Opinions and Spider-Cops

Anober Tubesday.

And that means it's Newsletter time. Lots of things to talk about today! Including my thoughts on Spider-Man 2, some sites and apps I've picked up to share, my rating of the Xbox Partner Showcase, and more! Check it!

Interesting Stuff

Lo-Rain

It's a silly app that makes it rain on your monitor on MacOS. It's useless and I like it a lot. I hope they add a snow version as we approach winter - we already got some powder so it'd be neat.

Espanso

This is a text expander for Windows and MacOS. It requires editing your own shortcuts in using a text editor, but it's been very useful to write out stuff that I find myself inputting a lot, like my email address, phone number, the time, the day, etc.

FF Piano Collections

SQEX recently added a bunch of Final Fantasy Piano Collections on various streaming services! It has the albums for FF4 through FFXV, as well as Crystal Chronicles. That's hours of sweet piano renditions of some of the most iconic music in games. Check it out!

GG Deals

A neat little site that helps you find deals for Steam games. I've gotten some sweet discounts through this site. Do note, though, that it also pulls deals from those more dubious, sketchy key-sites - but they're clearly labeled for you to ignore them.

Musings

Your Opinion Matters

I wrote 1,500 words that essentially equate to "don't be mean to yourself, that's my friend you're talking about!" More specifically, it's about how you have the power to express yourself on the stuff you care about, why you should do it, and some tips from your resident loud-mouth on how to get started.

Spider-Cop is Dead - Thank God

A "review" on Spider-Man 2 - but more specifically, how it helps to fix the first game's weird fascination with law enforcement.

Xbox Partner Showcase Thoughts

Some thoughts on the Xbox Partner Showcase that happened last week. It was pretty mid! More details in the jump.

What I'm Playing

I've mostly been mainlining Shin Megami Tensei V (2021). I don't know why I didn't finish it before, given it's everything I love in a game - next to zero cutscenes, tons of crunchy, mechanical depth and hot demon ladies. I'm determined to focus on and finish it, just to prove that I can clear my backlog to some extent. Gotta do it soon though - November is bringing a veritable snowstorm of games I'm interested in on my doorstep: Star Ocean the Second Story R , Like a Dragon Gaiden - The Man Who Erased His Name, and Thirsty Suitors being chief among them.

Velvet Album of the Week

Although I bounced off of Laika: Aged Through Blood as a game mechanically, I still adore its aesthetic. This love extends into the soundtrack, which is simply gorgeous. I mean, just listen to this. The whole album has peaked the top of my scrobbling last week.

You can grab the the OST on your favorite streaming service. I checked Bandcamp but it wasn't there!

Status Update

No issue next week, or if it's coming, it'll be late, as I'm gonna be in Hawaii until next Tuesday. Besides that, I hacked my 3DS, so I might write about that - I'll be taking it with me on the trip.

I also recently read Jade City by Fonda Lee and it was an incredible, if very very stressful, book. I can't wait to dig into the next book in the series as soon as possible. It's basically Game of Thrones but if it had POC, martial arts, and more Mobster inspirations. It goes hard.

When I get back I'd like to start learning how to video edit, so I'll be jumping into it when I get back from my vacation, as well as finish up Poena Mortis.

Signing Off

I hope this letter finds you well! I've been having a blast writing this, so I hope you've enjoyed reading them. As always, hmu on Cohost if you wanna talk about anything in this letter, or something else, or to tell me how cool and awesome I am. See you next time. 👋🏾