I'm playing Magic the Gathering again

I've been tempted, lately, so I downloaded MTG Arena. I'm not spending any money though. I wouldn't even pay for actual cards any more, so I'm definitely not buying virtual ones. Fortunately you can pretty easily get by without spending any money at all. In fact, there's very little reason to buy anything if you just want to build a deck and play. Within a few hours of pretty casual play (over a number of days) I was able to get all the cards I needed for the deck I was trying to build.

Victorian State Election 2022

If you just want my advice on who to vote for, skip to the end. If you want to know the who and why, here's where I go through all the parties in alphabetical order. Since I already covered a lot of them (or their equivalents at the national level) for the federal election in May, I'll repeat what I said about them then, but I'll indent those sections so you can skim past them if you just want the new information.

Unnecessary Confusion

The MyGov and Centrelink websites are really bad. They're confusing and inconvenient. For example, you know how on every website ever, you've always been able to enter your username, press Tab, then enter your password and hit Enter rather than clicking on each text field and then the login button? On the MyGov site, you have to click on the username field first. It's not automatically selected. Then after entering your username, you have to hit Tab three times to get to the password field. One press takes you to the "forgot username" link. There can be no good reason for this. They just set the tab stops in the incorrect order and don't care to fix it. But that's not the main thing I want to talk about today.

Game reviews by a guy who's only ever played Skyrim

Civilization

Civilization is an interesting departure from the mould of traditional games like Skyrim in a few ways. Probably the first thing new players will notice is that the first-person perspective has been abandoned in favour of a sort of top-down "bird's eye view", but this is just the beginning. Rather than controlling a single individual, given tasks by the various quest-givers around the world, you function as a sort of quest-giver yourself for your chosen nation, instructing its people on what projects to pursue and what battles to take on.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

This was a much more entertaining mess than the previous one. Too long, too focused on the utterly uninteresting mystery of Peter's parents' deaths/disappearance, and still wildly overconfident about its likelihood to spawn (multiple!) sequels. But I liked parts of it. Specifically, pretty much every part that Spider-Man was in. Not Peter though. This version of Peter sucks.

Hwideo Chames

I started with a game I've played before today because some people on a Discord server I'm in were talking about it and I thought it was about time I gave it another shot.

Still trying out games

Played some more games. Some of them were actually pretty good and a couple of them I'll even play some more of. Some were just not for me. Some were bad. So a real mix this time.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear

I hate this book. I'm absolutely certain that a really good book could have been written about these events and circumstances, so it's an absolute tragedy that this one was instead.

Banana blossoms - fake fish?

I saw these tinned banana blossoms in the supermarket and was curious to try them as the can said they could be used as a substitute for fish in, for example, fish and chips. Why not? Could be all right.

So many games still to play

Fallen Angel: Sacred 2 Gold Edition

Please watch the opening cutscene before reading any further. Starts out very generic, but stick with it. About a minute in the music shifts up a gear and suddenly there's a robot with a laser-gun arm in this middle of this fantasy battle. When the lyrics started at about two minutes, that was just icing on the cake. Got to admit, I was intrigued.

WWE Hell in a Cell

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

If you cut matches 6 and 7 (albeit for very different reasons) and then reversed the order of the show, it would have been amazing. Although then it would have been even weirder that the women's championship wasn't a Hell in a Cell match.

NXT In Your House

Overall Rating: ★★★●☆☆☆

It's honestly hard to believe, sometimes, that NXT used to be an extremely good show. It's just so incredibly underwhelming now.

AEW Double or Nothing

Overall rating: ★★★●★☆☆

That rating doesn't feel accurate though. There was a really bad match and one I skipped entirely, and a few matches that were just ok, but I really mostly enjoyed the show and there were some absolutely great matches in there. I guess the biggest problem with the show is just how long it was. Nothing can be consistently good for four-and-a-half hours.

Federal Election 2022: Senate, Victoria

If you just want my advice on who to vote for, skip to the end. If you want to know the who and why, here's where I go through all the parties and groupings in ballot order.

WWE WrestleMania Backlash

Overall Rating: ★★★○☆☆☆

What a nothing of a show. Might as well have been an episode of Raw or Smackdown.

Impact Under Siege

Overall Rating: ★★★●★★☆

I enjoyed the whole show this time. Not a bad match in the whole thing. Probably nothing that I'll be thinking about much beyond today, but it was well worth watching.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

This movie is boring. And so much of it seems like unnecessary complications added, I guess, for the sake of setting up sequels? Unlike (the first two movies of) the Raimi/Maguire trilogy, I hadn't seen this movie or its sequel until now, so I don't know how much of what they've set up is actually going to be paid off (or was ever intended to). But that's the impression I got while watching it. They expected to turn this into an ongoing series.

Does Peter really need all this backstory? No.

Impact Rebellion

Overall Rating: ★★★●☆☆☆

Started really well but then got kind of boring. If you watch the first three matches and then stop, you'll have a great time.

AEW Battle of the Belts

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

I guess these are a semi-regular thing now? Just an excuse for an extra little show on the odd weekend? Well, they're ok. The name makes it seem like it should be bigger and more significant, but it's fine for what it is. And the particular matches this time were decent to good.

WrestleMania

Overall Rating: ★★★○☆☆☆

This show was long, slow and bad - with, it must be said, a few high points. And the main event of day two was actually totally worth watching. It's just a pity they spent so much time on boring bullshit and advertising. After all the day-two hype on day one, I was really looking forward to at least not getting that on the second day, but then they used that time to recap day one instead which was worse.

NXT Stand and Deliver

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

As usual, my preferences do not align with the people making the show and the main event disappointed me while some of the earlier matches were very entertaining. Overall, the show was better than I expected but not as good as I'd hoped

IMPACT Multiverse of Matches

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

A little slow at times and suffering from a few technical issues: most notably microphones not being turned on before people started talking and some of the music not sounding right (I think maybe they were just picking it up from the microphones in the room instead of from the source). There was also a disappointing lack of crossovers, unless you count people who've already been on regular episodes of IMPACT recently, like Jay White. And Rehwoldt seemed to be a bit off his game on commentary. But mostly it was decently entertaining.

ROH Supercard of Honor

Overall rating: ★★★●★★☆

This was an excellent show. Even if you don't normally watch pro wrestling, the Tag and Pure championship matches were fantastic and might win you over. And if you do like pro wrestling and want to see what ROH is like, this is a perfect example.

The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, Vol. I

Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%. First, the translation is terrible. It all makes sense and seems to convey the meaning, but it's all written in a really dull, robotic style. Everything is described in the most straight-forward way. It's clearly doing the authors a disservice. Second, the two stories I read were not good. The first, Hurricane Vaij, is about a private investigator hired to locate a man who's been kidnapped, which he seems to do entirely by luck. And it's hard to tell, given the translation, but the author seems to have some very fucked-up morals and priorities. The client is a politician; the missing man is his son. And they're both power-hungry hypocrites, but I think we're supposed to see them as admirable? The protagonist is worse though. There's one point where he sexually assaults his sidekick and it seems to be played as a joke? Again, the translation makes it hard to tell the author's exact intent, but he certainly isn't supposed to be seen as a bad person for doing it.

With a Sword in My Hand

I automatically have a less positive impression of this book than I might have just because it's historical fiction, which makes me suspicious of it. I can't help but wonder, the entire time I'm reading, "how much of this is bullshit?" Creative non-fiction is a weaselly genre that gives you the cachet of non-fiction with the freedom of fiction, and makes it extremely easy to mislead your audience - whether you intend to or not. I was also a little thrown off by the way it's all written in first-person present tense but doesn't match with how the character would actually have written or spoken at the various points in her life at which it's set. Her voice doesn't change at all as she ages from 5 to 15. That aside, the book is easy to read and the characters are vivid and believable. Unfortunately, the protagonist is just not a person I liked or cared about - and I'm pretty sure I was supposed to. Her life seemed largely frivolous and she never seems to have any clear motivation other than to not do what's expected of her. That's a fine starting point, but what does she actually want instead? I've finished the book and I don't know.

We also don't get any sense of the larger historical context or Marguerite's place within it. She's born into power and politics but that's almost irrelevant to the book. It makes the entire story seem kind of a waste of time. What's all this leading to? Nothing that matters.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

This movie is a mess. There are still enjoyable parts, but there's too much going on and none of it is properly developed. Also, the weakest characters of the trilogy (MJ and Harry) have much more prominent roles in this film, to its detriment. I was going to say "important roles", but no. They're not. They just get too much screen time.

I'm not even sure if Peter and MJ actually like each other.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

In some ways, Spider-Man 2 is more enjoyable than the first film, but it's also not quite as well put-together. It's also a lot funnier, which is a big plus for me, but if you like a more serious tone then you're probably not going to be as happy with this one.

Spider-Man complaining to a stranger about his pants.

Spider-Man (2002)

This movie holds up really well. It's way better than I remembered it being. It's very simple, and it does hold your hand a little too much (even for an all-ages, super-hero movie), but everything in it happens for a reason and it's all driven by the characters' goals and motivations - which are all clearly communicated to the audience. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching. It's a good movie.

Radiation is out; genetic engineering is in.

AEW Revolution

Overall rating: ★★★●★☆☆

Some really good matches but, unfortunately, a few low points dragging the average down. And did it need to be four hours long? That's not even including the pre-show; the main show was four hours. The main event was very good though and worth the wait. But is it just me, or was Jim Ross sounding a little lost and confused at times? More so than usual, I mean.

IMPACT Sacrifice

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

Unfortunately, kind of a backwards show; started with the best match and gradually wound down from there. If the first half had been an entire show on its own it would have been fantastic, but unfortunately it kept going and the second half just wasn't very good. Nothing terrible and no matches I had to skip though.

Impact No Surrender

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

Good solid show over all, with fun moments and interesting hooks for future stories. As usual, there's stuff I'd have done differently, but I've got no major complaints about this one - aside from the two people who shouldn't be on the show at all, but that's a bigger issue than just this specific event.

Firebite

"Welcome to Opal City. This remote Australian Outback mining town is the last colonial stronghold for vampires and when the King Vampire arrives with plans to take over and kidnap locals for their blood, it's up to two aboriginal renegades, Tyson and Shanika, to stop him and end the 230-year war."

- AMC+

Fake Chicken

Sunfed Chicken Free Chicken Plant Based Wild Meaty Chunks. Catchy name. Pea protein, olive oil, pea fibre, yeast extract and, surprisingly to me, pumpkin. And it was half price! So I tried it.

WWE Royal Rumble

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

Most of this show was pretty good, even despite the fact that I wasn't particularly interested in any of the storylines. The women's Rumble was fun (although not a standout over all), but the men's Rumble was pretty disappointing. I'm never going to dislike a battle royale, but these weren't the best.

The Dispossessed

I asked for someone to recommend me an Ursula Le Guin book that's a stand-alone story (as opposed to a series or trilogy or whatever, because I know what fantasy authors are like) and they told me that this one, despite technically being part of a series, is entirely self-contained. And it is. I don't know that it was a good recommendation though, because now I don't know if I just didn't like it much or if I'd have gotten more out of it if I read them in order. It wasn't bad. It's certainly well-written. There are some engaging ideas in there. It's just that not much happens and then it just kind of ends. It's not like it leaves things unresolved or tries to bait you into reading the next one, it's just that it's a sort of naturalistic story so there's not really a clear "everything is resolved and he lived happily ever after (or didn't)" type ending. Shevek just continues to live his life, I guess.

The problem with D&D isn't what you think it is...

...it's that Dungeons & Dragons isn't what you think it is.

Let me back up for a second and start by contradicting myself a little bit. D&D sucks. There are a lot of problems with D&D. I don't know that I'll ever play it again. But the vast majority of the complaints I hear about D&D are... wrong. The people making them are aware that they aren't enjoying the game (or at least not as much as they want to) but rather than identifying an underlying cause they just keep treating the symptoms.

IMPACT Hard to Kill

Overall Rating: ★★★●☆☆☆

The low score here is not actually reflective of the show I saw; the problem is that they insist on featuring people I refuse to watch on moral grounds. Two matches I have to skip out of seven really drags the score down. The ones I watched were very good though.

The ROH invasion was cool, but I'm not sure it makes sense. Maria Kenellis, Mike Bennet and Matt Taven, sure. But why are Vincent and PCO teaming up with them? And if it's a full-on ROH invasion, seems weird to do the show of friendship with the championship match in the same show. And then Rok-C was present for the women's championship match, but just to watch?

AEW Battle of the Belts

Overall rating: ★★★●☆☆☆

If this is the "battle of the belts", why are only two legitimate and one official championships being contested? No TBS championship, no men's championship, no tag championship. The Danielson/Page rematch should have been on this show. The inaugural TBS championship match should have been on this show. The Jurassic Express vs. Lucha Bros. match should have been on this show. Sure, it would have been twice as long (a whole two hours, even) but it would have justified the name. They could even have introduced a women's tag title if they wanted to go completely crazy with it.

How about some games?

I tried putting a Twitch streamer on on one screen while trying out video games on the other. Didn't work. At all. Couldn't pay enough attention to either. Oh well, games.

WWE Day 1

Overall rating: ★★★○☆☆☆

I'm very tried today, so not in the best state of mind to watch this, but there was nothing I was actually looking forward to or even cared about the outcome of - except Big E's championship, but I didn't have high hopes for that even before Lesnar showed up.

I Can Transform You by Maurice Broaddus

I only finished this because it was very short. The plot was dumb and didn't hold together, and the setting seemed to get in the way of and confuse the message. Worse, anything good about it just reminded me of much better books.