Just popping in to say that OPUS: Echo of Starsong was my GotY, and I played it based entirely on Sisi’s recommendation.

Link to the New York Magazine piece, since the article didn’t bother to include one:

Definitely looking forward to Billy Talent. “Forgiveness I + II” was a really nice departure for the band, and I hope they do more experimental stuff like that on the album. Also looking forward to Cloakroom and Scandal.

I’m really looking forward to finally sinking my teeth into Halo Infinite. I want to clear out my backlog a bit first. I haven’t even started The Good Life, which I backed on Kickstarter! But I really like what I’ve seen of the new Halo; it seems right up my alley, and from what I’ve read, it’s a good mixture of…

My top 17:

This weekend I’ll be continuing to chip away at Tales of Arise. I’m trying to grind a bit by doing sidequests before advancing the story. This is proving to be more difficult than expected. Once you’ve completed the 5th realm, most of the sidequests available are of the “go defeat this high-level boss” boss variety,…

The game I’m trying to beat before year’s end is Tales of Arise, which I’ll also be playing this weekend. I think I’m roughly 2/3 through, based on what I’ve heard from others, but the game is about to get tough, and I need grind my characters up appropriately and unlock all their skills, so it’s sidequest time!

Solar Ash looked gorgeous to me, but the middling reviews have left me a little reluctant to get it right now. The criticisms of the game’s repetitiveness and exacting platforming demands remind me a bit of last year’s Haven, which even employed a similar art style. That was another game that I wanted to love but…

Not mentioned here is my most anticipated album of December: Tricot’s new record, Jodeki, drops on December 15th.

Putting WandaVision and Daredevil above Jessica Jones, Agent Carter, and Agents of SHIELD? That’s a paddlin’.

This is good news. Beat Bobby Flay is exactly my kind of dumb TV comfort food (no pun intended).

It might be the bloody knife in your hand.

I’ve never been a huge Radiohead fan, but for the price of “free,” of course I’ll be checking out KID A MNESIA Exhibition. I love the idea of a virtual museum that doesn’t need to obey the laws of physics.

Speaking of Sandler’s better performances, I was surprised that Funny People wasn’t mentioned in the article. It isn’t a great film, but Sandler is tremendous in it, and it’s a really interesting bridge between comedy and drama for a lot of its cast. (It also convinced me that Seth Rogen could do drama if he so chose.)

Gonna try to wrap up Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend. I’ve been having a good time with it, but 20 hours in, I’m starting to get the sense that the reason you revisit environments isn’t for narrative purposes, but because it saves having to create too many unique assets. And I get it: building all-new…

Yeah, I’m baffled by the idea that 2019's Modern Warfare could be some sort of high watermark for the series. I guess if you’re only in it for the competitive multiplayer, then it’s a pretty good time. But the campaign is atrocious, both narratively and ludically. Only the last couple of missions are any fun to play;…

Now this is good Kinja! (And I’m saying that as someone who didn’t even like TMS, lol.)

This weekend, I’ll be playing more Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s pretty good so far, though I’m only halfway through. I think I’m a little more positive on the combat and a little less positive on the writing than most people. The combat is hectic and chaotic, but it’s also surprisingly strategically deep. I…

I’m only halfway through (Chapter 8), but I agree about the characterization. Don’t get me wrong, I like the characters in the Gunn movies (even though I’m mixed on the movies themselves), but the characters here are just so much richer and more well-rounded. For instance, Quill here is a bit of a slimy goofball, but…

Honestly one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Just utter dogshit.