VIDEO GAME: Vampire Survivors, but it’s in Virtual Reality (2025)

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Vampire Survivors, but it's in Virtual RealityYear: 2025Rating: TTime Played: ~50 hours OK, I’ll admit that the game clearly using gambling and slot machine mechanics to dazzle my senses has convinced me to play through it all again, but in virtual reality (VR). For what it’s worth, Vampire Survivors, but it’s in Virtual Reality is basically a port of the original game that you play on a screen inside a virtual environment, but there are a few enhancements that make this version the one I keep coming back to when I could instead play the original game on my laptop or mobile phone. This isn’t simply Vampire Survivors that you play inside a VR headset. Instead, you get these 3D effects for your characters that add depth to what was a 2D top-down experience. Then there’s the chest opening animation, which is even more spectacular in VR (as you’d expect of that slot machine razzle dazzle). To top everything off, the environments...
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MOVIE: Prey (2022)

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PreyYear: 2022Rating: RLength: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours For a franchise at risk of becoming stale, I can appreciate the approach that a sci-fi series like Predator took with Prey (2022). With Alien cross-overs being hit-or-miss and the Predators (2010) reboot having an OK twist, Prey feels like a breath of fresh air. After all, going backward in time makes the challenge of facing a Predator much more thrilling and perhaps closer to the original Predator (1987) in terms of using true human survival skills to combat this threat from outer space. The context being from a Native American perspective just made it that much more interesting. Set in the Great Plains of North America in the early 1700s, Prey follows Naru (Amber Midthunder), a Comanche woman who has aspirations of being a hunter but is held back by the gender stereotypes of her tribe. This alone is an interesting plot that pulls in elements of the white man’s invasion of native...
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BOOK: How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read (2007)

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How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read Year: 2007 Author: Pierre Bayard Length: 269 minutes / 4.48 hours The title of the book, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read was intriguing to me because there’s a huge litany of creative works out there that I haven’t experienced yet, and I was curious how Pierre Bayard would address this challenge. Of course, the wit and humor that I’m sure was present in the French version doesn’t really come across in the translation, and the whole thing feels judgmental of those who can’t improv their way through a conversation about a classic piece of art. If anything, the premise that people would feel guilty about not having consumed some piece of popular culture or classic literature is probably more indicative of the high society or intellectual circles that would shame someone for this gap in their knowledge. I’d much rather be in a world that’s like the XKCD comic that’s about sharing these moments...
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MOVIE: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)

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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Year: 2025 Rating: PG-13 Length: 169 minutes / 2.82 hours When a film franchise like Mission: Impossible reaches its conclusion, you hope the finale is a fitting send-off. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) splits this duty with its predecessor, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023) and does a fairly good job of maxing out the action and “impossible” sequences the franchise is known for. If anything, it’s nice to know that there’s a definitive end to these movies instead of letting them continue in perpetuity. Now I just have to wonder what the next “big stunt” movie franchise will be to replace this one. Considering the modern hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to end the world in a variety of ways, choosing to make the AI the final villain for the franchise was a smart move. What better way to show how impossible a mission is than to have the opponent be better at...
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VIDEO GAME: Cave Story+ (2017)

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Cave Story+ Year: 2017 Rating: E10+ Time Played: 6+ hours I am always impressed with what individual game developers can create. Many of these games (like Undertale, for example) feel like the freeware and shareware games of my youth in the ‘90s. Cave Story has similar origins and feel with its retro pixel aesthetic (made even more striking in the Cave Story+ version I played on the Nintendo Switch) but has the unfortunate comparison to modern platformers that might have slightly tighter controls. Still, it is impressive that something so thoroughly thought out and containing lots of deep lore could be created by a singular individual. What stands out about Cave Story is how charming it is. The characters are memorable and sometimes goofy (like Balrog) but the tragedy of the overarching plot makes you really care for these creatures. Each area you explore has a purpose and there isn’t a lot of extra side quests to distract from the main goal of the game....
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MOVIE: District 9 (2009)

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District 9 Year: 2009 Rating: R Length: 112 minutes / 1.87 hours The best kind of science fiction uses fantastical elements to hold a harsh mirror up to the ills of society. One of the best examples of this is Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 (2009) being an analog for apartheid in South Africa. Sure, it has fun sci-fi elements like the alien weapons and technology, but at its core there’s a solid commentary about racism and the caste system that does nothing to fix it. That it’s still relevant today just speaks to the strength of its message—one that needs no sequel or follow-up movie. District 9’s story benefits from the visual effects used to put these bug-like aliens smack dab in the middle of refugee camps in Johannesburg. The aliens look so realistic, and the CGI is sharp and crisp in a way that even modern films have since failed to replicate. Even the transformation of Wikus (Sharlto Copley) into the “prawn” form seems...
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BOOK: The Andromeda Strain (1969)

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The Andromeda StrainYear: 1969Author: Michael CrichtonLength: ~8 hours Some of the best science fiction ever written has its basis in reality. These “what-if” scenarios often pull from actual processes and procedures that help ground them while still being entertaining. Knowing that Michael Crichton always digs deep into the science of his stories, it’s no wonder that The Andromeda Strain is an engaging examination of what happens when an unknown pathogen comes to Earth and wreaks havoc on the biosphere in odd and mysterious ways. Of course, the core of this story is the safety steps it takes to combat a terrifying virus. This book mostly splits into two stories: one about the tragic effects of the titular “Andromeda Strain” and one about the purification rituals the scientists need to perform in order to come up with a way to counter it. Half is hazmat suits performing autopsies to learn what happened, and half is multi-layer clean-room (and extreme contingency) protocols to ensure...
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MOVIE: DC League of Super-Pets (2022)

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DC League of Super-Pets Year: 2022 Rating: PG Length: 105 minutes / 1.75 hours I’ve never been a huge pet person because of allergies. As such, I initially passed on DC League of Super-Pets (2022) because it didn’t seem interesting to me (I also wasn’t wild about Kevin Hart or Dwayne Johnson as voice actors). Of course, with kids around, I eventually had the opportunity to watch this movie with them. Overall, it’s a pretty basic superhero movie that just happens to feature animals instead of humans. It has the usual jokes that adults would get and the silly little gags that appeal to children. Mostly, it’s just…there. Because it’s telegraphed that each of the pets eventually ends up with one of the members of the Justice League, I was hoping there was slightly more synergy between the animals/powers and the heroes they’d be matched with. Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) makes sense, but he already had a connection to Superman (John Krasinski). At the very least,...
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MUSIC: Denver Ska Fest 2026

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Denver Ska Fest 2026 Date: May 16, 2026 Location: The Mission Ballroom I’ve been to quite a few concerts before, but never one where there are two bands playing that I both want to see. Enter Denver Ska Fest 2026, which gave me my first concert experience for Five Iron Frenzy, as well as my third or fourth time seeing The Aquabats in concert. As a festival-like concert, none of the bands seemed to have any higher billing than any of the others. Each one had a unique way they were tied to the ska genre of music, which made the whole evening quite fun. The night started off with The Potato Pirates. They incorporated bagpipes into their sound in a way that felt natural and punk rock. Their lyrics were less family-friendly than the other acts, but I’ve usually avoided the more punk-ska acts until now. Dance Hall Crashers wrapped up the evening. This duo of women was also a unique experience because...
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