Itch.io has a large number of free games available for your self-isolation needs.
There’s also Goat of Duty on Steam, which is currently sans cost. It’s a multiplayer goat-based FPS where physics seem to be a bit optional and goats are outfitted with robot arms with which they can wield weapons.
It’s not the strangest game I’ve heard of, to be fair.
So there’s an event coming to town that’s so big it’s literally closing everything else down that isn’t involved with the sale and transportation of toilet paper, and I thought it deserved a commemorative t-shirt:
Be sure to look at the back graphics at Offworld Designs for even more questionable humor.
While this is all in fun, please do follow the CDC’s guidelines and stay as safe as possible out there. We’re in somewhat uncharted territory, and while I like to satirize, I also plan to sanitize, and I hope everyone else can manage to do the same. And here’s hoping all of our conventions and game-gatherings are back in our nation’s many multi-purpose areas as soon as possible.
In my neck of the woods, school is postponed until April 3rd at least, which means my wife and I are trying to come up with a halfway decent simulation of 4th grade for our son while he looks longingly at the Xbox and PC. I’m not sure what I’m qualified to teach, though I’m sure I’ll be given several choices in short order. I just hope there’s not a quiz when it’s all said and done.
During this shut-in time, I’m also trying my hand at crafting some ginger beer, though I’m sure it’s far from the best, as I’ve been making do with boiled (then cooled) water rather than distilled. I’m leaving it in the bottles to get fizzy, so there’s a bit o’ alcohol in my beverage product along with authentic yeast-sludge at the bottom. I’m told by a professional taster of mixed drinks that I’ve maybe created a weak wine cooler, booze-wise. Still, my goal was carbonation and more ginger than the usual store-bought stuff, so I think I succeeded. Also, it appears to be difficult to give myself food poisoning with this method, so that’s a big thumbs up.
And while the experts say alcohol and ginger are unproven to help prevent disease, I’m going to pretend they do, especially as my favorite saucepan now smells like ginger snaps. At least I’ve got a t-shirt to remember this experience, in case I actually manage to make some kind of ginger-moonshine concoction that makes recalling the past a bit of a challenge. 🙂
This trailer just dropped, and it intrigues me on several levels:
For starters, this is a proper sequel to the original Ghostbusters movies, and it’s kind of what I’d hoped the premise of the 2016 film was going to be: In-universe acknowledgement that previous events in New York had happened, ghosts are real, etc. As for what’s going on in the film itself, I have some theories:
I believe we see a revamped Slimer (or a close relative) being Proton Pack’d and what appears to be the foreleg from one of Zuul’s temple dogs…
…which tells me the ghosts and other entities from the first movie(s?) are still around. The mention of fracking, earthquakes, and the mineshaft makes me think that Egon Spengler used some kind of underground setup to store all the ghosts from the first two movies, and that storage arrangement is failing. Perhaps this is a commentary on environmental impacts of waste from fracking or nuclear power?
The film wisely sounds like it’s staying lighthearted while not going for the SNL comedy of the previous movies, which is fine with me. While I liked the humor as a kid, I was also fascinated with the technology and lore. If this movie finally spawns some kind of “expanded universe,” I’d love it if they went the route of the many Ghostbusters fan clubs where any future movies (or even TV shows) would feature branch offices in different locales. I find the Iowa Black Squadron 13 Ghostbusters especially intriguing just based on the name alone.
And I know the 2016 film comes in for a lot of criticism, but I want to mention what bugged me the most about any movie in the entire franchise. It was this:
I know it was the second film, but I couldn’t come up with a satisfying in-universe reason for this logo being in the actual movie. The only one that even remotely makes sense is that Peter Venkman is a Deadpool-like consciousness, fully aware that he’s really an actor playing a part in a movie sequel. Him working a “2” into their company mascot is him breaking the 4th wall for his own amusement.
My secondary complaint is how ABC re-recorded a lot of Lorenzo Music’s voice work as Peter Venkman in the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters with Dave Coulier in reruns of seasons one and two. Still, the show had Babylon 5’s J. Michael Straczynski as the series’ story editor and he wrote several episodes. For his sake, I’ll forgive them a little for sticking a Full House alum in my Ghostbusters cartoon.
I seem to have really gone off-point here, so as usual, I’m hopeful but cautious. If this is good, then the next letter-writing campaign probably shouldn’t focus on the next sequel per se: It should be to tell the suits at Sony to not muck about with it like they have with so many other films they’ve meddled to death.
And hey, if they decide to go the TV route, Supernatural is coming to a close, and a ghost-themed series with proton packs might be a good replacement, right? 🙂
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