By far my favorite entity the Real Ghostbusters went up against is without a doubt,
Samhain!
Something about his character design is simply amazing or that the episodes were top notch.
His first appearance was in the episode, When Halloween Was Forever:
Thanks to The Flintstones over at Dailymotion for hosting the video (I expect it’ll come down eventually). You might also have to refresh this page to get the link to work.
When Halloween Was Forever is from Season 1, Episode 8
He only gets one additional spotlight episode, Halloween II 1/2
Thanks to Cartoons TV, also of Dailymotion, for hosting this episode. It probably has a higher chance of staying up as they at least modified it enough to avoid copyright, I’m not sure.
Every year, I wish I had the Time Life The Real Ghostbusters gorgeous series set.
Luckily, Netflix is currently streaming the episodes so I’m definitely going to watch these episodes tonight.
. . .
When Halloween Was Forever is written by J. Michael Straczynski, who had a awesome run on Amazing Spider-Man, until he didn’t.
I still love that Spider-Man : Last Stand storyline that was hinted at in Amazing Spider-Man 58 (the second volume) and continued in Amazing Spider-Man 500 (parts two and three of an arc celebrating Peter’s birthday and Spider-Man’s 500th issue of Amazing).
It is barely a handful of pages but it captured my imagination so much!
I’m so happy that Insomniac made it available as an alternate costume in their PS4 exclusive video game.
Thanks to YouTuber sebanatic5000 for hosting the video.
Thanks to kwingsletsplay for a great lore video. Like he says in the video, there isn’t a lot of information with the suit and storyline but it looks sensational!
I do wish his mask was the same shade of red, as it just looks too bright next to that collar.
Here is a link in case you want to know more about him.
Pamela Hickey and Dennys McCoy wrote Halloween II 1/2, and I want to say one of these episodes aired during prime time which I remember feeling like a big deal.
If you want to learn more about the festival, Samhain, Wikipedia of course has an excellent article about it.
Apparently there is a group of people trying to move Halloween to be the last Saturday of October, which I get but I also rather we not change a tradition that is hundreds of years old just for commercial purposes.
Sure, I remember being a child and wishing Halloween could be longer or trying to manage it and negotiating so I can stay up a little longer on a school night. That was part of the charm. Plus, I also vividly remember just sitting around all Saturday, just waiting for nighttime so we finally go out and start looking for houses with lit porch lights.
I also grew up on an Army base (Yuma Proving Grounds, represent!), so we were pretty limited in activities.
Nowadays, Walker Dennis has a full social card and we go or try to go to every Halloween event Helena has to offer, which is a bunch. Every Saturday, there has been an excuse to put him in his super cute Rookie Ghostbuster costume and take him to an event. As an adult, I just like being able to get my dollars’ worth.
He’s going to be so cute and he loves that cloth proton pack. Not bad for $35, it is a tad thin for Montana fall but he’ll wear some layers under it.
We took him to an event and there was a teenage boy in a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man costume and Walker Dennis immediately went for his proton gun and the teenager was nice enough to play along. It was super cute.
We’re way into Ghostbusters now.
. . .
The other cool thing about Samhain on The Real Ghostbusters, is that he would just appear in the containment unit from time to time, as it costs nothing to just throw him into the back of a scene. Might as well reuse a design than pay someone to create a new ghost for one second of screen time.
He appears in the following videos
Xmas Marks the Spot (1×13)
The Devil to Pay (2×58)
Partners in Slime (5×6)
Jailbusters (5×13)
Deja Boo (6×10)
He also has a storyline in the first four issues of the second volume of IDW’s Ghostbusters run.
So like an hour and a half of content there.
. . .
For my adult plans for Halloween, I’m hoping to play another round (or at least start) a new Until Dawn playthrough but this time, making Matt the aggressor in his relationship with Emily, instead of her bossing him around. I just want to experience something new with what will be my six or seventh playthrough.
I still can’t believe Jordan Fisher was Matt in Until Dawn, how did that come about? He’s such a big deal right now.
I sort of want to do this so that Matt and Emily would be the duo survivors. Which I know I can do by having Mike not catch up to Jessica (though I hate getting Jessica killed), Ashley locking Chris out, Ashley following the sound. Then I’m not sure how the final sequence will play out, have Sam successfully complete the Don’t Move sections until Emily gets out, then have Sam fail one, she dies, and Mike sacrifices himself to set up cabin ablaze? That’s how I envision it having to be.
I know that I have to get Matt to refuse to want to go the radio tower, so Emily would give him the flare gun and he won’t use it as I want him to use it in killing a wendigo.
I’m reading up and there is a way to get Matt to describe both the wendigo and the Psycho but does he ever meet the Psycho? I know he knows of him and is aware he exists as Chris and Ashley tell him and Emily about Josh’s death. That must be what Matt is repeating, and how the cable car was tampered with.
I sort of then want to do a playthrough where only Mike and Jess survive the night as well.
I guess there might be a way to get only Chris and Ashley to be the only ones left too.
I wouldn’t mind trying to do a playthrough where only Josh lives too.
I definitely still think about Until Dawn and how much fun I had and there’s so many different end game possibilities.
. . .
Have a safe and happy Halloween! It is supposed to rain and snow this evening.
I was joking the other day about how much sleep Gwyneth Paltrow got during her conscious coupling to Chris Martin. I’m simply not a fan of Coldplay. Do they offer sleeping bags at their live concerts or do you have to bring your own? I was joking about how she probably respected him as an artist and chose to never listen to his music, in fear that it wasn’t good and she would have to live her days pretending to like it. But from occasion, she would hear this lovely sound that worked as a nice white noise machine and she would sleep and sleep.
Coldplay tried to trick me into liking them with that Superhero song of theirs that they teamed up with Chainsmokers to create “Something Like This.” At first, I enjoyed all the superhero references but there was this nagging suspicion that something wasn’t right. Especially as I was getting sleepy as I was driving and I figured out that it must be Coldplay but with an undercurrent of something else.
I’ve been tempted to start a Coldplay channel on Pandora and just downvote only Coldplay songs, but I doubt that would translate to my other Pandora channels.
From there, I started taking Paltrow for granted, saying how she was only really amazing in Duets, a film I really really enjoy. She was also great in Bounce and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Within that same moment, I remembered she was in Se7en and got “what’s in the box?” stuck in my head for a while after that. Ironically so.
She’s really been in some amazing films and I did a deep dive into her career to see if she’s usually great or am I just allowing her early films to set a tone for her that she doesn’t even adhere to.
Here is the link to her Wikipedia page, if you want to follow along.
She’s Young Wendy in Hook. Good film, it is mostly a piece of trivia as she’s not really doing much in it besides one scene, right?
Seven, great film! She’s quiet in it and almost forgettable.
I want to watch Pallbearer, as I sort of like David Schwimmer and I am still confused why he didn’t get more work after Kissing a Fool. Such a great film and he plays against type in it so that should have shown his range. He must have been so confused after that film came out and didn’t get more roles like that. Shame Jason Lee doesn’t work more these days too. I get that actors peak and then find roles that they want to do but I want more Jason Lee in my life. Did Mili Avital ever do anything else? She’s literally just the girl in that film, the object of desire but I liked what she did with what she had to work with. Some Law and Order episodes, that’s a shame but what I expected to see.
Back to Paltrow.
Emma, a film I haven’t seen but like Great Expectations, starts forming this picture I have of her of being in artsy films I have no interest in. I recall watching Great Expectations with my arms crossed, demanding the film entertain me. Which is no way to watch a movie. I also was not entertained and meant to read the book but never got around to it.
In-between those films, she did Sliding Doors. A film that I felt lost during but came back around to it a few years ago and it really stands out. Big Love’s Jeanne Tripplehorn is in it and that was fun to discover. That film does a lot with its 99 minutes. Maybe I came to it a few minutes in on HBO or something and missed the crucial set up. It is a great concept for a movie and it moves too.
Shakespeare in Love, which I enjoyed at the time. She’s good in it. I recall mostly watching it just for Ben Affleck as I’m still a pretty big fan of his. I should watch it again as most of that cast is amazing. I didn’t even know Colin Firth was in it. Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, and Tom Wilkinson (what does he do between this film and Batman Begins?). Rupertr Everett is in it too, whatever happened to him? Dame Judi Dench is in it as well though I never quite was impress with her like I’m supposed to be. Her legend is based off of her stage work, right? She hasn’t really done many films that I’ve seen. She’s good as M in those James Bond films and I’m glad they carried her over from the Brosnan films to the Craig films.
I should watch Chocolat (especially after I Love You Man, I just never got around to it), Iris has Kate Winslet in it. Notes on a Scandal is one of the first films I recall her being in that was not Bond related. A trailer that was pretty good in regards to telling me I wouldn’t want to watch it. Yep, those are the films. I guess I view her as the British Meryl Streep, she does films that just don’t either appeal to me or cross over into my sphere, so I never even hear of them.
Wilkinson does Rush Hour and Shakespeare in Love in 1998. Ride with the Devil, a fun western film with Tobey Maguire and Jewel (why she doesn’t act more, is beyond me) by Ang Lee. I should watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I like that cast, I just never got around to it. Then he’s in Batman Begins.
Everett wins all of our hearts with My Best Friend’s Wedding, so now I’m going to have “Say a Little Prayer For You” stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Sometimes these deep dives have consequences. He commits career suicide with Inspector Gadget. I attempted A Midsummer Night’s Dream and has started doing voice work which makes sense, he has a good voice. So yeah, Inspector Gadget buried him, which didn’t necessarily happened to Matthew Broderick. Hey, Michelle Trachtenberg was Penny in that film, she escaped it. Though Broderick has paid his dues and his kids needed to go to college so he shouldn’t be punished for doing a money film.
Thanks to Musicloverslove for hosting that video, oh and you are welcome.
I chose Affleck over Matt Damon so I didn’t watch Talented Mr. Ripley. I like to pick sides.
2000 is the year I start really liking her. She is in Bounce with Affleck and she steals my heart in Duets. Well, that entire movie steals my heart. Duets and Mumford, are two films that I’ve probably seen the most.
Her father, Bruce Paltrow, directed Duets.
She’s in The Anniversary Party which is really Alan Cummings and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s film as they produced, directed, wrote, and star in it. There is a slew of actors in the film so it is pretty great if you like to play the Kevin Bacon Separation game.
If you are curious, her Bacon Number is 2, she’s in Mortdecai with Johnny Depp and he’s in Black Mass with Kevin Bacon. Two films I have yet to see. I didn’t even know Bacon was in Black Mass.
I saw Shallow Hal, and that might be the film that soured me on Jack Black. He wasn’t the guaranteed good time after that film. It also isn’t very good.
I definitely don’t see every Wes Anderson film (not sure why not) so I have yet to watch Royal Tenenbaums. I like the casts of his films, so I’m not sure why I don’t seek them out more. I want to see Bottle Rocket as I’m a huge Luke Wilson fan. I saw Rushmore and didn’t get the big deal about it. I seemed to be the only one in my circle who liked Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, well me and my friend, Jay. I didn’t care for Fantastic Mr. Fox, we rented it and it was the third movie of the weekend so maybe I was just burned out. I wanted to watch Moonrise Kingdom.
She has a cameo in Austin Powers in Goldmember, but I don’t recall her at all.
So I start losing track of her around 2002. I thought about watching Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, though I’ve never been a big fan of Jude Law or Angelina Jolie. I was under the impression I wasn’t a big Paltrow fan too, so triple whammy but it looks like I’ve enjoyed the bulk of her films, thus far.
I had no interest in View from the Top.
I hadn’t heard of Possession but it has Aaron Eckhart so I should at least see if it is available.
I type all of that but I’m not watching any movie any time soon.
I keep having this memory of a commentary track where she makes a joke about who Brad Pitt was dating and she said she doesn’t know but she knows she was 1994 to 1997, and she said the dates real fast. It was pretty funny. Maybe it was an interview as I just Googled “Gwyneth Paltrow commentary track” and didn’t get any hits on the first three pages.
I haven’t heard of Sylvia and it doesn’t sound like a film I would be into.
I skipped three films of her earlier work. Hard Eight, I haven’t heard of. It has John C. Reilly and Samuel L. Jackson in it. I haven’t heard of Hush. She was in a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, A Perfect Murder. That film has Michael Douglas and Viggo Mortensen so no rush to see that one either.
I hadn’t heard of Proof but it has Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Hope Davis in it. I’ll watch any film with Hope Davis! I just haven’t seen enough of her films. Such an amazing actress.
She was in Infamous, the other Capote film of 2006. Toby Jones is Capote and the film has Hope Davis, these two would appear in Wayward Pines a decade later. Sandra Bullock and Daniel Craig are in it along with Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver. I’ll add it to the list.
Running with Scissors is a film I wanted to watch as the story sounded very interesting. She reteams with Joseph Fiennes from Shakespeare in Love. Brian Cox and Alec Baldwin are in it. So is Patrick Wilson, and there was a time I was watching all of his films, then he exploded on the scene and now it is hard to keep up. Gabrielle Union is in it and I like her, though I don’t see nearly enough of her films. Kirstin Chenoweth I can take or leave.
Her brother wrote and directed The Good Night, which I also hadn’t heard of. Good cast though with Martin Freeman, Danny DeVito and Simon Pegg. Penelope Cruz is in it as well but I don’t have any real connection with her.
2008 gives us Paltrow as Pepper Potts in Iron Man. There is that great quote, that I can’t find right now, about Robert Downey Jr. convincing her to be in Iron Man so that she can be in movies people actually want to watch. I’m sure if I can find the proper quote, I could search for it easier. I found a slew of quotes about him saying Paltrow and Jon Favreau will be in Avengers 4.
She was in Two Lovers with Joaquin Phoenix and Elias Koteas, in what I can only imagine in a small role. Though from the Wikipedia page, it looks like he’s pretty involved in the final act. I should seek this out too, though Joaquin doesn’t do much for me since Quills.
Iron Man 2, she’s also good in.
I was tempted to see Country Strong, her third film where she sings in after Duets and Infamous. Tim McGraw with no hat on. Tobey Maguire co-produced the film as his daughter’s nanny wrote and directed the film. Trivia!
I recall the advertising for Contagion, a film my mother would love, I’m sure, as she’s a real nut for disaster films. The film has a stellar cast – Marion Cotillard, who I have to see more films of hers, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Elliot Gould, Bryan Cranston, and Demetri Martin! What?! This reminds me that I wanted to watch Taking Woodstock, which was directed by Ang Lee, that guy is pretty well rounded.
I haven’t heard of Thanks for Sharing, but it has Pink in it so my wife will be interested in that. The film also stars Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, and Josh Gad. I guess Paltrow has started making smaller films or I’m even more out of touch with films than I thought I was.
She was great, of course, in The Avengers and Iron Man 3.
At least she had more to do in Iron Man 3.
Mortdecai seemed like a joke of a film and then it got lousy reviews but what else was it going to be? A sleeper hit? It does feature Ewan McGregor and Olivia Munn, two people I enjoy watching. Paul Bettany and Jeff Goldblum too.
Her appearing in Spider-Man Homecoming was a very nice surprised. I’m glad she came back to the franchise. Hopefully she’s here to stay or at least, gets a nice payday for a few hours work.
According to Wikipedia, she is slated to be in Infinity War and Avengers 4(Ever? Maybe?) That seems to be the popular theory. Time Travel or Fantastic Four related, which would be spectacular!
. . .
Television wise, she’s hosting Saturday Night Live once with Ceeloo Green for Season 36 Episode 12. My Nintendos! Apparently she has been on four other episodes, probably friends of those hosts.
She did a voice on the Clerks Animated Series, which seems familiar.
She was on five episodes of Glee, as Holly Holliday, which I think I saw one of those episodes. I really had to stop with that show once Rachel and Kurt kept flying (or driving?) back from New York to Ohio and I looked it up and there is no way college students can afford that trip as often as they did it. It is ten hours one way, so they will show up in Ohio for two scenes, be back in New York by night time, during the same day. It was beyond belief! Plus, screw those two coming back and not leaving the show. Argh! I’m over it.
For those interested, Season 2, Episodes 7 (The Substitute), 15 (Sexy), & 17 (A Night of Neglect), and Season Five, Episodes 12 (100) & 13 (New Directions).
She’s friends with Ryan Murphy and he thought she should showcase her singing prior to Country Strong coming out.
Thanks to vinsanity70 for hosting the entire episode!
She was on The Marriage Ref, a show my wife and I really enjoyed. She was on the episode with Jerry Seinfeld and Greg Giraldo. Tom Papa was great as the host too. Season Two wasn’t as good though.
Thanks to George R. Whitaker for hosting the entire episode of this series!
Her episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was nice too.
. . .
She has won so many awards and nominated for even more that she has her own Awards Wikipedia page!
Thanks to the Oscars for hosting their own video! Not bad getting the award from Jack Nicholson.
So she’s an Best Actress Oscar winner for Shakespeare in Love, for her role as Viola De Lesseps, which I don’t think usually precedes her name, for whatever reason. It isn’t like there is a time limit on how long one can use that. It isn’t also like her career took a twist like poor Cuba Gooding Jr. either. She also won a Golden Globe for that role. She was nominated for her role in Proof for another Golden Globe.
For the Oscar, she beat out Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth, Fernanda Montenegro for Central Station, Maryl Streep for One True Thing, and Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie. Count Blanchett as another actress I’m not drawn towards. Those are four films I also never heard of. I know Watson from Equilibrium and I’m probably one of a handful of people who kept getting Emily Watson and Emma Watson confused, always thinking Emily was doing very well for herself, getting all types of roles and attention but it was Emma.
Shakespeare in Love won the most awards at the 71st Academy Awards with seven. Tough competition against Saving Private Ryan. 1998 was a good year for films. Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture, Steven Spielberg won Best Director for Saving Private Ryan, Judi Dench won Best Supporting Actress, Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard won for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Stephen Warbeck won Best Original Musical or Comedy Score. Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Ron Judkins won Best Sound for Saving Private Ryan. Martin Childs won Best Art Direction and Jill Quertier won Best Set Decoration for Shakespeare in Love. Janusz Kaminski won Best Cinematography for Saving Private Ryan. Sandy Powell won Best Costume Design for Shakespeare in Love. Lastly, Michael Kahn won Best Film Editing for Saving Private Ryan. Poor Joseph Fiennes wasn’t even nominated for Best Actor and Geoffrey Rush was at least nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
Montenegro is a Brazilian actress, who I’ve ever only seen in Love in the Time of Cholera.
Thanks to AwardsShowNetwork for hosting this video. Getting the award from Tim Robbins isn’t too bad. He was in Howard the Duck and Antitrust! Two fun guilty pleasure films. Of course, with Shawshank Redemption and Bull Durham, one can afford to have a little fun later in his career. And earlier, he’s in the pilot episode of Moonlighting too!
Tad awkward with the thanks to the Weinsteins, but that’ll be true for an entire decade of awards though.
The Golden Globe win is a tad more impressive as it is in Musical or Comedy and I’ve seen more of those films. She beat out Cameron Diaz from There’s Something About Mary, Jane Horrocks in Little Voice, Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. I’ve attempted Opposite of Sex and it didn’t grab me. I passed on You’ve Got Mail as I barely watched Sleepless in Seattle. I’ve never even heard of Little Voice nor Jane Horrocks until right now. She was in The Witches and Memphis Belle, so I’ve seen two of her films.
Shakespeare in Love also won Best Film – Musical or Comedy. I can’t believe Patch Adams was nominated, I hate that movie so much! Bulworth, Mask of Zorro and There’s Something About Mary are pretty great. People don’t seem to talk about Bulworth enough, except for how it introduced people to Halle Berry. A British film, Still Crazy, was also nominated.
It also won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay over Bulworth, Happiness, Saving Private Ryan and The Truman Show. Storywise, Truman Show got robbed! At least Truman Show earned Jim Carrey Best Actor – Drama, it won Best Music, Original Score by Burkhard Dallwitz and Philip Glass. Ed Harris won Best Supporting Actor.
Michael Caine won Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for his role in Little Voice, maybe I should try to watch that movie.
Paltrow lost her second chance at a Golden Globe in 2006 to Felicity Huffman in Transamerica. That year, Maria Bello was nominated for A History of Violence, Charlize Theron for North Country and Ziyi Zhang for Memoris of a Geisha. I have only seen A History of Violence out of those five and Bello should have won as she’s amazing in that film. Funny enough, Dench would love to Reese Witherspoon so both Paltrow and Dench were nominated the same years twice, and both won their awards and lost awards together eight years later. Dench was in Mrs. Henderson Presents and Witherspoon was in Walk the Line, two more films I haven’t seen. I’ll be tempted by Walk the Line.
I didn’t know John Williams did the score for Memoirs of a Geisha, he won Best Original Score. Walk the Line won several awards that year as did Brokeback Mountain. 2006 was also the year I started dating my wife as I watched Capote and Brokeback Mountain with her, on the same day so that we could enjoy the Oscars later that day.
George Clooney won Supporting Actor for his role in Syriana, the first Batman to win a major award. Christian Bale would eventually win an Oscar for The Fighter, so Clooney isn’t alone anymore.
Thanks to rp58641 for hosting this video. Allison Brie looks amazing, as always!
In 2011, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Glee. Apparently Wikipedia keeps these awards under the Creative Arts Emmy Awards and not the Primetime Emmy Award, took me some doing to locate her win at the 63rd Emmys. She was officially nominated for the Substitute episode of Glee. She beat out Elizabeth Banks from 30 Rock, Kristin Chenoweth, also on Glee, Tina Fey from various characters on SNL (lame?), Dot-Marie Jone also from Glee and Cloris Leachman from Raising Hope. There was a time when Glee was pretty beloved.
For her Oustanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at the 5th Screen Actors Guide Awards, she beat out the same group from the Oscars – which makes sense – but instead of Montenegro, they swapped in her Golden Globe competitor, Jane Horrocks.
Sort of cool to be fifth person to win an award. Jodie Foster won the first one for Nell – a film I still think about from time to time when Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson have to figure out exactly why Nell talks the way she does. After that, it just makes sense and they can start communicating with her. Jeremy Davis is in that film too.
Susan Sarandon won for Dead Man Walking, I’m not a huge fan of Sean Penn’s so I didn’t watch it. Frances McDormand won for Fargo, a film I tried to watch when I was younger but couldn’t get into it. Helena Hunt won for As Good as It Gets.
Paltrow also won for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, which is an award that I like. I hate to be in a film that wins that award but not counted towards the cast of the film. That’ll be awkward! Her co-winners were – Ben Affleck, Simon Callow, Jim Carter, Martin Clunes, Judi Dench, Joseph Fiennes, Daniel Brocklebank, Colin Firth, Paltrow (of course), Geoffrey Rush, Antony Sher and Imelda Staunton.
That award wasn’t given out at the first ceremony. So Apollo 13’s cast won the first one at the second ceremony, next The Birdcage, then The Full Monty and Shakespeare in Love. I should watch Full Monty again as that cast has gone on to do more work. I still don’t have much interest in Birdcage.
In 2013, she was nominated for Best Actress in an Action Movie for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for her work in Iron Man 3, losing out to Sandra Bullock in Gravity, which is Gravity even considered an action movie? I guess if you are a film critic. Jennifer Lawrence one the very first one for the first Hunger Games, the year prior. Bullock beat out Jennifer Lawrence (Catching Fire) and Evangeline Lilly for Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. Did Lilly do much in the second Hobbit film? I barely remember her in it but that was a long film.
MTV Movie Awards
She won 1998 MTV Movie Awards for Best Kiss with Joseph Fiennes from Shakespeare in Love. Back when I used to swear only by the MTV Movie Awards, they nominated the films I actually watched. Then I just stopped watching movies, a kid will do that you during the very few years. She lost to Cameron Diaz for There’s Something About Mary in the Best Female Performance. Diaz also beat out Jennifer Love Hewitt in Can’t Hardly Wait, a much better film than those two movies. Jennifer Lopez was nominated for Out of Sight, which I couldn’t get more than 30 minutes in a few years ago when I attempted the film. They were on a highway and life happened and I haven’t gone back. Liv Tyler was also nominated for Armageddon. Fiennes was nominated for Breakthrough Male but lost to James Van Der Beek for Varsity Blues. Which I can’t blame MTV for making that choice. Shakespeare in Love lost Best Picture to There’s Something About Mary.
Paltrow and Fiennes beat out Neve Campbell, Matt Dillon and Denise Richards in Wild Things, which is pretty amazing. George Clooney and Jennifer Lope in Out of Sight. Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller in There’s Something About Mary, which is surprising as that film sort of swept the awards that night. I’m surprised to be reminded that Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain was nominated for Lolita, way to go MTV! Seems very bold of a choice for a nomination.
At the 2001 MTV Movie Awards, she and Ben Affleck lost Best Kiss in Bounce to Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas’ kiss in Save the Last Dance. I can’t blame MTV for that one. Also nominated was Jon Abrahams and Anna Faris in Scary Movie, which I don’t recall a kiss in that film. I mostly remember Tori Spelling (I almost wrote Donna Spelling, 90210 represent!) and the ghost bed scene from that film and the buckets of sperm for Anna Faris in the freezer scene. David Cross in the wheelchair. Was the first one the one where the guy puts his football gear on the girlfriend? That was a funny gag too.
Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt’s kiss in Cast Away (at the end, maybe?) and Anthony Hopkins and Julianna Moore’s kiss in Hannibal were nominated as well. I don’t recall either kiss.
That was Bounce’s only nomination.
Sean Patrick Thomas also won Breakthrough Male for Save the Last Dance. I did like how the sequel to that film had a girl from the streets trying out for ballet, the only real move a sequel could do.
At the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, Paltrow and Jude Law lost their best kiss in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to Rachel McAdams and The Gos’ kiss in The Notebook. That one, I won’t even question, he built her a house! Though Natalie Portman and Zach Braff’s kiss in the rain in Garden State is pretty up there but kissing in the year of the Notebook, why even bother. Jennifer Garner and Natassia Malthe kissed in Elektra and I don’t recall that at all. Must have been in a middle of a fight, probably in the woods. That movie isn’t very good. Elisha Cuthbert and Emile Hirsch rounded out the kissing in The Girl Next Door.
Teen Choice Awards
In 1998, she was nominated for Choice Actress – Film and Sexiest Love Scene for the Teen Choice Awards. That second one seems odd for a category for the Teen Choice Awards. Looking at the nominations, I should be watching these awards as they also seem to be nominating the films I watched.
Freddie Prinze Jr. won Choice Movie : Actor, for She’s All That, beating out Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillipe, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Sandler, Will Smith AND Ben Stiller! That’s my boy!
Jennifer Love Hewitt won Choice Movie : Actress for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. 1998 was the first year for the award show. So even more impressive for these two actors to win the very first awards. She beat out Drew Barrymore, Claire Danes, Cameron Diaz, Kirsten Dunst, Paltrow, Christina Ricci, and Reese Witherspoon.
Sarah Michelle Gellar won Choice Movie : Villain for Cruel Intentions. James Van Der Beek won Choice Movie : Breakout Star for Varsity Blues. Cruel Intentions won Choice Movie : Drama and There’s Something About Mary beat Shakespeare in Love for Choice Movie : Comedy. City of Angels won Best Soundtrack.
Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr.’s love scene in She’s All That won Love Scene – which I don’t even remember a love scene in that film, I guess it means falling in love and not sex scene? Probably as Drew Barrymore and Michael Vartan were nominated for Never Been Kiss. Sex scene for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in Notting Ill. Elizabeth Hurley and Matthew McConaughey in EDtv. Love scene for Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You. Sex scene for Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon in Cruel Intentions.
Sarah Michelle Gellar also won TV Actress for Buffy.
FPJr won Hottie Male and Hewitt won Hottie Female.
Stone Cold Steve Austin won Professional Wrestler over Kurt Angle, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, THe Rock, Sable and The Undertaker.
In 2001, Sarah Michelle Gellar won Best Actress : Comedy for Daphne Blake in Scooby Doo. FPJr was nominated for Fred Jones but lost to Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 2. Gellar beat out Paltrow from Shallow Hal, which makes sense. She also beat out Selma Blair and Cameron Diaz in The Sweet Thing (canceling each other out?), Anne Hathaway in Princess Diaires, Christina Ricci in Pumpkin (a decent film), Winona Ryder in Mr. Deeds and Reese Witherspoon in The Importance of Being Earnest.
Instead of Love Scene, they broke it up (maybe?) and went with Movie : Chemistry and Movie : Liplock. The Spider-Man kiss won Liplock (and Movie: Action/Drama and Actor : Action/Drama for Tobey Maguire). Mandy Moore and Shane West won Movie : Chemistry for A Walk to Remember.
Somehow Mr. Deeds won Movie : Summer.
Gellar kept her reign of Best TV Actress Action/Drama for Buffy. Tom Welling won Breakout TV Star Male for Smallville. Alyson Hannigan won TV Sidekick for Willow on Buffy.
In 2008, Rachel Bilson won Movie : Action Actress for Jumper. Paltrow lost, as Pepper Potts doesn’t do anything actiony in the first Iron Man film. Abigail Breslin in Nim’s Island, Diane Kruger in National Treasure : Book of Secrets, and Christina Ricci in Speed Racer were all nominated. I haven’t seen Speed Racer but I don’t recall Ricci being in that film.
In 2010, Zoe Saldana won Movie Actress : Sci-Fi for Avatar. Paltrow was nominated for Iron Man 2, probably lost due to Iron Man 2 not being Sci-Fi. Scarlett Johansson was also nominated for Iron Man 2. Rachel McAdams was nominated for Time Traveler’s Wife, a film I still want to see and Amanda Peet was nominated for 2012.
In 2013, Anne Hathaway won Movie Actress : Action for being Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Paltrow was again nominated for Potts (three for three!) in Iron Man 3. Jessica Biel in Total Recall, Adrianne Palicki for GI Joe : Retaliation and Rachel Weisz in The Bourne Legacy were also nominated. Iron Man 3 did beat out Dark Knight Rises for Movie : Action, which is a bold choice. Downey beat out Bale for Movie Actor : Action. So Poor Paltrow probably thought she was a lock for her category. Twilight Saga : Breaking Dawn Part 2 ends Twilight’s like five year reign over Teen Choice and MTV Movie awards, is probably when I stopped watching these things.
Paltrow lost the 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress to Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth. New to the category that year was Holly Hunter in Living Out Loud and Ally Sheedy in High Art, two more films I haven’t seen or heard about.
She lost the 1998 Empire Award Best Actress to Cate Blanchett, but she was nominated for Sliding Doors, as it is a British award. Peter Howitt did win Best British Director for Sliding Doors. Sliding Doors lost to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels for Best British Film. Odd how they did Best Category and then Best British Category. Like, one sort of trumps the other. Here is the best overall actress, but if we are narrowing it down to only British people, then she is the clear winner. Helen Hunt was also nominated for As Good as It Gets, Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight and Pam Grier in Jackie Brown. Awkwardly, her Award Wikipedia page states she won that award but the page for the 4th Empire Award states Blanchett won.
She won the 3rd Florida Film Critics Circle Award Best Actress for both Shakespeare in Love and Sliding Doors. Ian McKellen won Best Actor for both Apt Pupil and Gods and Monsters. Shakespeare in Love won Best Film and Best Screenplay for Norman and Stoppard. Christina Ricci won Best Supporting Actress for Buffalo ’66, Opposite of Sex and Pecker. So the FFCC really appreciates hard workers.
Impressively, Paltrow has only ever been nominated once for a Razzie, 2015’s Worst Actress for Mortdecai. Dakota Johnson earned Worst Actress for Fifty Shades of Grey, sharing it with Jamie Dorman #NotMyChristian. Those two also share Worst Screen Combo. Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four took Worst Picture and Worst Director. Shades also won Worst Screenplay, I didn’t hate that movie but it different wasn’t the sexy romp it advertised itself to be. All four “Fantastics” were nominated for Combo. Katherine Heigl in home Sweet Hell, Mila Kunis in Jupiter Ascending and Jennifer Lopez in Boy Next Door were also nominated for Worst Actress. I saw the Honest Trailer for Jupiter Ascending and Boy Next Door wasn’t a horrible film. Lopez still has it going on. Grey won five of the six categories it was nominated in. I misread it originally, Fantastic Four AND Fifty Shades of Grey won Worst Picture. Ouch! Sam Taylor-Johnson dodged the only bullet not winning director for Grey.
Paltrow lost the 1998 Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress to Cate Blanchett’s Elizabeth, so Blanchett may have thought she had a chance at the Oscar. She was Paltrow’s main rival that year. Emily Watson was also nominated for Hilary and Jackie.
People’s Choice Awards
I used to be a big fan of the People’s Choice Awards too until Twilight dominated the awards for half of a decade.
In 2013, for Iron Man 3, Paltrow lost both Favorite Actress and Duo. Iron Man 3 did win Favorite Movie and Action Movie. I do like how they use “Favorite” instead of “Best” as that is what it really is. I also like how being nominated in one category doesn’t eliminate you from another. That’s how Sandra Bullock won Favorite Movie Actress, Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress, and Favorite Comedic Movie Actress. Paltrow was only nominated in Favorite Movie Actress, as was Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson and Melissa McCarthy.
Somehow Sandra Bullock & George Clooney won Favorite Movie Duo, though I’m pretty sure they are only together for like ten minutes. Clearly people saw Bullock’s name and just checked her name whenever they saw it. Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. were nominated for Iron Man 3. Jennifer Aniston & Jason Sudeikis for We’re the Millers. Bullock beat out herself and McCarthy in The Heat, one would think there would be vote split action but I guess not. Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto in Star Trek Into Darkness round out that category.
Shoot, Iron Man 3 won two of its three categories, only losing the one Paltrow was in. That doesn’t seem right.
In something I find highly suspicious, at the 1998 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, they awarded Paltrow a “Special Award” for both Sliding Doors and Shakespeare in Love. I did a quick Google search and no one seems to have written about how silly that seems. They gave Best Actress to Susan Sarandon for Stepmom, so who knows what is happening there. Madden did win Best Director for Shakespeare in Love and Best Screenplay – Original went to Peter Howitt for Sliding Doors. I wouldn’t mind learning more about that Special Award decision. I like Sarandon in Stepmom but it seems so out of left field.
Satellite Awards
Satellite is one of those words I can never spell.
In 1996, Paltrow won the very first Best Actress – Musical or Comedy for Emma. So funny to think about these awards that are relatively new. She beat out Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians, Shirley MacLaine in Mrs. Winterbourne, Heather Matarazzo in Welcome to the Dollhouse, and Bette Midler in First Wives Club. Which seems super impressive for her first big role. Matarazzo was in Scream 3, Princess diaries, Sorority Boys, Saved!, Princess Dairies 2: Royal Engagement. She’s Hathaway’s friend in those movies. So she must have been super young in Welcome to the Dollhouse, which I’ve heard of.
In 1998, she lost Best Actress – Musical or Comedy to Christina Ricci in Opposite of Sex. Ricci was having a banner year that year too. Horrocks, Hunter and Meg Ryan were You’ve Got Mail were all nominated. Shakespeare in Love did win Best Film – Musical or Comedy. But lost a slew of awards! Truman Show’s Dennis Gassner won Best Art Direction, Thin Red Line’s John Toll won Best Cinematography, Elizabeth’s Alexandra Byrne won Best Costume Design, Thin Red Line’s Terrence Malick won Best Director, Saving Private Ryan’s Michael Kahn won Best Editing, Pleasantville’s Gary Ross won Best Screenplay – Original, and Bill Murray in Rushmore won Best Supporting Actor – Musical or Comedy over Geoffrey Rush.
In 2002, she lost Best Supporting Actress – Musical or Comedy for Royal Tenenbaums, to Maggie Smith in Gosford Park. Which I still haven’t seen but that’s another good cast. Anjelica Huston was also nominated from Royal Tenenbaums, so maybe there was some vote splitting. BUT! Helen Mirren and Emily Watson were both nominated for Gosford Park, so Smith must have been very good in it. If I was a betting man, I would have thought all of the vote splitting would have worked in Miriam Shor’s favor for Heding and the Angry Inch. I’m not familiar with her or the film.
In 2010, Country Strong’s title track lost Best Original Song to Burlesque’s You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me. 127 Hours’ If I Rise, Alice in Wonderland’s Alice, and two songs from Twilight Saga : Eclipse were also nominated, What Part of Forever and Eclipse.
Saturn Awards
The Saturn Awards is another award show I should follow but is it even aired on television? I thought Spike had them for a time.
In 1995, she was nominated for Se7en for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Bonnie Hunt in Jumanji. I do like Bonnie Hunt. Also nominated was Illeana Douglas in To Die For, Salma Hayek for Desperado, Jennifer Jason Leigh in Dolores Claiborne, and Juliette Lewis in From Dusk till Dawn. Dolores Claiborne is the only film of that group that I haven’t heard of or watched. Actually, I know of Desperado but I haven’t’ seen that one, now that I think about it. It is an adaption of a Stephen King work and in 2013, Time Magazine named it in the top ten best adaptions of his. Kathy Bates is in it too. It came in seventh.
In 2008, Paltrow was nominated for Best Actress for Iron Man but lost to Angelina Jolie in Changeling. Which are two different performances in vastly different films. Cate Blanchett rears her head again in Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Maggie Gyllenhaal in Dark Knight, Julianne Moore in Blindness, Emily Mortimer in Transsiberian were also nominated. I should check out Transsiberian as I do enjoy Mortimer. Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley and Kate Mara are in it. I do like Kate Mara too!
. . .
So, just based off of Emma and Great Expectations, I have her as this fancy dancy actress in my mind and she clearly doesn’t deserve to be written off like that. I’m glad I went down this deep dive with her career. I have a few movies I need to check out.
For my own benefit, those films would be –
Pallbearer
Talented Mr. Ripley
Anniversary Party, as I don’t remember her being in it.
Royal Tenenbaums
Thanks to Rohan for hosting the video.
Austin Powers in Goldmember – scratch that, she’s in the parody Tom Cruise movie with Cruise as Powers and Paltrow as the girl. Dixie Normous, get it?
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, maybe?
Proof
Running with Scissors
Contagion
Thanks for Sharing, is on Hulu right now
Country Strong
Two Lovers
That could be a decent couple weeks of films. I’ll definitey seek out Pallbearer, Proof, and Contagion, if I have to narrow it down to three films.
In my anticipation of Supermassive Games’ Man of Medan, I actually bought Hidden Agenda for the PS4. Walker Dennis really wanted the latest Ghostbusters game, and after seeing it for $15, I bought it as well. I had planned on buying Hidden Agenda but I figured it’ll be one of those things I plan on buying but don’t really follow through. But I did it and I’m super happy I did.
I’ve read people saying it isn’t worth $20 as it is only two hours of content but for $15 and it being three hours of content, I think it is pretty worth it.
Thanks to PlayStation Europe for hosting the reveal trailer.
The game uses the PS4 PlayLink, so you have to download the free app and you use the PS4 controller to select menu settings but once you are ready to start either Story mode or Competitive mode, you start using your handheld device. I used my Android and my Kindle, which was pretty nice. I had put the app and the app for Knowledge is Power on my wife’s phone but I’ll probably delete this app from her phone as she doesn’t have to play with me anymore.
I was able to use my phone and the Kindle at the same time and I didn’t really notice it being all that difficult. I really wanted the trophies that are required with a Competitive play so on my second night with the game, I did all of that.
My very first gameplay, I went with Story mode, to experience the full aspect of the game. I only committed an hour to it and when I came back the second night, I found out I was so close to finishing the first chapter.
I’ll say the second chapter is the shortest as I’ve spent two different nights finishing the final two chapters and the first chapter seems to take up my limited hour of gaming (sometimes I can get an hour and a half a night).
There have only been two real gripes I’ve had with the game. One is when you are looking for clues, it takes a long time for the cursor to register on the screen, so you lose like five seconds of the twenty you are given. Which is great when you have two player mode (in either Competitive or Story (two player Story is required for one specific trust trophy) mode) as either you get more time to find them all or moving two different devices at the same time, gives you more opportunity to go around the room.
The only clue I ever missed was due to whatever delay that is caused between clues. I couldn’t find the magnifying glass (that represents where the clue is), it is on the police uniform. The other two are the pictures of Becky in the middle and the rat trap below the pictures, next to the pink box.
My second gripe is a real bummer for a huge Until Dawn fan. We get the option again to look at Global Statistics, so if you want a run where you pick all of the least proper choices, you can do that. But if you have to turn off the game and come back to it later, the option is still selected as “On” but you no longer get the stats. Every time I came back to the game on the next day, I’ll get an error message. I’ll try to experiment if I quit the game proper, if I can still get the stats to continue but it was a real shame losing those as I continued. So I had to just choose the opposite choice or the choice that would lead to a trophy as I was aware of which ones I’ll need after my first playthrough.
The motion captures and voice talent (I’m not sure if they are one and the same) are amazing. Like a very limited Until Dawn, they hired Katie Cassidy (from Arrow fame) to be Detective Becky Marney.
Christy Choi plays Felicity Graves, the other main character, who is the District Attorney to the Trapper’s case.
The two of them have great chemistry together, and there were times I thought about shipping them together but thought that was silly. My first playthrough, I had them look at case files at night together.
They seemed to be very friendly, but none of my other playthroughs required them to look at the case together, which was a shame.
Olivia Carass wrote this fun article commenting on it as well:
They can resolve their issues and get a beer together
But be mindful if Becky should have that beer or not.
The only real legit suspenseful part of the game was when this lady joined Becky at the bar:
She just shows up, sits there and watches as Becky passes out. We get a glimpse of her, well I guess two glimpses of her prior and never again (as far as I can tell), so she shows up, gets the job done, and we never see her again. I was like, who is this?! And then with what happens after that, oh boy!
The entire cast is very well done. Leonard Roberts is Tom, Becky’s police partner. I know him as DL from Heroes, who had the phasing power and dated Ali Larter’s character. He is King Idri of Loria on Magicians, a show I really want to start watching. He’s also been on Mom and The Client List.
Tom was my favorite of her partners, if you make a different decision in the very beginning of the game, you get Karl Carter as her partner, but he always feels an alternate choice to me. West Liang does a great job but I always got Tom as my main partner.
If Karl is your partner, that means Tom is your sergeant which is another shame as Sergeant Riggs is such a great police sergeant. Riggs is played by Chris McKenna. Apparently McKenna and Roberts were on Major Crimes together, during the Conspiracy Theory arc, so I should try to watch that to see if they have any scenes together.
In one playthrough, my final one actually, Becky had to do something horrible to Riggs that made me happy that it wasn’t also Tom in the role. But still bad.
I got the platinum for the game within five days of playing it, and four playthroughs. This makes my eleventh platinum, as my tenth is Fallout Shelter (which is why I’m able to finally play other games).
PlayStation Trophies was a great website to help with the proper playthroughs:
I did one on my own, I attempted an unpopular decisions play (but being aware of other trophies), a third one, the Rat in the Trap, and Antitrust.
Another fun hold over from Until Dawn was that the writers of Until Dawn wrote this game and Larry Fessenden came back to portray Vernon Lemay, a brother to one of the Trapper’s victims. Feessenden co-wrote the game and was the Stranger in Until Dawn. Graham Reznick is the other co-writer, I’m not sure why he doesn’t lend his voice to a character.
There are three other actors that make up the main cast.
Yan Feldman plays Jonathan Finn, who Becky arrests as The Trapper. He’s been in various things but nothing I recognized him in.
Chad Michael Collins is Jack Calvary, who was the detective on the Trapper case that Becky closed for him. They do not get along. He’s a jerk with a heart of jerk so it is easy to take Becky’s side in every exchange. But there is also, not a charm, but charisma about him too. He’s confident. He’s been in things too that I may have recognized him if I rewatched them.
Finally, there is a Gabriel Miller as Simon Hillary, the police medical examiner. He’s credited as Gabriel Schwalenstocker but imdb lists him as Miller. I didn’t recognize any of his credits.
Something I did recognize in the game, and once I recognized it, I couldn’t stop seeing it. As that the game will flick or have a delayed pause, like I could tell when the game was choosing either Response A or Response B, which was smoother for Until Dawn. Also, a character would be talking at one angle, and then Response B would be chosen, be shown at a different angle, and then go back to the original angle to go back to the main plot. I wouldn’t say it was distracting but something that I did notice.
Maybe if I did one playthrough a week and didn’t spend so much time with the game, I wouldn’t have noticed it as much but it is hard to unsee once you have seen it.
Overall, such a fun experience, even the gripes I have, are minor and I would clearly recommend the game to anyone interested in it. I love Until Dawn, I really enjoyed this, and I’m eagerly anticipating Man of Medan.
. . .
As I foretold, once I got the platinum in Fallout Shelter, I haven’t gone back. I have thought about it but like Fallout 4, just spending ten minutes in the game, makes me want to spend an hour in the game. So I’m distracting myself with other games. I did start a new character in Fallout 4 to play on Survival mode to get myself prepared for Fallout 76 but I modeled him after our son and he just wanted to play instead so that took up my 30 minutes. I wished I could have made the character shorter and more younger looking but Walker Dennis thought it looked enough like him to get into it. He’s gotten much better at controlling the character. Of course, he immediately went looking for Dogmeat, and that was pretty cute. I’m filling his memory banks with unimportant things like the map of Fallout 4 but he pretty much went from the vault to Sanctuary (spending no time there) and going to Red Rocket to get Dogmeat. Ideally, I’ll play him as a Railroad member but I’ll also not play at all.
It is easy to be a prophet of your own actions.
Someone on the Trophies subreddit got the RiME platinum and I realized I should pick that game up and figure out where I left off. I was in Chapter 2 and I had unleashed the second windmill and realized I didn’t do the first windmill.
Which, again, was a complicated puzzle that I had made harder than it had to be. I saw several YouTube videos that had completed everything within 30 to 45 minutes and I must have made that level a two hour affair. Someone was nice enough to inform me that the next three chapters are super easy compared to two and they were definitely right about that. So we beat the game, Walker Dennis and I hugged for maybe four minutes after beating the game, it was a long and good hug (it may have been more like a minute of silence) but even he recognized that it was a sad but hopeful moment. I had it originally spoiled for me, conceptually, but actually playing the game and seeing the actual content, hit me on a different level I wasn’t quite ready for. We’ve gone back and did all of the trophies for Chapter 1 and gotten all of the collectibles. I also started a YouTube playthrough for Chapter 4 and just did it along with the video, it still took me an additional 10 minutes but that was more on me than the video.
Thanks Sylvain LUCE for hosting such a good video! We couldn’t have done it without you.
So ideally, we just need Chapters 2 and 3 and we’ll have our 12th platinum. I promised to not play without Walker Dennis there, who is really good at the game. So we’ll probably play on the weekend but still follow a guide. We’ll get the platinum during Chapter 3, at some point, as typically, people get it during their second playthrough when they unlock a costume in Chapter 4 and have to go back to Chapter 2 and we’ll be doing that next.
We got all of the collectibles from Chapter 4 but we definitely need two trophies and once we find all of the white shades (I believe we only need three’s now), we need to replay Chapter 5 as well. So all of my assumptions were wrong. But like they say, when you make an assumption, you are right the bulk of the time.
As I got the platinum at around 11pm for Hidden Agenda, I didn’t want to make all of the noise of ejecting the disc, opening Arkham Knight’s case, and inserting that game into the system (it is louder than you think it would be). So I started Heavy Rain again, did the section with the FBI guy (I have to learn their names eventually) and that section ends with the father informing the police. I clearly didn’t remember what his shirt was, after a few months of not playing, but I got the rest of the questions right, there were no ellipses during the other responses like the shirt response got.
Last night, I did get to play Arkham Knight for a while, and I’ll probably be sticking with that game for some time. I got a little further in The Perfect Crime and the firefighter storyline. I ended the session with attempting a Militia Watchtower but a drone was stopping me from making any real progress. I read I have to hack the drone but I haven’t gotten the hacking device just yet. I also made a little progress in the main storyline as Barbara Gordon caused Arkham Knight’s car to crash and that was a very fun sequence to play. I felt like a real detective, an overly financed one, but a detective nonetheless.
I still need to unlock that third island, so I can get the Batmobile over there, as there are so many threats still. I can access it but the bridges are still up.
It felt great coming across the body in Bristol all on my own, I knew the district it was in but I had to figure it out on my own. That’s the case I’m trying to focus on at the moment, as it was the first case presented to me. So my main goal right now is to get the hacker device so I can get that one particular watchtower completed.
Looking at this website, not the one I found last night, apparently I should just go to the Watchtower by Ryker Heights on Founders’ Island as that’ll give me access to Stagg’s Airship, which is the mission that gives me the hacker device.
. . .
Okay, I’ve typed “hacker” so many times that it triggered something I’ve been wanting to look up on YouTube for too long.
Walker Dennis is obsessed with Chad Wild Clay’s Hacker storyline, he’s on the prowl for the Hacker and the Game Master and I’m either overhearing the YouTube videos or just hearing the word “hacker,” like all of the time.
Thanks to Chad Wild Clay for hosting his own video.
It is this massive (and maybe never ending?!) crossover with other YouTubers like Steven Sharer and his siblings (who I haven’t heard about in a while).
I’ve been meaning to look up if there is a conclusion but I’ll have to watch this video to see what is happening. I’ve heard one video at least six times, where they are looking for clues in their basement. I can’t seem to find the basement video but in my searches, there is at least six or seven different YouTubers who are continuing this massive crossover. I was looking for a video with a blonde lady with glasses but not having much luck.
Well, I’m clearly down this rabbit hole. Rebecca Zamolo is her name.
Thanks to Rebecca Zamolo for hosting her video.
It is the Gamemaster who has a secret tunnel in her house. Though I get the feeling it is a second video where she’s telling another peep about the tunnel and she’s going back in the second time.
Like the Sharers, she has an entire industry with her
Thanks to Matt and Rebecca for hosting their video. Whoever Matt is, he doesn’t appear to have his own video series.
Every time Walker Dennis starts one of their videos, I think about Netflix’s Alexa and Katie as they share the same theme song (somehow).
Thanks to Netflix Kids & Family for hosting the video.
Turns out, they don’t but it sounds similar. Or it did until I listen to both of them.
Wow, there’s research I did that only satisfied me. But seriously, I’m always hearing about the hacker and the game master but I get it now as one video sort of leads into a second video and from there, you’ve seen six videos in thirty minutes.
. . .
According to that Arkham Knight website from forever ago above, the Watchtower I’m currently on (to end this on a video game note) is
Watchtower 19 Location: Founders’ Island – Otisburg, east of Port Adams
You will come across 2 Gun Emplacements in the northeast edge of the area in addition to 3 armed soldiers including a Boa Sentry Operator. It is advised to deal with the Boa Sentry Operator before rest of the thugs to make things a tad easier.
I remember it being near Port Adams but I was doing a search for drone but eventually found it on the page. I was throwing explosive gel at the drone and batarangs at it but I clearly need that hacker device. Which is officially called the Remote Hacking Device, which was called the Cryptographic Sequencer, but I imagine most people called it “the hacker device” and why try harder?
Trying Watchtower 19, I was being painfully reminded that Founders’ Island is further along in the story than I should probably be at as there were tanks all over the place and the Batmobile couldn’t get there as the bridge is still up.
I believe this will be my second Watchtower and I stopped the first one that introduced the threat.
Amazingly, I still don’t know who the Arkham Knight is. Unfortunately, for this post, I had to get the Perfect Crime spoiled for me as I couldn’t remember the mission name and when I found it, the helpful website listed who the boss was but that is what happens when you are a patient gamer.
The bridge will come down eventually as I make progress in the story, I don’t want to just do the story, I like to spice it up with side quests, keep it fresh. The only reason I went to that particular Watchtower was due to it being the closest mission after I did The Perfect Crime event and I wasn’t quite ready to call it a night.
I’ll probably get in the habit of doing one main story point and then a side thing, with a focus on The Perfect Crime. The latest victim was from Tucson, Arizona, which was pretty cool as a guy from Arizona.
I feel like answering the question of “what pizza you want tonight?” shouldn’t be that hard. I’m 36 years old, I should know by now what pizza I prefer. I went through a real Canadian bacon and pineapple phase but that was a pizza only I enjoyed and I rarely ever have pizza by myself. When I do, I’m usually at Costo getting a slice of pepperoni. Which then led me to go through a phase of only getting pepperoni for a while.
When we were shopping the other day, I came across Red Baron’s Supreme Pizza
Pepperoni, Sausage, Green and Red Peppers, and Onions
This is by far my favorite frozen pizza and I have started recreating it when we get Papa Johns or Dominos. I prefer Papa Johns if we’re going with one of the big chain places but where I work, we have Bridge Pizza across the street and they are pretty fancy with their pizza slices.
Broccoli, Artichoke, and Gorgonzola on White – $3.50
There was a while there, I was pretty dedicated to checking the website around 10:30am to figure out if I was getting pizza that day. They are huge fans of Gorgonzola and I don’t care for that cheese so I’m usually pretty good about sticking with the Pepperoni. Bridge did introduce me to pepperoncini and I love those now. I got a jar of them for home and I went through it pretty quickly. Lately they have being doing BBQ instead of red as the alternative, sometimes they have three slices of the day with red, white, or BBQ. They are very fancy.
We also have Bowman’s Pizza but it is awkward to get to them so we rarely go but they are huge supporters in the Catholic community so we like that about them.
. . .
Most places don’t offer red peppers so I usually end up ordering pepperoni, sausage (spicy, if they have it), green peppers, and onions. My main problem, when I’m trying to get a deal or use a coupon, is that you are limited to only three items. I usually default to onion as the third over green peppers as the peppers feel like a bonus item to me.
If only limited to two toppings, I’ll go pepperoni and onions, or sausage and green peppers, but if you could combine all four, that is a delight. I like the combo of meat and vegetable. In my twenties, I was all about meat lovers, which was always my go too and I guess is what left me in this tailspin of indecisiveness. My mother-in-law was awesome about ordering the nephews and me a meat lovers deal but either I got burnt out on it or it because too much of me and I started really wanting vegetables to be added for balance.
. . .
Remember how great Pizza Hut was back in the day, like during the Book-It Program? We lived in East Helena for at time and Pizza Hut was our closest pizza place. There was this one bad month where their onions were straight horrible, and we kept thinking it would be different but they were plain bad. Maybe it was two months but we haven’t gone back. The Subway down the street from it was also going through a bad onion phase but at least you know what to look for in a tray of bad onions, you really don’t have that opportunity when ordering pizza.
I also really like Papa Johns garlic dipping sauce, we’re usually good for ordering two or three extra cups of it.
I’ve tried Domino’s Garlic dip and I wouldn’t say it is better than Papa Johns but it is pretty good.
So I had quit playing Fallout Shelter for the night, at 11:30pm, and figured at 26 minutes, I can stay up a little longer and enjoy a terrific documentary.
Thanks to noclip for hosting their own videos.
I knew the game was pretty old but I hadn’t really thought about it being as old as Fallout 4, which I came too late so the idea of the game coming out, I hadn’t given much thought too. Sounds like they had a blast creating it and it really is fun to play.
I can’t believe how many people have played it, more than the combination of all of the games Bethesda has released. I mean, it makes sense as it is a free game to download and simple enough to understand. It isn’t like you have to be Oxhorn and be well into the lore of Fallout to understand it.
I figured I’ll subscribe so I can be aware of other excellent documentaries that they create.
I’ve seen the Making of Fallout 76:
and The History of Bethesda Game Studios:
I wished I had paid more attention (and had the money) as I would have loved to have supported the Fallout Shelter video. I’m just really enjoying the game.
They have 78 videos up, as of now, and unfortunately, none of them are appealing to me at the moment as I play Grand Theft Auto V but not online, I haven’t played any of the Witcher games, Horizon Zero Dawn (I would like too), Final Fantasy XIV, Doom, Frog Fractions, Rocket League (another game I want to play though).
Just a note for myself really, but I should watch their Future of noclip video, to see what they have planned:
I really should get back into watching documentaries again as I do miss watching those.
. . .
For yet another personal Fallout Shelter progress, I finally got the 50 raiders “Get Off My Lawn” trophy! That was a huge relief! I am creating crafting my final theme, Institute Diner, so my vault will officially be part of the Institute, not great but that’s just how we landed. I ended up only having to pay for one theme to unlock it, the rest came naturally. I choose to pay the nine Quantums to get the highest missing amount. I have no recreates. But since I didn’t need to store Quantums, I started spending them like crazy. I went from 60 to 30 so quick that I had to stop myself. I wanted to ensure I had ten ranked Intelligence in my weapon crafting room, so I sped up the training on a few people to get them from 9 to 10. Then I did the same for a few to get them ranked from 9 to 10 in Strength for my outfit training room. Once my final theme is done, I’ll destroy that room (as I don’t need it anymore) and replace it with a storage room, most likely.
I have 14 legendary outfits and 12 legendary weapons, and I need 20 of each for two trophies. So maybe in another week or two, I will have those two completed. Once I don’t need six dwellers in my theme room, I am going to start training all of them in Strength, Intelligence, and Agility, probably in that order too. Or I’ll swap out the 8s and 9s with whatever 10s are in the theme room currently. That’ll definitely happen as I tried to make sure all three crafting rooms were balance. I’m not even really caring about what I craft, just as long as I can craft them quickly. I have three fire hydrant bats but I have to craft a legendary baseball bat (hopefully that is an option) so that I can send someone on a level 15 quest. I had thought I had kept one baseball bat but I must have sold it or scrapped it for parts.
I also need 100 quests too. I know I have 60 completed as that was another trophy and I must have gone on ten quests since then, so another 30? I have committed to two teams of three for my questers. My main team that is going up the quests, which I am currently on the level 26 quests, the final one of those too, with plenty of level 27s in my future.
Then I have my level 50 questers who do the dailies, unless it is Deathclaw related, then I have them taking on the quests that I know will reward a legendary outfit or weapon. Last night, I had them do a daily and a quest that resulted in legendary junk, as I’ll need more legendary junk to craft legendary weapons and outfits.
I have one Heavy Merc Gear and once I finish whatever outfit I’m currently crafting, I’ll get them started on my second of three Heavy Merc Gear. I need five Yao guai hides and four teddy bears, which I have plenty of teddy bears but barely (pun intended!) eight Yao guai hides so I can make one safely and hope one of my ten lady explorers can find me two more in the meantime. My basic questers are finally being trained in Charisma, so even they are finding legendary junk on their quests. Or! They are being rewarded with legendary junk and I’m forgetting those were the rewards for doing the quest but I don’t think so as they are finding a lot more legendary junk than before I started training them exclusively in Charisma. But it could also be that quests with a bare minimum of level 25 dwellers started providing legendary junk too.
I just now pieced together that Heavy Merc Gear is 100% bear related as Yao guai is Fallout’s version of mutated bears and plush teddy bears are combined to make the outfit. That’s cute and fun. They are not cute nor fun, if you see them in the Commonwealth or the Wasteland, do not approach them unless you want a fight! Or their hide.
I imagine they will be in the Appalachia as well, which is the name of the map used in Fallout 76.
I keep going back and forth on if I want Fallout 76 for Christmas or at all.
I keep going back to now there are no animal companions and how much I love Dogmeat in 3 and 4. A dog companion is as much to me in Fallout as war never changing in Fallout. During Oxhorn’s video of his time at Greenbrier (as he was one of the lucky ones invited to play the game), he was able to ask about taming animals or simply animal companions.
Thanks to Oxhorn for hosting his own videos on YouTube.
The Bethesda developer said they don’t have any plans of animal companions at launch, which sounds like they might be able to be patched in later. Which is a shame but the more I think about it, the more I don’t want to play without a dog companion. I recognize that is silly but I’m not really in the market to buy a $60 game anyways.
For Christmas, I have a pretty bare bones wishlist of $60 renewal to the PSN, $15 renewal of my GameStop card (I’ve really enjoyed getting my issue of GameInformer every month), and maybe one new game. Either that will be Spider-Man or Marvel Lego Superheroes 2 Deluxe Edition (I just really want to play as Scarlet Spider in at least one game!).
I already only play games between 1030pm and midnight so I’ll be playing with other night owls or early morning risers, and for such a limited time, that I’m not going to be able to go on 45 minute quests. I do like how there are plenty of quests, which I’ll need as I so love quests in Fallout, and that’ll be my main objective in the game. I kept meaning to start a survival playthrough in Fallout 4 to get used to the idea of having to eat and drink as that is another function of Fallout 76, that I’m not completely thrilled with.
So I’m not going to really play with others, no animal companions (imagine how keen it would be to tame a Deathclaw?!), having to maintain surviving with food and drink, are three pretty big negatives.
The giant map, and more side quests that Fallout 4 with potentially even more quests being added all of the time (or at least during the first year) with daily, weekly, and monthly quests being a thing, and a main quest line that is nearly as long as Fallout 4’s, are huge pluses, also it just being a proper Fallout game, makes me add it to my wishlist but it is a clear 2nd or 3rd game for me, at this time. I really want that Spider-Man game. People are platinuming it all of the time! New content comes on October 23 and New Game Plus will happen at that time or soon afterwards, which I love NG+ since Chrono Trigger perfected it.
Once I get the platinum on Fallout Shelter, I’ll stop playing it and pick up Batman Arkham Knight, as I clearly can’t do two games at once.
. . .
In my pre-hype for Supermassive Games’ Man of Medan, I did end up buying Hidden Agenda, it is huge file on my phone now but I really want to do it in one sitting which I’ve read is like a two hour game, give or take, so it’ll probably be like four hours, but I want to dedicate at least a proper hour to it. My wife was kind enough to let me download that game on her phone and I took the time to download Knowledge is Power on her phone too. I think combined it was one GB as her phone went from 18GB to 19GB, whereas, I’m having to fight to keep my phone under 25/30 GBs as I continue to be way behind on my podcasts.
Walker Dennis was with me and he insisted on getting Ghostbusters, and I foolishly walked over to see if they even had a Ghostbusters game on PS4. Which they of course did and I ended up spending five more dollars and getting two less games than I originally had planned on buying. A few months back, GameStop had a “Buy Four Games for $20” deal that I saw they moved to include Wii games but no longer PS4 games. So both games cost me $25 as I got the Elite Pro membership, a slight humble brag. The employee told me the Elite Pro didn’t do what they were hoping so they are canceling it after this year. My renewal is up prior to Christmas (I bought it when I was told we were getting a PS4, on the DL). That’s when I knew I had to add my renewal to my wishlist. So $75 for a bare minimum for a Christmas list isn’t too bad. I’m a guy who wants really little and I’m all about spoiling my wife and son (plus his birthday is two weeks prior to Christmas (it was supposed to be three weeks prior but whatevs)) so I’m all for not spending money on myself and treating my family. That’s the maturity that comes about with age, in my 20s, I would have been a big pain about all of the things I do and other nonsense but I’m not that guy anymore, if I ever really was.
Plus, and please don’t tell him this, but he’s getting a slew of Lego Dimensions sets and I know he’s getting at least the Doctor Who level pack (I keep pushing for the Cyberman/Dalek fun pack and the Mission Impossible level set) so I’m benefiting from his presents too. He’s going to have a great Birthday/Christmas, we’re still deciding how to divide presents. He’s also getting the Ghostbusters level pack so that should be fun and he really wants that one too. That’s the biggest want for him, he also wants Slimer and Stay Puft Man but those things are like $20 or $25 each and we can get proper level packs for that much and get a level, a character, and a vehicle so the content isn’t there to justify it but he’ll probably get one more of those, probably Slimer as he wants him more but he really wants all three. It really is a balancing act.
Plus, all of the other side stuff too, like my beautiful wife is usually nice enough to get me two really great work shirts that I appreciate. I probably make a face of “clothes?” as it is hard to shake off those childhood memories of getting clothes but they really are nice shirts and I need work shirts.
. . .
The annoying thing but not that annoying, is that Walker Dennis doesn’t even want to play the Ghostbuster game as much. I can get him to play Foul Play on the PS4 but he still wants to focus on Lego Dimensions. Which also cuts into my desire for Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 as he probably doesn’t need to bounce between two Lego games, which is why Spider-Man ranks higher than my other two games but then Fallout 76 edges LMSH2 on some days. I’m definitely giving this more thought that I should. I really do want my PSN to be renewed as that thing pays for itself after three months with the free PS4 games and they throw in the crossplay Vita games so those are a nice bonus (and what I’ve been looking forward to as some of those are really fun).
I wished Fallout Shelter was on the Vita, then I could play Fallout Shelter on the Vita at lunch and on the PS4 at night. Knowing my luck though, it’ll be two different files and that isn’t what I want. I still dread the day I click Uncharted 1 or 2 on the trilogy remaster when I play 3 and start a new file for 1 or 2. I have 2 platinumed and 1 closed but I’ll never get it, but knowing I have the new file will make me want to replay those games. I got God of War 3 as a free game but my PS3 version of that game sits at 55% so I’ve been tempted to not attempt the remaster as I doubt it’ll get more completed or I fear it’ll be less completed. These are the rules and thoughts that clutter my noggin. Just the way I’m wired I guess, I blame this on my comic book roots.
I really need to get back into Uncharted 3 as well. That was a fun game but I got distracted and sidelined with my desire for Fallout 4 and now Fallout Shelter. Which is another thing that makes me want to play Fallout 76, as what type of fan would I be if I don’t play every new Fallout game? That’s bonkers that I finally buy a new Fallout game, not day one but you know, month three and I’m not willing the desire into action.
I’ve also been looking on craigslist to see if I can buy a cheap PS3 and a copy of New Vegas Ultimate Edition, but I’ve seen the prices being either $60 or $80 or crazy $120 (but with a slew of games) but all of that is too rich for my blood but that’s probably what it will cost me. I’ve read online that I should just pay for PlayStation Now and rent it through that service. Which is probably the way I do it if we don’t get a remaster eventually. But there are no rumors of that ever becoming a thing.
. . .
I just have this vision of traveling with a dog in Fallout 76 and let’s say I get it in December and play it throughout January. They add dogs in March, I guess I could create a second character and make that my main file but am I going to want to do all of that over again but this time with my good boy? I enjoyed my second character in Fallout 4 but the pressure of doing the main quest wasn’t there, not like I made her for the main quest, I just wanted to be a member of the Brotherhood. There’s just this disconnect I’ll feel during the second time and I might as well wait.
The nice thing for me is that I don’t buy anything for myself pretty much from November to February as those are prime gift receiving (and giving) months with our wedding anniversary in late November (29), Christmas, my birthday in January (31), and Valetine’s Day. Then we get our tax refund in March/April and I usually get the one present I haven’t received yet – it just times out right – for either Easter or just cause but mostly for Easter. Which I had forgotten about when I started this paragraph. So November to March/April as Easter bounces around. Not like I spend the other six months buying myself presents but I’m more apt to if I have the money, desire, and an item to spend money on.
I also have Knack to play too as I want to type I was just starting Chapter 5-3 when I got obsessed with Fallout Shelter or whatever game I was playing prior to that one. I have a backlog of years so I can wait until games are $30. I’m also excited to look for Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals too as I usually never have anything in mind for myself.
I’m telling ya, the whole “will I, won’t I” of getting Fallout 76 has been weighing on me but it was nice to write all of this down and out of my head. Watching the Greenbrier footage of several YouTubers, it does look like an awesome game, and I’ll get it eventually. I, of course, won’t turn it down if someone wanted to buy me a copy of it but I have other games to occupy my headspace.
Foul Play has this fun atmosphere and I like how it just feels like a classic side scroller.
I also was really getting into Heavy Rain, so I’m definitely forming some sort of list in my mind of what games to get back into and what order to play them again. Just looking at my trophy list, below are the games I’ve given some time too.
Ghostbusters – I’m pretty much committed to just playing this when Walker Dennis wants too. Batman Arkham Knight – This will definitely be the next game I commit too Sparkle 2 – This was pretty fun, it is a game where you match three colors but instead of a grid like Candy Crush, it is more of a string of multiple colors that you have to match up. There is a trophy for playing the game for four hours that sounds like it’ll take a long time to achieve, like four hours. Foul Play – Another game I’m completely fine with waiting for my son to want to play. Heavy Rain – I was really getting into the story and the characters, I hadn’t met the lady character yet so I’m only at the beginning. Grand Theft Auto V – Michael’s family had just left him but I don’t feel super compelled to get back into this one so it’ll be towards the bottom of the list. Knack – I should look into where I’m at in this game and how close am I to finishing it, it feels like I’m still at the beginning though. RiME – I’m stuck at this place where I come up out of the water, in the desert world, with a walkway that is floating on the water with some lights in the first area and the walkway leads to a deadend but I have to figure out the lights but I will swear that I tried all of the combinations but clearly I haven’t. I’ve been putting off looking up walkthroughs I imagine once I do, I’ll be watching videos for the rest of the game. Uncharted 3 – I like the idea of this game not being an open world game with a more structured plot. Darksiders II – my first free game through the PSN+ and I wouldn’t mind finishing it.
I also subscribed to the PS4 Trophies subreddit so I’m starting to see all of these nice folks who are getting the platinums on the free games which makes me want to get further in them too.
. . .
Proofing I am a glutton for punishment, I re-subscribed to the Fallout 76 subreddit. I was thinking that I would like to know when animals get patched in and the best way to do that would be to subscribe. It would probably hit the Fallout proper subreddit or on PS4 subreddit but I might as well be connected to the source as well.
Gosh, I really want that new Spider-Man game on the PS4! I keep thinking of either asking for Spider-Man or Fallout 76 for Christmas, and then getting the other for my birthday in January. But if dog companions are not an option in Fallout 76, then I might just pass on that game entirety. I’m that committed to the concept. I keep wanting to get a PS3 so I can finally play New Vegas but they are still typically a hundred dollars, so that’s not happening any time soon.
In my anticipation of the new Spider-Man game, I’ve been watching a slew of Scarlet Spider gameplay videos.
This was the first video I saw of actual gameplay:
Thanks to GhostRobo for hosting the video.
It looks like so much fun!
This was my second video I found that also added to my hype for the eventuality of me owning it.
Thanks to DVESF for hosting their video.
I prefer the videos that show a few missions as opposed to strictly being free roam videos but both are very nice.
Thanks to kwingsletsplay for hosting their video.
Thanks to Beautiful O.B. for hosting their video too.
There are not that many videos featuring the Scarlet Spider suit so I’ll just upload the other two videos I’ve seen as well.
Thanks to KabukiSage for hosting this video.
Thanks to MaximumGuarded for hosting this video.
I saw there was an All Cut Scenes with Scarlet Spider but I’m trying my best to not spoil the actual game for myself. Even the ones above, I’ve only seen like the first ten minutes or so. It isn’t easy for me to watch videos unless I do it at lunch or once everyone is asleep. But at lunch, I’m trying to catch up with my podcasts (I’m like two weeks behind thanks to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, I’m finally caught up on his show now) and at night, I play my games.
I’m currently bouncing between Fallout Shelter (still!) and Batman Arkham Knight. I figured if I really wanted to play Spider-Man, I might as well play the other superhero game that I actually already own. This is another hard game to play as Walker Dennis just likes to take the controller and drive the Batmobile around town, but we’re getting into a nice groove of him wanting to unlock something or those militia tanks show up and I get to take those out, which adds to the progress. He can’t glide at all, so I’m not sure how he’ll fare with Spider-Man but who knows, he’s getting to become quite the little gamer. He’s going to be Batman for Halloween, so that’s really added to my wanting to play the game too.
I’m tempted to get a $20 PlayStation card so I can finally get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle DLC for LittleBigPlanet and I’ll probably throw two dollars and buy Batman too. I also want to get $20 card and buy the season pass to Batman Arkham Knight, as well. If the Fallout 4 Season Pass wasn’t still $40, I’ll add that to my wishlist too but if I bought that, I wouldn’t get much play out of my other games. I’ve been wanting to pick up Uncharted 3 again but my backlog is intense at the moment.
. . .
For a quick update on Fallout Shelter, I’ve made huge strides in that game. I’m finally getting close to maximizing an elite group of ten lady dwellers to start searching the wasteland for legendary materials. I have like five legendary outfits and weapons created so eventually I’ll get 20 of each for those two trophies. I’m 12 more Raider attacks from getting that trophy. Once I have that one, I’ll relax a bit as that’s the only trophy that is outside of my control. I just feel like I’m in the back end of the game. I finally earned the 60 Quests trophy, so 40 more of those and I’ll get the 100 Quests. I haven’t achieved the 100 Objectives trophy yet, but I feel like I should be close to that one as I feel like I’ve done a slew of those by now but the PS4 doesn’t seem to track how many and there wasn’t a “Complete 50 Objectives” trophy so I don’t have a real sense of progress for that one. I just keep doing them.
I’m currently have three of them that are going to be time consuming, like successfully put out 45 incidents (I’m at 25 now, I believe), craft 7 weapons (I’ve done two but since I’m strictly doing legendary, the wait times are days long), and send out 10 dwellers to the wasteland (which I’ve done twice now as I’m maxing out Charisma for the other eight).
I finally got my first dweller, Sarah Lyons, to have found 100 items in the wasteland, not a trophy, but most times, they died before getting the total before they come back on their own. So I’m feeling pretty good about all of the progress.
I’m getting into the habit of doing one quest, having them come back, I have a cat that speeds up the return trip by 40% so it usually costs one Quantum to bring them back. Once they are back, I have Alexander, Andrea, and Ashley train in either Perception, Agility, or Luck rooms. I have them on a cycle. Now they all have the rank of six in each of those, so by the time I turn the game off at midnight and turn it back on between 6 and 7 in the morning, they haven’t ranked up yet to the next tier but they are getting there. I’m getting to the point where the rest of my dwellers don’t have a weapon weaker than an 8 attack stat, so incidents are easily to handle. I finally have my first male reach level 50 so now he’s guarding the vault door. He needs a stronger weapon but that’ll come with time.
On reddit, someone made a reference to Heavy armors, which is the highest tier of an outfit, so my next goal is to make three Heavy Merc Outfits. Those will be counted towards my legendary outfits trophy, plus, that is my preferred outfit for my quest squad. One of my ladies has a missile launcher which does decent damage the first round, as it is an area effect weapon, so it hits everyone the same in the room. Which is nice when there are only two enemies but if there are four, it is more of a tickle than anything. Second round, it usually kills everyone. So I’m debating about switching it out to another single target weapon but I’m about to create my fourth legendary weapon (I was given the Lone Wanderer, a 10mm gun, earlier), so I have 16 more hours to think about it, plus the time before I can play the game again.
Once I wake up and click on everyone so I have gathered resources, leveled up whomever leveled up, and acknowledged the training as been completed, I sent my quest squad onto another mission so by the time I can play at night, they are already there.
I have 55 Quantums, so now I feel safe in using them, I was trying to bank at least 25 but Bottle (of Bottle and Cappy) has been kind and started giving me bottles and I’ve been finding more on quests as well.
I’m doing quests per level so I’m finally on level 22 and my squad is at level 34 so I have some time before having to force level them so they can be my official team on quests until the end of the game.
For my wasteland explorers, I’ve been concentrating on getting them maxed on Charisma, as that’s what makes finding legendary junk possible. From there, I’ll max them out on Endurance and Luck. Endurance to combat radiation and Luck for caps. Though I have well over 200,000 caps so I really am not hurting for caps anymore, which is another huge benefit. I’m also able to keep my resource bars green and usually pretty full, except for power, but it is usually never lower than the halfway mark. Now that I am filling up my Weapon and Outfit workshops with six dwellers each, and the well trained ones at that, the turn around time went from eight days to four days. I’m also working on the Brotherhood of Steel Diner theme, so that’s taking another six dwellers and two more days. Once I have that completed, those six can go back to a buddy system and the Nuclear Reactor rooms can produce at twice the speed. That or they will go back to either being trained for Strength or Intelligence as I could use a few more of those at rank 10, so I’m not relying on the same ones. My goal of getting all of my dwellers to a minimum of five ranked in Luck is slowly coming along too. I’m halfway down my vault, playing for five minutes at a time on the weekend has really helped with that.
As soon as one of my ladies reaches level 50, they go off to Charisma, unless that is full, then Endurance and then Luck. For whatever reason, my three wide Endurance room only tolerates four dwellers when it should be six. My Charisma room allows six but not endurance, which I wasn’t expecting that. So I have a good number of dwellers in both Endurance and Luck as I await Charisma training to max out. I definitely want Charisma to be maxed before sending them out to explore. It is a lot of prep work that is also time consuming but now that the goals are being met and I’m cycling through dwellers rather well, it is all coming together.
I’m trying to be patient with waiting for theme pieces but after getting three duplicates in a row, I might bite the bullet and speed Quantums to buy theme pieces as I want to continue building all of the themes for that trophy. I keep telling myself that I have plenty of time as I wait for raider attacks. Those do seem to be coming more frequently so that’s been nice. I did end up creating a second vault that I will not get more than 30 dwellers in, as that’s when mole rats start appearing but raiders were not coming any faster over there. It is all random but I’m so close to 50 on my main vault, I might as well stick with it. It was fun and nice to just make an efficient vault with a three wide power/food/water rooms and one of each of a medlab and science room. I had to buckle down to get a storage room but I’m hoping to stop there. I don’t worry about the resource rooms turning red as clicking on one room once it is ready essentially fills up the bar again. It was nice having a proper vault that isn’t so cluttered.
Fallout Shelter is such a fun game and I’m allowing myself to be addicted to it but it is all in good fun.
I was leading up to describing my other goals with legendary outfits. Once I have the three Heavy Merc Outfits, someone on reddit wrote that there is a level 40 quest that requires Institute jumper and an Institute rifle. I already have one rifle and one jumper so I need to create two more jumpers and another two rifles in anticipation for that mission. There was a daily quest, also a level 40 something, that required having a minimum rank of six Intelligence so I got my squad to that level. They are not leveled enough for it at the time, they still are not, but at least they have 6 Intelligence when that time comes. I lost a day of doing a quest but I like having them prime for when that happens.
There is another quest, like level 24, that requires only one dweller with a junk jet to go on. I already have the dweller who was equipped with the junk jet prepped for that mission. I’m tempted to level up the Overseer’s Office at that time so I can start two quests at once. It is that or just pick one of my squad members to go on their own, take that other dude’s junk jet for the one mission and then swap weapons again once they have come back. I imagine it is just easier to upgrade the office and have two quests going at once and then not do that again. I have the caps for the upgrade and that one dweller has a minimum of rank 5 in Perception, Agility, and Luck (PAL), which are the skills you need raised for quests. PAL. ECL, Endurance, Charisma, and Luck, is needed for exploring the wasteland.
In terms of SPECIAL inside of the Vault, S for Strength is great for Power Stations/Nuclear Reactors, Perceptive is great for Water/Purification rooms, Endurance helps with Nuka Cola rooms, Intelligence is great for MedLabs (Stimpacks) and Science Labs (Radaways), and Agility is great for Diners/Gardens. Charisma doesn’t help inside the vault from what I can tell.
In terms of crafting, I have only needed dwellers with high Strength and Intelligence, thus far. So I need to start training more people to 5s once I’m done getting Luck to where I want it to be. My eyes got big when I put my first dweller in a craft room and it stated eight days to build something. With cats and dogs that take a percentage of time off of crafting, and five more dwellers, I got those numbers down to four days, and that’s mostly as I’m being foolish with not making sure the dwellers in the crafting room are the highest trained ones, which I might take the time to do that once I get home tonight.
I guess that wasn’t quite the quick update I thought it was going to be and it is much longer than my Scarlet Spider initial post.
. . .
In Batman Arkham Knight, I don’t feel like I’m far enough in to make a proper post about it yet. It definitely is a fun game, I haven’t committed a lot of time with it. We got the second island opened up, Catwoman has been taken by the Riddler, Walker Dennis somehow found the first race that gave us the first key of nine (for her nine lives, I imagine). We completed the two firemen rescues of the first island, and found the two bandaged bodies on the first island, I’m wanting to do this mystery as my official quest but I’m not having much luck figuring out where the opera music should be coming from on the second island. I do like how the game will piece meal clues for us, so I know the body should be found somewhere along a room in the Kingston district. I’ll figure it out eventually, I know I have to listen for opera music and look for spotlights. My son, on a rare run along roof tops, came across Man-Bat and that spooked him real good and he attempted to chase him for a good about of time and then got distracted or wanted to drive the Batmobile, so we have that side quest unlocked as well. Barbara is still a hostage of the Arkham Knight, I’ve been lucky enough to not have his identity spoiled for me and I have a suspicion who it could be but I’ll let the game unfold the mystery. I’m a tad worried about it being spoiled but not worried enough to commit more to the game.
I really need to learn the names of the islands. The first island, I took care of all of the militia tanks and I believe we no longer have the two ground bombs to contend with. I do have another militia side quest with towers. They work for the Arkham Knight so it makes sense they have a slew of side quests of tanks, bombs, and signal towers. I think that’s everything I have going on at the moment. I bought Batgirl’s DLC and the 1989 Batman/Batmobile DLC, as well as downloaded all of the free items of other suits and Batmobile skins, as well as the avatars.
I’ve triple checked that there is no Calendar Man holiday trophies so that’s nice to know I haven’t foolishly missed out on a year’s worth of holidays. That was a lot of fun in Arkham City but I get them not continuing with that.
We have stumbled across a few Riddler trophies/riddles, my son isn’t great about not attacking the green highlighted thug nor interrogating him so I’ve missed out on three tips (not like I’m counting).
I keep trying to write my opinions on the Batmobile but I keep not doing it.
We got him the Arkham Knight Batmobile a long time ago, I just bought it as it had Batman and Hot Wheels and I’m trying to raise him, not specifically on comics but make him aware of those superheroes. If I had a Local Comic Shop, I would love to get him comics and into that hobby but we live in a world where cartoons, television series, and movies are a thing, so he’s aware of so many of them. So he’s a big fan of Batman, which makes sense.
After playing the game and driving the Batmobile around, the design of it triggered my memory and I started looking for it, he has quite the collection of Batmobiles once I got them all lined up.
I probably could have arranged it so the black vehicles were not on the black part of the carpet. The purple car is a regular car but I’ve always referred to it as Joker’s car so it had to be included and the light blue one is Bruce Wayne’s car. My favorite has to be the 90s Animated Batmobile. It is so sleek!
So that was my first interaction with the Batmobile. It reminds me of the Nolan Batmobile where it is more tank than car. Which I’m fine with as it makes sense and has that certain cool factor about it.
The driving of it feels no different than say Grand Theft Auto V, which is saying a lot, as it just feels like you are driving a regular car. I feel horrible when I crash into buildings or I watch a cute four year old crash into buildings and anything else on his way to wherever he’s going. Battle mode is cool, and I’m finally getting a hang of using the Vulcan gun and the rockets and trying to build up my special attacks with the missiles.
Arkham Knight, outside of the Ace Chemical building, kept destroying the Batmobile while he was in his fighter jet, so I had to update its defense but besides that, I haven’t updated the Batmobile nor Batman or any of the gadgets. I’m just keeping all of those points for when the game requires me to upgrade certain items, or I can’t make any more progress as I keep dying. I know I need to update the batrangs to three batrangs, I should upgrade so I can do combos at five hits instead of eight and get disruptors for Riddler clues but all of that can come naturally. I just learned my lesson from Asylum and I know better than to do upgrades as I want to do them, as the game has other intentions and it takes a bit to level up.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 