Peter David’s run of X-Factor (any of them, really) is really great and I liked the detective agency angle that the third volume had.
. . .
I finally finished NBA 2K19’s prelude within the proper game and I’m finally a member of the Phoenix Suns. I haven’t played an actual game as a Sun, as I’ve been running around the Neighborhood earning trophies, but it feels nice to finally start feeling like I’m accomplishing something in the game. I then tried to do the story mode in MyGM and I was not ready for all of the reading. It definitely is 90% reading, so know that as you are going into it. I lost the Summer League bet as I thought I’ll take a chance an sim the tournament. We won the first round but lost the second so I didn’t earn that trophy and I just feel done with the game at the moment. I’ll probably jump back in eventually but a break is needed.
. . .
I picked up Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 again and that feels good to be completing story missions again. I finally unlocked all of Chronopolis, I haven’t explored everything yet but at least the green barriers are gone. I immediately went and completed the race to unlock Scarlet Spider and I did Spider-Ham’s mission to unlock him.
Apparently, we already had the x2 multiplier Gwenpoole pink brick, so I’m not sure when that happened. So all of that time I was saving 800,000 studs, I could have have had 1,600,000 studs if I had just turn that on from the beginning. I would have sworn that it wasn’t there earlier but that’s okay. I now see I can buy all of the multiplier ones, so I’m going to have to save up again to buy those but it should be easier once i get the x4 multiplier, which turns into an 8x multiplier as these bricks stack.
I also did Agent Venom’s sidemission to unlock him, which opened up my first Gwenpoole misison which is going to be the next thing I do in the game. That way we can earn Carnage and proper Venom. Then I have everyone I need to do the Free Play version of the level, so I might as well do that to unlock the Lizard.
I saw ahead that Carnom is an option to unlock after beating the symbiote main story mission. Carnom is the combination of Carnage and Venom, and Walker Dennis is going to lose his mind once he seems that as an option.
Walker Dennis really wants to get cut-in-half Spider-Man Deadpool so he’s currently saving his money for him. He saved up money to buy cut-in-half Peter Parker Venom so he’s maybe learning the value of a dollar.
Walker D also has saved up his dollars and bought Spider-Claus off of eBay.
So that’ll be coming to us from China and will be here around July 19.
Michael Rosenbaum concluded his two week Smallville run of episodes and listening to them all really made me want to watch some Smallville episodes. Now I’m hooked all over again! I asked on reddit for some Bottle Episodes, as I couldn’t remember any and got a few suggestions:
Season 5’s Lockdown
Season 6’s Static
Season 7’s Traveler
Not really bottle episodes but it gave me a start. I’m going to watch the one where Lionel and Clark switch bodies, Season Four’s Transference. I also snuck Season Two’s Precipice.
I’ll probably bounce around some more and watch more Lois episodes and maybe end on an Alicia Baker marathon of her three episodes.
Season Three’s Obsession
Season Four’s Unsafe and Pariah
She’s mentioned in two other episodes and as a photograph in two other episodes, so I might try those as well. I was also thinking of watching the six episodes Tom Welling directed as well. Michael Rosenbaum directed Season Six’s Freak, so I should add that to the list too.
I rather bounce around along themes instead of watching every episode. Or start with Season Four when Lois shows up but that’s still a lot of television to watch.
Erica Durance was so great as Lois as was Sarah Carter as Alicia.
PSPrices still doesn’t have a place holder for Kindom Come : Deliverance – Royal edition. Amazon is trying to sell the regular edition for $21.99, down from $40, which makes sense as they will want to move as many copies as possible prior to the upcoming edition comes out.
GameStop has Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition for $19.99, down from $50.
If I had the money and wasn’t knew deep into the Lego Marvel Superheroes 1 and with two full games to go, I’ll be super tempted to take advantage of all of these deals!
. . .
I haven’t had a chance to play Overcooked or What Remains of Edith Finch, Walker Dennis keeps wanting to unlock characters in Lego Marvel Superheroes 1 and I’ve been using that as an excuse to keep playing the game not at 11pm at night so that’s been nice. I just got us 150 Gold Bricks so we got Doctor Strange, who he really wanted. He really wants Deadpool so I need to get 175 Gold Bricks to unlock the second to last bonus mission (The Thrill of the Chess) and then 200 Gold Bricks to get the final bonus mission (Bro-tunheim) opened up. Once we have those two bonus missions, we have to get the last two Deadpool Red Bricks unlocked, and then we finally get Deadpool! So that’s going to take some time. I haven’t saved Stan Lee from Peril from the rest of the 14 story missions, I got the first level done at least, nor the mini kits, so that’s 28 Gold Bricks right there, so I can get to 175 easily. Then there are plenty of races and side missions to do, plus multiple Stan Lees to save on the world map, so I should be able to get 200 easily too. There is a total of 250 Gold Bricks, so it is just a matter of time but I’m thankful for the extra 50 gold bricks that, by that time, I would be committed to getting those last 50.
At least I’m getting better at the races, so that’s nice too. Still a few characters to unlock like Psylocke, Polaris, Mysterio, and various alternate costumes, and some Guardians of the Galaxy. So funny that the first game clearly came out prior to the first movie, so they are comic book accurate for the time instead of movie inspired. The first game came out in October 2013 and the first Guardians film came out in August 2014. Which knowing how movies are made, they probably had the costume designs ready way earlier but then again, Lego was probably working on the game up until July 2013 or so, with what we know of how games are made.
The free games for May 2019 are : What Remains of Edith Finch and Overcooked!
I’ve been wanting Edith Finch for so long so I’m thrilled to finally get to play it! I’ve seen PlayStation Access play Overcooked and it looks like a lot of fun too!
Edith Finch is one of the best walking sims out there and Overcooked is a four player coop game where players try to get meals out and not set the kitchen on fire.
PlayStation Access :
PlayStationGrenade :
Platinum Chasers :
I like how Adam and Ben are still commenting on the lack of games as we used to get six games and now we only get two. I’m part of the camp that wishes they added a VR game as a third title.
I’ll be pretty happy if they just found a few more crossbuy titles that used to work with the PS3 or the Vita and give those to us on the PS4.
. . .
Most of the discussions on the two subreddit pages I follow for this type of news are going on about the lack of quantity of games and the two games are being praised but they are both older games and relatively cheap on their own.
What Remains of Edith Finch is $19.99 and Overcooked is $16.99 but has a Gourmet edition for $19.99 that I imagine comes with The Lost Morsel, an add-on for $4.99. THere is a free The Festive Seasoning level that I’ve now downloaded.
So a overall value of $37, when sometimes it can be over $60.
The games are going to be available to download on Tuesday, May 7, and I can’t wait!
. . .
As Ben states in his video, neither game as a platinum trophy, which seems unfortunate to pair the games together. I think that is one of the other annoyances people have, is that both games are indie titles so one game being offered in May and the other in June, would have been nice for some people. Some speculation is being written about how, even though Sony is skipping E3, we might get some stellar games for June. Time will tell.
Since neither game has a platinum, I think neither of them gets a proper playstationtrophies.org page but on the forum, both are represented.
Of the 11 trophies, I’m going to commit to three of them, for sure. Play a versus mode game, extinguish a burning kitchen, and complete the tutorial. It’ll be nice to get the other ones, which the bulk seems to be, get one star in at least one kitchen per five hub worlds.
I’m going to see if my beautiful wife and Walker Dennis will want to play with me, if not, I’m going to have to solo the game but I should be able to at least do those three trophies on my own. I’m going to be attempting this game first.
This is the game I’m going to 100%, for sure. There are seven missable trophies but reading the descriptions, it seems like just knowing which story you are in, check the guide real fast, and make sure you accomplish the goal. It doesn’t seem like any of the trophies’ descriptions spoil the plot. At least, I don’t feel like I have any proper context but time will tell.
Apparently, during a second playthrough, most of the trophies can be obtained except for finding the first peephole which is to the left of the garage on the fence as we approach the house for the first time. We don’t ever get a second opportunity to do that, so if you are trying to get all nine peepholes and 1 telescope. Which, stuff like that, is the reason why I look at trophy guides. Never too closely, as I’m mostly just looking for the word “missable.”
. . .
Walker Dennis and I earned our 18th Platinum!
The first Lego Movie is so good and so many mechanics were used in Lego Dimensions so it just felt comfortable.
I went out the very next day and bought the Lego Marvel Collection! At first, I was going to be an old fuddy duddy and only let Walker Dennis and myself play one game at a time. Then I warmed up to the idea of just completing the story and then allowing us to move on to the second game. Then Walker Dennis’ big brown eyes and hearing myself say it for a fifth time, I agreed to playing the games until we got Spider-Man unlocked. Which it took a long long time before we could access the open world in Lego Avengers. With the game, the Spider-Man DLC is free, but we didn’t have access to the blue terminals that have the option to switch characters, until after the fifth mission, Helicarrier Havoc. We’re four percent done with that game. Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 is pretty quick and it only took two missions and we had Spider-Man, who is freely given.
Going to the individual games’ PlayStation Store pages, we still had the option to buy the DLC, which made me suspect we didn’t get a code for the season passes but once we could open the character page, all of the DLC characters were on the bottom but I checked all three times. It would have been nice, since once you load the disc, we had to individually download each game, so it would have been nice that the prices on the store page changed from the dollar value to the download option. That would have given me some peace of mind.
So I’m cool with whatever game Walker Dennis wants to play, he can play but at night, I’ve been doing one mission of Lego Marvel Superheros 1 and I’m currently just passed the X-Men mission and the Fantastic Four one is next. Which I’m excited about as that means I can defeat 100 enemies using the Thing, as that’s one of the trophies. I’m not sure if I’m going to platinum any of these games as they are massive! I’ll definitely strive to do so but ooof, there are a lot of characters and gold bricks floating about. Plus, those races are pretty hard! I can’t seem to get a feel for webslinging either.
I’m so happy we got Scarlet Spider in Lego Avengers and I know there is a race to unlock him in Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 that once I can, I’ll commit time to unlocking him. Spider-Ham is also an option in 2 so I’ll have to get him there too.
1 has Emma Frost and I made a point to do two missions from Professor X to unlock her, and then I did a third mission to unlock him as well. I sought out Archangel so I now have all of the original X-Men. I’m having a blast!
Playing Lego Avengers makes me want to rewatch the first two Avengers movies. We sold our copy of the first one to upgrade to a digital copy but we haven’t done that so I might have to pull the trigger as that movie was fun to replay. We have Age of Ultron on BluRay but I’m tempted to buy that through VUDU as well. I’m just ready to stop buying physical movies and buy everything through VUDU but then VUDU still doesn’t get all of the special features so here I am buying the combo packs just for the digital copy and a few extra materials.
. . .
My plan is to play one level of Lego Marvel Superheroes 1 and then play Batman The Enemy Within until 11:30pm, and then play until I get to another save point. Which I’ve been able to do for the most part. Last night, I finished the X-Men level, so I went around gathering all of the X-Men I could and unlocking Carnage as I’ve been waiting to get Iceman to unlock Carnage. Walker Dennis turned on the game, and I wanted him to buy Carnage, Superior Spider-Man and a Symbiote Hazmat fellow. Which he did but we went from 1.5 million studs to less than 150,000 studs in a matter of seconds as he started unlocking everybody.
On my list of characters I want in the first game are:
Agent Coulson, for the trophy
The Lizard, Walker got the first Amazing Spider-Man movie for Easter – and Hop – so he’s in a real Lizard mode, he calls him Dr. Connors, which I love)
Howard the Duck, also for the trophy, it is the last one listed and I’m obsessed!
Magneto, he’s needed for so many items in Free Play
Scarlet Spider isn’t an option. I would have held off for Colossus until the very end but he was needed for the Fastball Special trophy so I bought him. I wish they would make a Lego X-Men game, it would be awesome and super cute!
Anyway, this section was supposed to be about Batman : The Enemy Within! I’m in Episode Three and Catwoman showed up! So I want to romance her like crazy as Bruce is going through some stuff. Harley wants to flirt with Bruce but Joker’s man crush on Wayne makes me try to flirt with Harley but keep pushing Joker to keep him happy. I read a great article in GameInformer on how Episode Five is essentially a compilation of our choices so it really depends on everything we’ve done during the four other episodes.
Thanks to finishing the second episode, I’ve finally reached my Gaming Goal of 2019 by reaching Player Level 15, I’m 6% into it, and I have 18 Platinums, 102 Gold Trophies, 355 Silver Trophies, and 1163 Bronze Trophies, for a total of 1638.
. . .
Apparently there is a really great deal going on right now on the PlayStation Store. I saw something about villains spotlight but nothing jumped out at me but PSPrices makes the deal look very worth checking out!
Zero Escape : Zero Time Dilemma is $7.99 for PS+ subscribers, down from $40, and I might actually buy that as that’s my Vita white whale!
Witcher 3 Complete Edition is $14.99, down from $50 (though I rarely ever see it at full price now)
Lego City Undercover is $8.99, down from $30
Batman : Return to Arkham is $7.99, down from $20, if I wasn’t knee deep into three games and a Batman game, I would it now, but I probably would once it is eight dollars again.
Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition is $20 at GameStop, and I love how PSPrices tells us retail sales as well!
Lego DC Super-Villains Deluxe Edition is $44.99, down from $74.99, I wonder if that includes the latest batch of characters like the Phastasm and the Shazam characters?
Kingdom Come : Deliverance is $13.53 on Amazon! Is that right? Looks like it is sold out right now. In fact, there is a Royal Edition coming out on June 11 for $40, so I need to change my version on PSPrices once they have a link for it.
Injustice 2 Legendary Edition is also $30 at Gamestop, down from $60, but this is another game that is usually on sale too.
Batman : Arkham Knight Season Pass continues to be solid at $20, one day it’ll dip to eight dollars, then I shall strike!
I got to add Lego Marvel Collection to my . . . collection so that’s one less game! I’ll be taking off What Remains of Edith Finch in a week, so that’s exciting too!
I’m looking at Zero Escape : Zero Time Dilemma and it is stating it is a cross-buy title?! Was that always the case?! How did I miss it then?! So many questions! I had the Vita version hearted through the store but I’m going to take a chance on buying the PS4 copy and I hope I end up with both! Alright, that means I now only have 49 games on my wishlist!
Shoot, it only registers as the PS4 version and the Vita version is still available to buy, that stinks but at least I can think that I own it too. I wonder if I should reach out to customer support and get the Vita version?
I’m chatting with Joseph of Customer Support right now. He couldn’t make the came crossbuy and now it sort of killed my enthusiasm for ever getting that game or any of the other Vita games I missed out on. Plus, I was never going to get a Vita. Once if that day ever came, I’ll reignite my desire for them. At least I got a refund out of it.
It is the first two chapters of the volume. Sean Wang is the writer and artist.
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TRIGGER WARNING!!!
AVENGERS ENDGAME DESCRIPTIONS AHEAD!!!
I actually got to watch Avengers Endgame! I don’t want to spoil anything as I was able to avoid all spoilers so I don’t want to spoil someone else’s good time but I think I can make some comments without giving away any real plot points but I have some thoughts I need to get out of my head.
So if you don’t want any spoilers or hints of spoilers, this is the final section so there isn’t anything else read, so come back once you have seen the film!
First of all, this movie is amazing! My wife complained almost immediately as we got outside, that she thought he movie was too long, like like 20 minutes, so that killed some of my buzz to talk more about the film. So we talked about how all of the third act needed to stay, but there were parts in the beginning that probably could have been trimmed or even during the quest portion of the second act that could have been parred down. I thought it was amazing, like, every minute of it, so I wouldn’t have wanted to shorten anything but it was a fun thought exercise.
We took Walker as he did pretty well watching Infinity War on Netflix. He ate too much popcorn and had too much of a Coke Icee so I had to leave two times in the beginning of the film so he can attempt to throw up but nothing came of it. I knew his belly would settle if he stopped eating, and after the second attempt, he sat in his seat and enjoyed the film.
He waited so patiently until Spider-Man showed up, which I don’t think anyone expected for him not to show up, or any of the vanished heroes, so I don’t think that’s a real spoiler (in case someone is trying to read these paragraphs until a real big spoiler shows up – I’ve done it that in the past as reader).
I like how, once the portal opens, there is a good beat of time before Spider-Man swings out, and then Walker would not stop talking about Peter Parker. He also started commenting on wanting to buy the movie, which I told him I really want it too. But he was so excited. Then there were non-Spider-Man moments that he just wanted Spider-Man to come back, so that wasn’t great but once he’s on the screen, he’s in the film and the center of focus.
I loved how, with how epic that final battle was, there is always time for a hug and what a great hug at that!
This entire movie was a celebration of 22 films and ten years of Marvel movie magic! Well, Endgame is the 22nd film so a celebration of 21 films!
As soon as Sam said, “On your left” I don’t think I stopped smiling for the next ten minutes.
Then the ladies all had a moment, that I’m sure someone is going to make posters of and screenshots of, once the film has been out for a month. I appropriated so much how the marketing campaign was so nice to avoid spoilers. Heck, even the Lego sets didn’t spoil anything. Captain America never got on a motorcycle and Iron Man never went to a room that housed all of his suits.
The Avengers Compound shows up, and that would be the one I’ll be tempted to buy if it wasn’t a hundred dollars. War Machine never gets a giant Hulkbuster sized suit. Rocket’s ship is shown but never does anyone ever get into a giant white plane, so of the five sets, only one is in the film. Not for long though, once Thanos shows up, but still, it is there.
The fact that all of Infinity War mattered as amazing! I thought for sure, the last five minutes wouldn’t matter but nope, everything happened and everyone has to deal with that.
Okay, now I have to spoil somethings to talk about some things. So final final warning!
I think most people know there is a time cut, and there is. Five years have passed since Infinity War. Earth has not really moved on. There are monuments with names like the Vietnam War memorial in San Francisco that I can only imagine are represented in every major city, if not every city probably did the same. I wonder if those come down post-movie as it would be haunting to see one’s name on a wall for all time. Plus, ever the first anniversary, they served their purpose and are taking up valuable real estate.
Also, high school reunions have be crazy right? Teenagers are back, half of their friends graduated and then you have to be replaced in your grade and now graduating with half the people you don’t even know. Also, half of your friends are five years older than you too. Except it seems all of Peter Parker’s supporting crew are in Spider-Man : Far From Home, so that whole class of recognizable characters vanished. Which is handy for film purposes. I wonder how much of that film is going to handle the ramifications of the world, probably just a few lines of dialogue.
I missed the line about Tony losing oxygen and we got a fun interactions with him and Nebula. For the life of me, I can’t remember what happened in the two minutes we missed the second time. It was during Black Widow’s debriefing scene.
Thanks to the time travel aspects, we got to revisit some favorite scenes. Which was so amazing to see again from a different angle! Also, so fun all of the movie titles being said and how they all got it wrong. The movie sort of handles it like how Marvel comics handles time travel. What happened happen, and if you change something, it just creates a new timeline so the present will always be the present.
I had to look it up and that is Ty Simpkins’ character, Harley Keener, from Iron Man 3, at the end. So nice how they paid homage to the first Iron Man film as this film closes an entire saga. It helps that Jon Favreau is a director and an actor, and super willing to be in these films. It probably also helps that he’s directing Lion King so Disney has his phone number.
I wonder what phase four will bring and what the overall plot focus will be. Perhaps an epic Doctor Doom plot or just Galactus coming? We have to be working towards Fantastic Four and the X-Men being folded in, right?
Heck, this movie gave us a Hail Hydra! So amazing! And America’s Ass! Captain America can do this all day! I must have been grinning so hard during long sections of the film.
We got two amazing parent scenes, with one’s mother and another’s father. Having a child really does put one’s own parents in a different perspective. Might be worst or better but an understanding does occur. There’s a nice balance, as all things should be.
This movie even went as far as to try to make Thor : Dark World matter! Which I would say is by far the worst Marvel movie, even the Earth portions were not great.
Thor : Dark World will be on the top of my ranking of the films. By a lot! But gosh, look at all of those films, all of them are pretty rewatchable! Which is super impressive and the cast of actors we get in this films are astonishing!
I love that if an actor had a free day to film, they got to be in the movie.
We still haven’t seen Captain Marvel but I’m hoping to sneak it in before it leaves theaters.
I was able to text old friend to the blog, and my oldest friend, Greg, some of my thoughts so that was nice to talk to someone about the movie who also loved the film.
He made a comment about the homeless problem probably skyrocketed but I wrote back how with half the population gone, they probably became homefull.
I was on a track about identity fraud and how my chances of being accounted for, even though I vanished, I would still come back five years later to all of my debt still intact, knowing my luck. It would be like 911 times a hundred.
Does Manifest actually get into the minute details of being gone for five years and definitely being declared dead?
Thor was amazing in the film!
They found a way to keep Loki alive that is super clever and the plot to find Gamora is probably going to be the basis of Guardians 3. I love that they got a new team member, the reuniting of Groot and Rocket was super nice too.
Cap back in the 70s, so great! Cap in the finale, was so heartbreaking and beautiful. I love how Agent Carter : Agent of SHIELD mattered with original Jarvis being shown. No hard references to Agents of SHIELD or the Netflix shows, from what I could tell.
There are all of these news reports to a Black Widow movie and I want that to happen too but I’m not sure how. I knew it was going to be her to take the soul stone.
When Thanos’ missiles were firing into the sky, I had forgotten about Captain Marvel and I thought we were about to get a crazy entrance but it was great to see her. Peter Parker introducing himself to her was amazing, as Walker always refers to him as “Peter Parker” so having the name said by both characters made him so happy.
Greg was wondering if the line about earthquakes was a hint to Namor which would have been cool. Otherwise, it was just a line of dialogue for dialogue’s sake.
I imagine besides lines of dialogue, the time jump and real world ramifications are not going to be reference again. Maybe that would be the plot or the backbone to the Disney+ shows.
We knew Hulk was going to be an Avenger as we saw the Pop Vinyl character.
Okay okay, now we’re getting into major major spoilers territory!
oh my! We finally got “Avengers Assemble!” and it was everything I ever wanted! Then we got Captain America holding Mjolnir! I was so happy!
Fun how we got two more Community alums added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Yvette Nicole Brown (who looks like she lost a lot of weight!) and Ken Jeong.
When they were in the 70s, there is this great song by “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” by Harry James and his Orchestra that I just loved the old timiness of it. Apparently, it is their cover to a 1945 song.
Nice to see Hiroyuki Sanada in the film, he was Shingen Yashida in The Wolverine and Akihiko in the film.
The film has a great balance of comedy and drama, and so many people and characters got a moment to shine. They definitely got their moneys worth from Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. Both get such wonderful sendoffs.
We even got Gwyneth Paltrow in the Rescue armor! So many things paid off from previous films.
I know it won’t take any awards besides MTV and Teen Awards and a few technical awards but it really does deserve to be acknowledged next year. Not like it matters but it’ll be nice for the box art.
We really need A Time to Die Hard now!
Just overall, I loved the movie and I want to see it again but I won’t until I own it.
Next stop will be Spider-Man : Far From Home but I can’t imagine we’ll watch it July 5 opening weekend.
This world no longer has Dennis Lee Brannman to kick around!
My father-in-law passed away on April 20, 2019, and I just can’t stop thinking about him. He had Alzheimer’s Disease so he wasn’t himself for the past six or so years. Those first years, were not bad, as it seemed like he was a tad slow on the uptake.
The very first time I ever spoke with him, I was standing in Yuma, Arizona, and he was on the phone in Helena, Montana. My late sister-in-law and her then husband had eloped so I had this big plan to make sure we got married and I was going to ask his permission to marry his youngest daughter. Of course, it was a bigger moment in my head and I had it originally planned completely different.
That summer, it must have been 2007, my future wife was going to spend the summer in Helena and I was originally planned to come up with her and drive back with her. I used Greyhound to come back and to go up there by myself. Secretly, I also had the plan to propose to her on her birthday. Dennis was supposed to be Helena at that time, and I was going to meet him and tell him my intentions. Instead, he had to work longer in Miles City so he didn’t come home until the week after I left.
But I had already planned this silly speech in my head and I also needed to make sure her mother was okay with me staying there during that week. I was still calling her Mrs. Brannman at this stage, which I would continue to do so until like a year ago. Now I just don’t address her by name or I call her Leslie and I feel awkward about it. Anyway, that’s my own dumb hangup about the formality of titles.
I knew he was home but I wasn’t prepared to have that chat with him that day so I waited another day while I knew Kristie was going to be working at Power Townsend so I knew she wouldn’t answer the house line. I called and Dennis answered and I had to super awkwardly introduce himself and quickly spurted out that I would like to marry his daughter and I was getting his permission to do so.
He was nice enough to say that he wasn’t sure how she felt and it would be up to her but if I wanted to, I could ask her. Which made me think that maybe asking for one’s daughter’s hand was only a thing in old movies or television series but with that encouragement, I booked tickets to fly to Helena.
We never got a chance to talk about that exchange nor have I really ever heard anyone talk about it so maybe he just hung up the phone and went on with his day and I briefly told the story to Kristie but that was that.
We eventually met and I’m a pretty different guy than he was. Him being a good ol’ Montana man, served in the Navy, was still working on boilers, he hunted and was super Catholic. I was slowly becoming Catholic and only ever really worked in office environments besides a few summer gigs painting houses. I fractured my right elbow in high school so military service was not an option, though I would have liked to have served at least one tour in the Army, to follow in my mother’s boots.
Dennis and I got along pretty well, I mostly let him talk and try to tell some jokes. It was a polite relationship and I’m sure he was thrilled with both son-in-laws that he was given and neither of us were much like him.
. . .
The other memory I cherish was the first time we really hung out on our own. He had some errands to run and invited me to tag along. I dove at the opportunity to try to impress him with my wit. I’m sure the invite was supposed to be a kind gesture that I was supposed to turn down but that’s what happens when you a take a chance on inviting someone. At this time, he was resorting to writing down notes for himself, which was clearly the Alzheimer’s slowly coming on so that taints the memory in hindsight. But I was there, he told me the plan, and then we went out to run the errands. So he’ll say something like “well, that’s that, let’s go home” and then I would have to remind him we had two more stops to make, he’ll thank me, and then we headed to the next place. Then we’ll repeat that conversation and I’ll tell him we had one more stop. Good times and he would retell the story and I was pretty useful that day.
. . .
He was a staunch Republican, and got me to join the Knights of Columbus. Kristie was still pregnant at the time and I only really attended two meetings. Then Walker Dennis came along and I just got busy and never really went back to the Knights. We gave Walker her father’s first name as his middle name. As soon as she told me that’s what she wanted, I was all for it.
On that morning of his death, Walker Dennis woke up at 2:30am and asked to sleep with Kristie. We were there to bury her grandmother, and there was a chance Dennis wasn’t going to hold out for our return. We sincerely hoped he would make it a few more days but with Alzheimer’s, one never knows and it is such a horrible disease that the person is like a shell of who they used to be. So at least he’s in heaven as a complete person again. So Walker woke up, we switched beds. and then thirty minutes later, Kristie’s sister Dawn called. If Walker hadn’t woken up, Kristie probably would have either missed the call or would have been still waking up to hear the news. Instead, she was pretty alert and prepared. We like to think that was Dennis’ way of saying goodbye to his namesake.
Walker and him got along pretty well. Even those last months, Dennis would instinctively call him Curtis, so he at least remembered his middle grandson, which was always nice to hear him make a connection.
You will be missed Dennis! Thank you for continuing to be a great example of being a loving father and supportive husband. I can only hope to continue in your footsteps.
Ms. Marvel (2015 – 2019) # 1
Shang-Chi : Master of Kung Fu (2009) # 1
Marvel 1602 # 1
I’m not sure what these three have in common at all but I’ve at least read 1602. As I type this, I supposed I could actually read these comics and then give a quick sentence review but maybe next time. 1602 was pretty fun, it probably shouldn’t have been promoted as heavily as it was for what the story turned out to be but it is a fun re-imagining of the original Marvel characters worked into the Elizabethan era.
. . .
I have also earned my 17th Platinum with Polygonal Wolf’s Drowning.
The PlayStation Store was having an Easter sale and I had the thought to myself that whenever there is a sale, and I have the funds, I should just treat myself to the cheapest game and that’s how I came across Drowning. I gave it a lot of thought.
It seemed more confusing than straightforward but the game sounded interesting.
I saw WarisacryGameClips’ review :
and I realized I’m doing a lot of work to decide if I was willing to spend two dollars on a relatively short game.
So purchased it and looked forward to playing it once we were back from Hawthorne, Nevada.
Once I got home, I checked rus199410’s platinum run of the game :
Thanks to both of those YouTubers for hosting such great videos.
I couldn’t believe it was that easy of a platinum and it made the guide make sense too. I had a pretty fun time with the game. I understood what “low-poly environment” meant only after experiencing the game. It looks much better on the PS4 than in videos.
The game has some fun collectibles (like five of them) and some silly trophy things like attempting to walk off a bridge a several times. Once I saw in the second video that there was a trophy for merely starting a new game, I was both excited but also wondering if this would be a shameful platinum or even game on my game list but I really had a good time with the game.
The game is about depression, just to finally come out to say it, and now that I’m writing this, realizing I’m not ending on the high fun note I thought I was going to. The story seems very personal but at the same time, pretty vague. There is an alternate ending with people around a campfire that I’m pretty sure I understand but I wouldn’t have minded getting more information about.
The game looks great, tells an interesting story, and you’ll be completely done with it in an hour. Which felt good to play and beat a game, not in just one sitting, but to successfully complete a game. That was a reward all to itself.
Drowning is typically $2.99 so I only saved a dollar. There is also an avatar for only a dollar, but I didn’t purchase it.
This was also my first “walking simulator” game and I enjoyed it so I should look into other walking sims to play.
Slant’s list includes SOMA and Witness, which I’ve played, and Life is Strange and its prequel, which I own. I should move that game up my list and I should finish SOMA. Witness, I really should commit more than 30 minutes to playing. Detroit : Become Human doesn’t seem like that would fit but I’ll give that a playthrough once I finish Beyond : Two Souls. Heavy Rain is also featured on the list. Those games seem more like TellTale story games along with Until Dawn, and I wouldn’t consider those games strictly walking sims like how I believe the next list of games are mostly like.
Firewatch, Journey, Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Abzu, What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, are all on my wishlist already with Ethan Carter being the most recent addition.
I hadn’t heard of Night in the Woods before, nor Layers of Fear, The Observer, Ether One, or Perception. It makes sense that walking sims and horror games would work together.
. . .
The Bridge was also on sale and I didn’t even remember it being a free PS Plus game back in October 2018. It was a pretty interesting game. I’m only on the third chapter but after needing three YouTube videos for three of the puzzles, I was concern I was just going to watch the videos and burn through the game and that felt cheap so I’m putting the game on the backburner for now.
Thanks to EliteMonkeyGaming for hosting the videos, the short run time made me realized how silly it was to watch a video but I was legit stuck on them.
II – IV, The Pillars
II – V, The Mausoleum
II – V, The Memorial
Watching this videos, reminded me that I also needed help with I – VI, The Nook.
So I ended up needing help with four puzzles which didn’t bode well for me for Chapters 3 and 4 and what I can tell from the trophy list, the Mirror versions of those four chapters.
I’ll come back to this one of these days, probably during the next sale and I see that I have the option to redownload it again.
. . .
I’m currently making my way through Lego Movie’s first game. I just have four of the five manuals in Broadcast News and three of the five in Bricksburg Under Attack, and then I’ll have all of the golden manuals! From there, I’ll let Walker Dennis build the Golden Instruction Builds, he’s already made three of the 15, then once he’s done, we will earn both the Midas Touch trophy, the Everything is Awesome 100% completion trophy, and finally, The Piece of Resistance, the platinum trophy! Feels good to be at least days away from earning it, or whenever he wants to complete it, I suppose. I can patiently wait and it gives him something to do in the game.
What I really want is to buy the Lego Marvel Collection now on Amazon for $40, down from $60! I wished I knew how long this sale is going to last. I imagine it is on sale because of Avengers : Endgame but I know the game is $40 so I can wait until it is at least $40 again.
I haven’t seen the above Lego Spider-Man Far From Home set, which is what I’ve been holding onto my $40 for but it has been burning in my pocket for a few days now. I can’t seem to find a reliable source that states when it is on sale. The game is out July 5th and Amazon says it will be available on April 30, which is a Tuesday and I can see that being accurate. Before, I’ve seen April 26, Friday, as an option, which I can see that being a possibility too, but I can wait a few more days to see what happens on the 30th.
Which reminds me, I still need to get a ten dollar PlayStation card so I can get back up over $20.
After I get myself set up for the Lego Movie plat, I’m fully committing to Batman : The Enemy Within and from there, I have some deciding to do.
The crossover, like many modern crossovers, had some issues but I really enjoyed it.
I thought I owned a copy of X-Men Gold 1 but I only own issues 13 and 30, due to Lockheed’s appearances. Looks like the first issue has a nice recap on Kitty Pryde’s origins and has some excellent Paul Smith panels and Lockheed is in a few of those so I should try to get a physical copy of it for my collection. Maybe when we go to Kelly’s Komix in Great Falls for Free Comic Book Day on May 4.
Go get those free comics! A savings of $7.96!
Funny how Blue doesn’t have an end date as I thought it was ending when Gold ended but maybe they haven’t updated that information just yet in their database.
Now that my comics are in the same building I live in, I’m super tempted to get back into reviewing comics again, I even found my scanner but I’m not sure it still works. I do miss comics, especially new ones but I’ve been so out of the game that I’m not sure if I’ve been out for too long. Comic Book Queers Legacy still gets me hyped for current X-Men comics so I know Marvel is still producing quality there but it has been so many years that it’ll take a lot to catch up. But maybe I’ll just not catch up and just review old comics. Something to think about at least.
I really wish they would include the Free Comic Book Day comics, maybe not on May 4th (be with you) but like a month later, for those who don’t have a local comic shop or an event near them. I plan on taking Walker Dennis to Great Falls to Kelly’s Komix.
We usually end up there weeks later and they are still handing out free comics so I’m hoping we can get there on the day and enjoy the event like we should. There’s no place in Helena that hosts an event now that Hastings is gone. I was hoping the library or White Knight, the game store in town, would host an event but they don’t. I believe the Lewis and Clark Library at least tries to showcase their comic book section on the day but that’s about it.
Great falls is a three hours round trip so we’ll probably hit the mall and see what else is happening that day. The roads should be better by then.
Apparently Marvel just released The Merry X-Men Holiday Special so I’ll look for that while I’m there. Well, cover dated February 2019, so it probably (and hopefully) came out in December.
I also checked Ultimate Kitty Pryde’s chronological list :
She hasn’t appeared since Ultimate End 5. I thought there was a chance she’ll get a mention in a Miles Morales comic as they were teammates in the All New Ultimates.
. . .
The theme of these free comics (I’m not sure if there always is a theme) is related to Hulu’s recently announced new show :
That’s right, Dazzler is coming to animation again! She’s joining Howard the Duck, Tigra, Hit-Monkey and MODOK! They are the Offenders! I’ll probably the show a proper chance.
Solider X, I actually read and recall it being pretty good. The art is rough by Igor Kordey but that’s what the title required with its realistic take on war. I remember liking the supporting team of Irene Merryweather (skin change and all) and Spider-Man’s Robbie Robertson being added as well.
At least as of X-Men Gold 9, she was elected to Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives.
. . .
No real gaming updates. I’ve downloaded all of Hitman Season One, I had to quit the prologue and downloaded the rest of the chapters within the game as well as the legacy pack. I haven’t started the Hitman 2 demo to see if I can play One in Two but I believe I have all of the parts necessary but I’ll confirm that tonight.
We’ve been grabbing minikits in Lego Dimensions and having a good time there.
I threw five dollars for the preorder of Lego Movie 2 at GameStop so we can get the special Emmet and Stuck Star set.
Walker Dennis is super excited and probably just pay for the whole thing next payday. He knows it is an Easter present so he should be chill about the wait time. Well, as chill as any five year old that knows a present is coming but I hope he sort of forgets about it.
So this might mean we are done with buying Lego Dimensions items if he can move onto the next game. I’m not sure if I’m ready to move yet but I could easily be ready for it as well. There are several other Lego games I want to get. It could be fun to get a new (but not to us) game after getting the Platinum in a game. The GameStop clerk told me that there will be an upcoming collection of Marvel Avengers, Superheroes 1 and 2, which I can only imagine will cost way too much, especially as the Deluxe Edition of Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 is still a $75 game.
That’s the one I want but I also wouldn’t mind buying Avengers, playing the heck out of that one and seeing the latest game come down in price as time goes by. Lego games are massive time sinks which is what makes them so much fun.
In Spider-Man PS4, I got to play for a little bit, and I’ve decided I’m just going to do the main missions, and not even bother with the towers or anything else, unless I come directly across the tower or the crime. I really like how not having the towers activated means the map has holes in it. The police don’t bother me and crime still shows up as a red dot. I think I’ve done two of them, thus far. I’ll probably have to go back and do the Financial District as that’s where the Ghostbusters house is but I’ll wait until Walker Dennis tells me he wants to check that out.
In the game, we just celebrated Aunt May’s five hear at FEAST and I’ve met Mary Jane and the Demons, so I have a very long way to go.
My plan is to take a slight break from Spider-Man to try out the free PS Plus February games, I just have to find the time to do it.
Angela : Queen of Hel (2015-2016) # 1
Doomwar 1 of 6
New Invaders (2004-2005) # 1
I’ve read Doomwar and the first issue was pretty good from what I remember.
A savings of $5.97 so that isn’t bad.
Also, just “Add all to cart” and you’ll save yourself having to click page after page of comics looking for items to add instead of read. Seems like only Marvel ever adds anything new, which I appreciate.
Get them now, they might be up for another week but one never knows.
I’m not sure if these were free last week or two days ago but I’m pretty sure Marvel offers up free comics only once a month now instead of once a week. I haven’t found an article that states this outright but I’m going to start tracking this.
These three comics are up for grabs!
Fantastic Four 570, Hickman’s first Fantastic Four Comic
New Avengers 1, bold new team! The original number one.
