This week I’ve started back at work after two weeks off. It takes about a week to completely flush things out of my head and actually focus completely on family and other projects.

The saga continues to get the car completely imported to Spain. Even though we kicked off the process last year, it needs some work done to pass the ITV – which includes putting EU fog lights in the front and rear of the car. We found a good garage but it takes a fair old bit of time to get there. I only really have Fridays to work on this, and a half day at that, so it’s taking longer that expected.

I’ve been battling the second week of a winter cold as well this week which really bites. Lots of coughing and not being able to breath through my nose. Not covid but probably flu.

Watching

I watched ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘ the other week and really enjoyed it. I followed up this week watching the original ‘Knives Out‘. I watched it when it came out but felt it was worth a revisit for the pacing and cast. I do love an ensemble cast.

Speaking of ensemble casts, I’m up to season five of The Office (US). I never really had an opportunity to watch it when it originally aired as I was living im the UK. It’s funny to be watching this after watching Brooklyn 99 – there are similar beats throughout.

I was surprised to see that there’s a Pokémon TV app available for the Nintendo Switch. We found it advertised in a recent card pack and downloaded it for free. You can watch just about every single episode of Pokémon in there, including the seasons that are no longer available on Netflix.

Playing

Apart from my regular Friday night Rocket League game with my friends, I started revisiting the Batman Arkham games on the Steam Deck this Christmas. I had long wished to replay Arkham Origins, but it’s been missing from all the Arkham collections over the years due to being made by two different game publishers. Chronologically it takes place before Arkham Asylum. I’ve seen it available to play on PlayStation’s streaming service but even with a high speed line and a decent tv, the prospect kind of sucks. I was pleased to pick it up for a couple of Euros from CD Keys last month instead.

On top of that I’ve got Rollerdrome for quick plays. The gameplay is like Jet Set Radio meets SSX with the fast-paced shooting I’m used to when I played Quake. The art style is vibrant, gritty and with a minimal palette. I love it.

On occasion I’ll pick up Vampire Survivors, but I have a real dopamine addiction problem with that game.

We rounded off the week with a trip to the beach, to fly our kite and get our feet wet.

Why ‘Bluey’ Resonates with Adults, Too As I’ve evolved into a parent in my mid-forties, cartoons have similarly grown into a more mainstream medium acceptable on both sides of the kid/grown-up age divide. But Bluey is different. My partner and I often stay up watching episodes by ourselves and also with the kids. It’s mature enough for adults, playful enough for kids (and vice versa) and makes me want to ‘Be More Bandit’.

Stanford Scientists Warn That Civilization as We Know It Is Ending It’s not that the world is ending, it’s that our version of it is. The Earth will go on… us maybe not so much.

I treated myself to a Steam Deck after finding one secondhand on my last trip to London. Since then I’ve been re-discovering all of the Steam games that I piled up on my account for the last however-many years – as well as playing some that were either price-prohibitive or unavailable on consoles.

Enter Vampire Survivors, which has been out for a while and ticks every single one of my ADHD-dependent dopamine receptors. It’s simple as hell, only employing use of the left analog stick as you dodge and weave to destroy waves of the undead and then retrace steps to gather XP gems to level your character. Every time you level up, you can choose where to allocate your point – upgrade an existing weapon perhaps, acquire a new one, or allocate to defence etc. It sounds simple and gameplay can be pretty unforgiving, but then you get situations like this:

Vampire Survivors is available pretty much everywhere. Check it out.