpiece that I've attempted more than a few times to conquer and had placed it at the top of my TBR pile for the September/October time frame.

I made up a list of about seven books to read for spooky season, with the majority of them being read throughout September. I finished well in advance and held off on starting IT until the first of October as it, besides Dark Harvest, was the most Halloween-y of the books that I had lined up.

***

So where do I currently sit with the book? About 6% of the way in according to my Kindle. Stanley had committed suicide and sent his spastic wife into a screaming fit. I last left off at the beginning of the Richie introduction chapter, and it is just about there or slightly after it that all my attempts at reading this book have failed. 

But not this time. 

Welcome to the spooky season. We fall float here. 

Harvest Moon Winds of Anthos

 With today's launch of Harvest Moon Winds of Anthos across all platforms, I've decided that I'd like to try and write a review for it upon completion of the first year of the game or at 60 hours on the in-game clock— whichever comes first. 

I had a good relationship with the HR person and the company itself. Natsume would regularly send me exclusive goods from trade shows, early review copies, etc. But when their seediness started to leach out of the soil, I began to fire back and call out their icky behavior surrounding the Harvest Moon name and their policies, with the two biggest incidents being the inclusion of what was essentially a marriage candidate that you groomed from a young age and the other being their gross conservative approach towards including same-sex marriage. 

Needless to say, I was blacklisted pretty quickly and had my brand ambassador status revoked. :P

Natsume had a really bad habit of just plain not listening to criticism and dug their heels into the ground more often than not. Or at least, they did. It seems that with the advent of their newest game, they've added same-sex marriage, even the ability to friend-zone candidates. They've removed any weird loli/shota candidates and have actually, from all footage I have watched this morning, actually released a game that may be worthy of the Harvest Moon name for once. And I say this without nostalgia goggles that even the best Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games of the past weren't 10/10 works of art. 

They just weren't and it's time to accept them for the buggy, rushed games that they were. 

That said, I think writing a review for the game will be fun. I haven't reviewed a game in forever, and those that I did review occurred before I ever took writing seriously. 

(I'm going to be reposting all my old reviews here before too long)

If I were to be given an unlimited budget and total creative control over a film or TV series production, I would opt for a extreme horror-themed 26 episode superhero series about a world where suddenly, all of the things that go bump in the night no longer feel the need to hide, sending the world into total chaos as the monsters in the closet begin to brutally tear kids apart. Where boogeymen leave behind only blood and gore filled baby cribs and trolls begin feeding on people crossing bridges, among a million other instances.

At the center of the story would be a werewolf; a man capable of turning into a superpowered half man, half wolf monstrosity, and the only being that emerged in the advent of world turning into one big horror movie as a driving force for good. The only problem is, every time he transformed, he lost a little humanity and his appearance would degrade. Beginning the series as a striking, well groomed werewolf akin to the ones in Van Helsing, capable of striking heroic poses and limited speech capacity. But as the series progressed, his muscles would begin to disappear, his skin sag and cover in mange. His fur would fall out and the sores that would steadily begin to cover his body would leak fluids of nauseating colors and smells. By the end, he would resemble more that of the Dog-Thing, with an elongated neck and arms. Dry, unblinking eyes and a deep, impossibly long grin that showed not only the far reaches of his muzzle, his his neck and throat muscles as well. 

The fights would start out as superpowered, "protect the innocent civilians" style of fights seen in Marvel and DC, but quickly degrade to fights without thought; Nothing but raw animalistic rage from both combatants as werewolf and Wendigo duke it out in the middle of main street, small town America.

All culminating with the once main hero ending the series as the main villain, now a horrific eldritch monstrosity that had pushed every shred of the humanity that it's human host once held out.

The Autumn Welcoming Day #1

At this time every year, as the leaves begin their shift into their autumn colors and the landscape begins to change, I like to celebrate by taking three consecutive days off from work to welcome 2023 autumn season with a big feast: A big old pot of rustic beef stew, some biscuits and a pumpkin cheesecake! The stew and cheesecake I make but only once a year, just for this event.

So today, kicking off the big event, I venturerd out into the world around 8:30am, just as my paycheck dropped. My first stop to be my favorite bakery in town: Dom Bakeries. 

It was here that I ordered myself a bacon egg and cheese biscuit, an autumn spice latte and an apple cider donut made using cider from a local apple orchard, which I will also be visiting later today as I wrap my big shopping experience up.

My next stop was Lowe's Foods which had recently gone through a remodel this past month and thus had distrubuted "Save $10 off $50 or more" coupons, so I opted to do most of my shopping there. Since my annual stew requires waxy as opposed to starchy potatoes, I always opt for the babies. Surprisingly this year, Lowe's had this  potato medley deal going on, with not only red and white baby spuds but also blues! A rare treat indeed that will look very pretty in the stew. 

On my way home, I drove up 421 north to see how development on the new Sheetz is going. All major signage is up and things are looking good. Hope to see it up and running soon. 

Currently Reading: The Only Good Indians

Finished reading book 1 of High Moor yesterday and loved it; Easily the best werewolf book and to be perfectly honest, the best piece of werewolf media out. I hope the second book can maintain the quality.

My next read for spooky season is Stephen Graham Jones 'The Only Good Indians' and it is a tale about a group of friends that are haunted by a being from their childhood, which is evidently deer-like in nature. Have heard mixed reviews, so we'll see how it goes.

Work update!

Well now here we are, just shy of having been at my new place of work for five months. Truth be told, it's been kind of rocky, particularly during that of the inventory prep earlier this month where I had a relapse in my depression due to too much fiddling around with my medication.

But besides that, the work environment for the most part has been very enjoyable and positive and far less stressful than my previous job where I was constantly overworked, underpaid despite my decade-long employment and still not working a full time position even though I was constantly working near 40-hour weeks. 

But just this morning, I received a text asking if I was interested in the full-time closing position for indoor garden aka Seasonal, to which I replied with an emphatic yes and some gratitude. To be noticed for my work ethic and customer-friendly attitude so shortly after starting, when other longtime employees were vying for the same position it, well, it means a lot. And I am by no means a corporate bootlicker and can and will fight them when need be. That said, it is nice to see a company actually actively take notice of its employees. 

I made it. 

It's that time of year again...

 Every year, about a month out from the official beginning of the autumn season, I like to throw a little feast called the "Autumn Preview", which is typically a meal that would be otherwise classified as one of those "Hearty, warm meal on a crisp autumn night" deals in any recipe book or page.

While the big autumn welcoming meal in late September is always the same (Beef stew with homemade biscuits accompanied by a pumpkin cheesecake at the end!), the preview dinner always changes. And this year, I've decided on a one-pot meal: Beef Pot Roast. Consisting of chuck roast, carrots, onions, baby potatoes and celery. 

Once I got the meal started I had headed out to do some fishing with my new lures and stuff.

Though summer is still ongoing, the signs of its eventual demise are starting to appear all around. Both in the flora, the general atmosphere - particularly in the events - and the way fish are biting. The changes are subtle right now and if you aren't generally conscious of such things you may miss it, but it's happening and it is beautiful. The changing of seasons is such a wonderful thing to behold.

It pays to pay attention to nature.

The biggest and best of my catches that morning was on the Crickhopper grasshoper lure from Rebel. A very nice sized Sunfish that put up a really good fight. It was an absolute treat bringing this guy in.

An Angler's Tale #5

An accidental cash purchase, but one I was willing to go with once I got the reel in my hands-- Undercast closed-face reels are difficult to come by, but one made by Pflueger of all companies is particularly interesting as they are known for their quality. As as mentioned, once I got the reel in my hands, I understood.

The metallic blue finish and gold trim makes for a really beautiful, striking piece of equipment. But the real telltale as far as quality goes here is the weight and solid construction of the reel. It's much heavier than the other ultralight reels I own which makes me wonder if I could potentially use it for light range fishing as well. 

I slapped that bad boy onto my Berkley 5' Cherrywood pole and was shocked at how complete the combo felt. I couldn't wait to get out to try it out. 

Which I did, despite the recent dicey weather making fishing conditions less than ideal. 

Finding micro plastic lures is a lot harder than it should be considering the popularity of it all these days. Thankfully, Trout Magnet offers up a nice little kit for just such a style of fishing. Though casting 1/64 jigs on 4lb mono isn't ideal and I had to step up to 1/32 with the same hook size made things work a bit better. 

Despite the muddy waters from the recent rainfall, I got out on the most easily accessed river and started casting away. 

While not a lot, I did manage to catch a few fish with it, with the second small tiny largemouth getting foul hooked behind the eye. 

An Angler's Tale #4 : Ultralight Adventures

 

Finally, I found the Pflueger President spin cast reel U model on Amazon. It was tucked away within the Pflueger President listing and was only denoted by a two-digit code and had no actual photo of its own. It was only by cross-referencing some stuff that I realized what it was I had been looking at.

And so now, with my long-sought-after five-foot pole and a really good high-quality ultralight reel in hand, I can finally begin the first leg of my fishing journey:

CHAPTER 1: The Stream Captain

"Dwelling somewhere within a stream running through the foothills swims a fish with no worldly business being in such an environment. The local stream inhabitants fear it, steering clear of its presence whenever possible out of fear of being eaten. The creature's presence is causing a disruption in the gentle and serene bodies of water, and it's up to Advrik to track it down and fish it out before it's too late.

Overview:
Pole: Berkley 5' Cherrywood Ultralight Rod
Reel: Pflueger President Spincast Reel, Model U
Line: Berkley Trilene 4lb XL Smooth Cast
Lure (Smallest to Largest): 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8

An Angler's Tale #3

Today after work, on this final day of July 2023, I decided I would head out to the lake for some afternoon fishing. Against my better judgement after yesterday's thunderstorm, I set out for Kerr Scott Reservoir, and as expected the water was very cloudy and I knew right away that fishing wouldn't be good, but I still set out.

And low and behold, I actually did catch something! 

#1: Redbreast Sunfish

Caught on the ultralight with Crickhopper on the lake. 

#2 Spotted Bass
Caught using a spinner on the Medium-Light at the Spillway.