Yeah, matchups seem to be a big deal, and one of the things I need to learn more about if I want to get good. I've recently been trying Garen in top lane, which led to one bad matchup against Akali and two fairly even matchups against Sion and Pantheon.

Oh, hey, Mario Kart! A friend of mine got Mario Kart 8 and we played it over at his place a few days ago; I think I won three Grands Prix out of five, despite not having played one seriously in years, although the competition wasn't exactly fierce.

Should I be jealous? BECAUSE I AM.

One more, I suppose: were there any features, levels, etc. that you fought to keep in the game instead of being cut?

Oh, man, I'm always bad at suggesting questions, but I want that pin.

Y'know, all this time, I thought your current avatar looked like Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Probably because the blood around his left eye sort-of resembles Zuko's scar, if you aren't paying much attention. (Like me!)

I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past. Other than its curious take on causality, it was a surprising amount of fun, especially that one scene (you know the one). It had strong characterization and it did better with the First Class actors than I was expecting. Easily my second or third favorite of the X-Mans.

Are they bad, or just inessential? I wasn't planning to go out of my way to read them, I was just looking up the story on Wikipedia and I was surprised. I think the friend that's lending me the trades has some of the other series as well, so I'll probably end up borrowing them at some point anyway.

I'd say it's also my favorite comic by Mark Millar, but the only point of comparison I have is Old Man Logan, which had a much different tone, to say the least. Never read Kick-Ass or Wanted, although I saw the movies.

Watched Godzilla with my brother, and I really liked it. I avoided reading about it before going in, and it went in some ways I wasn't expecting. The actual people-characters were okay, but not super-compelling on their own. I liked the slow build-up (even if the end of the Hawaii scene was such a tease) but once they…

I have a habit of putting off appointments/chores/essential bodily functions when I really get into a game, so I'm not exactly the one to ask about pacing yourself.

After watching Videodrome, I felt like I should watch some more of Cronenberg's films.

Unfortunately, no. Of his films, I've watched A History of Violence (which I didn't even realize was him) and parts of eXistenZ. I do have a DVD for The Fly, so I might consider making time to watch it this week. I'd also like to watch Scanners, if only so I could know where that exploding head GIF comes from, and…

I read the second volume of the New 52 Batman. I liked it a fair bit, but maybe not as much as the first volume. Good art and writing, but I can't point to any one thing that knocked my socks off. My friend already lent me the next volume, which I look forward to reading.

Congrats! Personally, I had trouble in the shrine, but that was as a melee character and I forgot you were more of a spellcaster. At least you never gave up, yeah? If I remember correctly, you made some dispirited comments back around Sinner's Rise or the Executioner's Chariot, but it looks like you made it past that.

If you've reached the Dragon Aerie, you're getting fairly close to the end, but it's far from a victory lap. As a mercy, there's no (mandatory) boss in the Aerie or the Shrine right after it, but the enemies in the Shrine can be pretty brutal. As a melee character, I went through a lot of poison arrows there.

I've heard plenty bad about MOBAs in general, including some horror stories from the coworkers I plan to play with, but I'm under the impression that League is one of the most moderated communities out there. Like, there was one match I watched a coworker play where one of the random players on his team got pretty mad…

A new character might renew my interest, but it's never the same as your first run, y'know? The way I play Dark Souls, my "reward" for progressing isn't just new items or a stronger character, it's the chance to explore new areas and discover their secrets. It's not as compelling when you know all the secrets already.

I'm done with Dark Souls 2 for the foreseeable future, so that's off the plate. I ended up rushing around the end of NG+, but honestly, my favorite playthrough of each game in this series has always been my first. I enjoy the exploration, which loses something with familiarity; the difficulty just makes things…

I can't think of many games I would speedrun. I spent a lot of time on the individual levels of, for example, Super Meat Boy and the Trials series, but I get the impression that's not quite what people mean. Perfecting a level that can be finished in less than two minutes is a lot less stressful than perfecting a run…