cavalcade

Play
I'm closing in on about 200 hours in Monster Train 2 (though I suspect it sometimes logs time if I've left the Ally on suspend, so the real figure is probably half that). I'm quite close to having all the trophies and looking at the list they're all eminently doable so I might aim to 100 percent it. I think it's a great game (obviously) but there are a few things I'd like to see changed for MT3 or in some DLC (balancing and UI tweaks). That said it's my GOTY no contest.

As I'm heading off to Paris this week for the VCT finals (and thankfully my son and I's team Fnatic have made it to the final stages) I've been playing a lot of Valorant. Most other multiplayer games I'm definitely getting too old for, but still hanging in there just about.

Want
Post MT2 when it comes I need another portable title to sink my teeth into. I might give Baldur's Gate 3 a real go (though it is probably a bit involved), but a small part of me wonders if I could grow to love Balatro. Or maybe go back to Slay The Spire. Or maybe I need a break from that sort of game…

My partner and I have got quite into metal detecting. It's borderline illegal in the Republic and not much better in the North, but we've decided to do it anyway. So far - a lot of ring pulls/fishing hooks/nails. But… we're about to spend more on a good bit of kit so who knows? Maybe soon we'll find a Euro or an earring (the dream). And yes, The Detectorists was part of the inspiration. I fear this is my version of getting old and getting into coin collecting or bird watching, but I'm nearly 50. Time to lean into it.

Also about to purchase a Mini 5 drone. Doing a lot of Whale watching off the coast and the range of my poor old Mini 2 is being a bit exposed. But have still managed a lot of video of minkie and humpback whales all the same. I did manage to put another of my drones into a river while filming salmon leaping a few weeks back, so it's an expensive hobby. (None of this is ever near people, I feel too much shame to send a drone up if there is anyone even within 5 miles of me).

Bin
Fascism is go!

My dad's side of the family are all from Skewen, Neath and Port Talbot. I have looked into that abyss many times. And it has looked back at me and smiled.

GAME do a decent set of generic ones for 2.99 I use on the Switch and Ally (would probably fit the Switch 2). But those ones in particular are lovely - the indented ones from Skull and Co improve any pad a huge amount.

Gears of War Reloaded. Considering this is 20 years old (vomit) it hasn't really aged. I mean it's stupid, machismo-filled nonsense, but it always was. A sign that shooty action games haven't really moved on in the last 20 (vomit) years?.

I played a tiny bit of this just to see what it was like, and I also had a similar reaction. In many ways it's actually better than some modern games, as it has a real kinetic THUD to every movement and everything makes sense within its fictitious gameworld. Games like Division 2 emulate it nearly exactly, but when you're a thin weedy soldier, rather than a 9ft steroid-muscled chainsaw wielding maniac it doesn't make quite as much sense.

I went to see The Human League, The Undertones and Nick Kershaw live the other day. Perils of dating an older woman (music for me started with the Stone Roses).

Nick Kershaw was OK. The Human League were like a cruise ship band, and all had the dead eyed stares of people who wished they'd given it up years ago. But holy fuck the Undertones were good. The lead guy now looks like Greg Davies, but they absolutely smashed their set.