Before we jump straight into it, I will say while this will focus on my main hobbies, Books, Games, and Wrestling, I do have other interests that I will comment on from time to time, like TTRPGs, Music, NBA, and Anime in much shorter comments at the end, but very briefly.

Books – An Anthony Ryan double-whammy, The Feeding and Born of an Iron Storm

I’m delving into two Anthony Ryan books recently that could not be more different. I’m still early in The Feeding, and I purposely didn’t read the description, so I have no idea what the Feeding actually is, but from what I surmise, this is a post-Zombie-like apocalypse set behind what may be the last human settlement fortified by walls that keep out the feeders. The remains of humankind seem desperately low on resources, but are trying to survive. They send out people to trade with other remaining settlements to trade for supplies, which hasn’t been going well. I can feel the desperation of everyone living in the settlement and the rising tension of hearing the people who go outside the walls not coming back with supplies. The horror of the feeders has not quite hit yet, but the way the setup for the plot is going, it looks like the main character, Layla, will be going out into the remains of the world soon. I’m looking forward to it.

Now, Born of an Iron Storm, I’m much further in. Ryan is so good at jumping straight back into where he leaves off in the previous book, and this follow-up to A Tide of Black Steel jumps right into it. I won’t spoil what happens, but my favorite, I don’t know what you would call it, a trope, concept, recurring story idea? Anyway, I love it in a fantasy book with multiple Point of View characters is when the branches of the story start all separate but then as the series goes on the branches begin to converge like for example a side character of one POV character in the first book has something happen to them only to end up in POV chapters of another character in second book. This is starting to emerge in Born of an Iron Storm and I’m loving it.

My review for Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is out now, so be sure to check it out. Automatic Noodle Review – Robots, Rights, and Restaurant

Games – Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, plus others.

I have never played a Shinobi game ever, but I saw the art style for this game and saw someone describe the combat as made for people who love fighting games, and I had to have it. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is so much fun. The combat is simple but has the capacity for a ton of combos that only expand as you play through the story, unlock new abilities, and buy new attacks. The platforming is not as complex as the game it’s going to be compared to the most, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, but still robust enough for in between bouts of combat. To 100% it you’ll definitely have to revisit stages as you gain abilities, but the different fights and stages you reach with those new abilities feel worth revisiting earlier stages. The bosses are so much fun, challenging the first time and fun to just destroy when you figure out their patterns the second time, especially as you learn to juggle and chain combos. I’m a sucker for skins, so having multiple colors for Joe Musashi rules, but in my opinion, every game that has skins should count how many they have and add four or five more. Once more, I have to say the art, the backgrounds, the details of the characters, and the music are outstanding. This is a great game to play right before Silksong comes out. I want to take my time with it, but I also want to beat it before Hollow Knight: Silksong comes out, since I know that will completely take over my brain.

There are some other games I’ve been playing alongside Shinobi. I tried the Lost Soul Aside demo and did not care for it. It looks pretty, but the gameplay feels floaty, and the combat is not for me. I’m nearing the end of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and I find this game difficult to talk about. I like it a lot, especially the combat, but I find the characters and story kind of flat and sometimes frustrating. It’s wild to say I both feel like this is one of the best games of the year and also largely overrated. It has a lot of flaws, I feel like they aren’t acknowledged, but also the game rules. It’s a bit of a conundrum for me. Thanks to getting a new PC, I’m finally playing DOOM: The Dark Ages. Between the gameplay involving the shield, the weapons, and the melee, like the flair, the game is so much fun, but who told id Software that we wanted more story from DOOM? I’m enjoying it, but it’s a bit much, and the story is not why anyone plays DOOM. Lastly, so many games deemed as cozy usually are not in fact cozy at all, especially ones that simulate labor. Tiny Bookshop, however, is actually cozy. You drive a bookmobile to a location, you suggest books to customers, you buy more books to sell, you decorate your bookmobile. I play it a lot before bed and it is fact, quite cozy.

Wrestling – Bandido vs. Hechicero is must see.

Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor was last Friday, unfortunately, during my D&D game, so I did not get to see most of it live, but our session did end just in time to see the first half of Bandido vs. Hechicero for the Ring of Honor Men’s World Heavyweight Title. I knew it was going to be great, but I was sure that before the show, they had wrestled one-on-one before this, which was incorrect. Coming into it, I had no doubt of the outcome, but Hechicero did a great job of countering Bandido’s offense in the early parts of the match that sold the idea of him and his manager, Don Callis, having the champion scouted out.

Despite Hechicero’s size, Bandido was able to show impressive feats of strength against his opponent and, combined with his agility, displayed technical prowess to counter the submissions and holds Hechicero was more of an expert in. Likewise, despite his larger size and focus on technical wrestling, Hechicero was not intimidated by Bandido’s high-flying maneuvers. There is a sequence where the challenger ducks and weaves out of Bandido’s handspring backflip, only to be caught in a hurricanrana that he immediately flips out from and onto his feet. Spots like this resulted in Bandido not only needing to escalate his offense, but also the amount of risks he needed to take to retain his title. The crowd didn’t like it when Bandido returned the favor, beginning to pull on Hechicero’s mask, but I do believe in babyfaces who sometimes reach a limit of what they’ll take from their heel opponents. The suplex on the barricade was genuinely brutal (positive), and a lot of Bandido’s offense that led to the ending was like fuck-yous in wrestling move form. In the end, this is definitely one of my matches of the year, and I believe I loved it more than the match with Konosuke Takeshita, which was also amazing and worth seeking out.

Due to a problem with the stream on Ring of Honor’s website, Tony decided to put the show up for free on YouTube so you can check out the match for yourself, which I have time-stamped here.

AEW Dynamite was great, AEW Collision was good, yeah yeah yeah. What I want to end this with is this week on AEW Dynamite, I was hooting and hollering for one reason and one reason only, The AEW Men’s World Heavyweight Champion Hangman Adam Page reunited with his former tag team partner and faction member of the Elite, another former world champion, the Best Bout Machine himself, Kenny Omega. That’s all I thought about all episode UNTIL they announced they’d be reuniting not just in a segment but in a match that airs TODAY on AEW Dynamite. Insert more hooting and hollering.

Music I’m currently listening to: The Beaches’ new album No Hard Feelings, just came out and I’m really digging it, especially the single Last Girls at the Party and Did I Say Too Much

Anime I’m watching: I must confess that I love romance anime, and Season 2 of My Dress-Up Darling is escalating the rising romantic tension between Marin and Gojo so sweetly and nicely. I really want to watch The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, but goddamn, a Netflix subscription is so expensive now. I don’t regret canceling it a year ago, but letting the money go when I had an active subscription was easier than joining now at the current price point. It just doesn’t seem worth it.