RPS

Me and the hubby watched Finding Frances, the finale of Nathan for You. Extraordinary television. I have so many thoughts but need time to process them all.

We just finished episode 4 and holy shit is it great. The moral ambiguity is next level. Similar to last season, midway through there are maximum 2 characters who remain morally okay, but I imagine that will change.

Imagine Dragons was my sons doing. Bizarrely, they didn't have a single song in my top 25. But LOW had 5. I'm pretty sure that the math may be off. I'm pretty positive LOW was #6.

They did terra raids all weekend for Eevees. I saw one out in the wild. I think zone 2 right close to the grass base. I caught 8 from Terra raids.

I would ask her what she liked about Pokemon Let's Go and make the decision. Pokemon SwSh are amazing games with a mix of conventional Pokemon games (route from city to city where you gain badges to progress to the Elite 4, you battos trainers, you battle to collect Pokemon) and more unusual elements that take from Let's Go (open world spaces, you can see wild Pokemon in these spaces). There is also a banana's amount of Pokemon available (600 or so). Pokemon Arceus is nothing like Let's Go, except you don't battle Pokemon to collect. You enter a quasi open world stage, collect the 30-60 pokemon available in the region, and you get rewarded for collecting a lot of Pokemon of the same type. There is not as much focus on battling - you traverse the open world space and collect Pokemon. But there is about half of the amount of Pokemon from SwSh. Pokemon Violet takes the conventional Pokemon formula and makes various tweaks - auto battles, all Pokemon in the wild are visible, there is far less trainer battles. Technical issues aside, it's an incredibly fun game. And not linear - you can go pretty much anywhere in the world right away. The technical issues will ruin your game if you want a seamless experience. But, to be honest, all three of these games have technical issues. SwSh have some graphical bugs and pop ins. Arceus the same. It's not as bad as SV. If you ask me, I would try to find a used copy of Sword or Shield and buy the DLC.

I have seen Diglett in the game, so presumably because they also wanted to use Diglett's assets in the game.

Pawmot is the greatest and I'll hear no slander of him.

I don't disagree with you, that ideally that the games would be released less frequently and with more polish. But the release schedule of Pokemon has ensured it's probably the best selling and most culturally relevant game franchise ever. That's why Pokemon is still relevant today. The games are churned out enough that people keep buying them year after year and the animes still keep getting produced and they can make more cards because they have new Pokemon and they can add them to Pokemon Go so people engage that way. So we are stuck with games that are more concerned with being released with new Pokemon rather than releasing "great games". I'm like 2-4 hours into Violet and it's great. The new Pokemon's are the best designed since BW. The QOL improvement and pace of the game. It's clearly undercooked - lots of frame pop ins, some bizarre hiccups. Nothing game breaking though.

I always find the discussion about Pokemon around release really interesting. It is fascinating looking into realistic expectations. I feel like people want so much out of Pokemon these days, when it's easier to view Pokemon as a license first and a video game second. Pokemon exists to primarily sell plushies, toys, cards, TV shows and movies. I get why people want Pokemon to be a polished, triple A game franchise, but it never will be. The games have quick turn around times to introduce new Pokemon/variants to sell more cars packs and plushies and to launch a new anime series. I know people would love a Pokemon game that has higher production values, a bigger team, more time to develop. But I personally wouldn't because it would very likely mean less Pokemon games. I love just catching new Pokemon, seeing new variants, seeing what new bizarre systems they come up with every year or so. I don't want to wait 3-4 years for a new Pokemon game.

I beat the game. I lost Lucario in addition to the Farfetch'd. I was rotating between 10 or so pokemon but near the end I just rolled with Greninja, Charizard, Klefki, Pangoro, Meowstic and Krookodile. Onto Heart Gold now. There is no exp share for a bit. Let's get ready to grind.

The Comet is Coming has a spacy jazz album called Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam. Marries jazz and electronic music with a little hint of hip hop. Great stuff.

Pokemon X. 31 hours. 🤗

Mimi Parker had such an exceptional voice. Go listen to White Horse - the way Alan and Mimi duet on that song is astounding. Amongst the chaos, the abstract, the noise, there is two people singing together in harmony, so clearly in sync with one another. Their voices imperfect, but the passion so raw and clear. When Mimi sings, you know she believes every word. Their songs move at a slow, methodical pace, which allows you to contemplate every word. On Fly, when Mimi sings "take my weary bones, and fly" you can feel the weight of the sacrifice. It's abstract, but you know and feel the sacrifice Mimi is making so the subject can fly. The greatest art is that which pushes us to reflect on our own lives. At the times that we can think of when we have sacrificed ourselves for others. I think of my relationship with my children when I hear Fly - of the ways I give my emotional and physical self in order to allow others to thrive. Mimi's contribution to Low as a drummer was also exceptional. Low reveled in the abstract, approaching melodies and arrangements in a unique way. The restraint in her drumming have life to everything around it. It is often overlooked how great subtle and restraint drumming can be. Every hit of the drum has weight. What an exceptional band and it is truly sad that we lost a visionary like Mimi.

Mimi Parker of LOW has passed away. Very sad.

The Soft Pink Truth's album Is It Going To Get Any Deeper Than This is stunning. TSPT is the solo project of Drew Daniels, one half of Matmos. Matmos is an experimental / ambient / IDM act where they make concept albums. Albums where they sample sounds from surgical wards, only items that are plastic, rat cages, etc. to make a concept album. TSPT uses more conventional sounds but keeps the concept album - what if we covered a bunch of black metal or hardcore songs but turned them into weirdo dance songs. On the new album, the central question is the album title. How does one go deeper, especially on tracks that have minimal vocals and often times vocals that are not completely understandable? The answer is impeccable arrangements that border between the excitement of experimental music and the euphoria of modern house music. Even at it's euphoric heights, bizarre and unexpected sounds hit you in a way that interest you. It all weaves together for an extraordinary album. Great for dance floors and an evening at home.

First person shooters are my jam. Love them. I have tried most of the major ones out, with a few exceptions. They are great with friends because once you get into the groove of the game you can just chat with friends. Me and my brother play Fortnite once a month or so. We squad up, chat for an hour and kill some players. I play more regularly than him so I carry him, but it's still fun. I also play with my son, who is more interested in mucking around than actually winning the game.

You'll get better as you play, Ollie!

I would wait a few months to weed out the new players or get them used to the game. There is people new to the game because it is F2P and there is a whole new base of players. Overwatch by the end had great matchmaking and the player base really understood the game. OW2 will get there in a few months. Also, in my experience, the player base on PC is infinitely better than console. So if you can play on PC I would recommend you to do so.

Yeah that takes me back to Overwatch 1 quick play. It started with no hero limitation. Like you could pick 6 Bastions if you want. It changed from no hero limitations to no duplicate heroes to you role queue. They still have the role queue option but I wish they hard locked numbers in open role queue. Ie no more than 2 of one role.

Zen (and Baptiste and Ana) are great back line healers. They don't need to be front and center because they heal from a distance. Also hanging near the back of a battle is great because you have more line of sight for healing, but also can give you a wider sense of who you should be giving your orb of discord too. Zen does have increased melee damage and can knock players back but he's terrible up close. Always be close to your tank, don't try to push your team forward and rarely try to 1v1 a player. You have to be super aware of where you are on the field and where the enemies are. Brig, Mercy and Lucio are all front line healers because they physically need to be but for all three it's also the increased movement speed. I main Lucio, but he is great for moving a team forward. You can speed boost, push your team forward and knock back the tank and navigate the field. Moira is versatile because she can heal from a distance and up close. She can also protect herself easily with high DPS but also can cloak and move around.

I am pwrbttm#11775.

I 100% beat Binding of Isaac and all of its DLC.

I feel like my top album will be one of the following albums: Black Midi - Hellfire. This is the front runner for me. I think what is so magnificent and special is that it is unlike any other album out there. The first word I would use to describe it is unrelenting. The album never stops. There are quiet moments, but you know they will be a brief break from the chaos and ambition that will eek out of every track. Welcome To Hell is the best example - it amps up, slows down, amps right back up again. It is also exceptional in how layered it is, especially in terms of lyrics. You may have to listen to this album 10 times to really piece together each line spoken. The layering is great as well, because each instrument, each style, each change in direction layers on the audience so much. The last time I felt this way listening to a rock album was Blackstar by David Bowie. Beyonce - Renaissance: I wrote a whole post about how exceptional this album and it holds up. It is the best Beyonce album ever released, mostly because of how different the song writing is on each track. So much of Beyonce's music is about herself. On Renaissance, she looks outside to the other. Even the tracks that are about herself are often channeled or viewed through the lens of the other. The song Heated is a masterclass in songwriting - Beyonce seems to be in this inner dialogue with herself and the other. Beyonce sings confidently about having Chanel and Tiffany's. But underneath this song there is a more muted Beyonce singing about going to jail, stealing Chanel and about her uncle Johnny making her dress. But it is not about Beyonce stealing Chanel or her uncle Johnny making her dress - it is about the experience of queer POC in the 80s, at the height of ballroom culture and of the AIDs crisis. Throughout, Beyonce channels the experiences of others to explore who she is. It coudl come across as using HIV, queerness or ballroom as a prop, but Beyonce sings with such authenticity that it carries the whole album. Alvvays - Blue Rev: This album is just in my brain right now and I do not have deep pensive thoughts yet, but it is the most beautiful album released this year. The hooks and melodies are so gorgeous and rich. It is pop music, but pop music that is made with fuzzy guitars and other bombastic sounds originating from very un-pop places.

I don't necessarily feel this. Overwatch 2 added self healing for all healers - only Mercy and Lucio had it in OW1. So all other healer's can focus on themselves rather than predominantly using their passive heals on themselves. There were times I would use an Ana grenade to heal myself over others because I needed health and if DPS died - well at least I can heal others. So OW2 removed that choice by giving healers the benefit of self healing. I feel like you could say there being less tanks and shields around make all players and particularly healers exposed. But I think it just promotes better positioning. Overwatch was always a game where you needed to group together a squad. Moreso here in OW2.