Obligatory July Post

Guess I don't have a lot of time left in July, do I?

What to say? Hm... I finally got on the Stranger Things bandwagon (a couple of years late). Damn that's a brilliant show! Both seasons were fantastic!

Read "Paradox Bound" by Peter Clines. I've grown disenchanted with time travel stories over the years, but this one was a damn fun read. Clines is easily one of my favorite authors these days.

And I think I'm ending July by catching a cold. Headache and body ache has started my Tuesday. I think I may take a sick day. Ugh.

June is almost gone? Huh

Well shit. Time sure flies!

What to say about June...

• I saw Deadpool 2. Rocked! I almost passed out laughing in parts. I'm 73% certain that alcohol had nothing to do with why some of those scenes were so funny to me.
• Read and finished Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. Brilliant fantasy novel! Takes the whole "adventuring party" trope in the best possible direction.
• Read and finished Brief Cases by Jim Butcher. God, I miss the Dresden Files books!
• Worked too much. My brain is a cooked mess. This new job is brutal in some ways.
• Probably drank to much. Meh.

Odds and Ends

• I'm about 2/3 through Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. Great stuff!
• I'm looking at an awful lot of unpainted miniatures on a table. Sigh.
• Recently visited York in north England. That was a damn fun town! They have a bit of a Harry Potter fetish thing going on that's a bit weird, though.
• Related: I think I need to cut back on the beer consumption.
• Gonna be a weird year.

Avengers: Infinity War

Just saw it.

Wow. Just... wow.

I can't review it. Honestly, saying anything spoils it. Much asskickery. Much... wow. Deeply fucked ending. Nice post-credits teaser.

Review: Titaner Bolt Pen

Remember how I said I'd never back Kickstaters again? Remember how that was an utter lie? Yeah, that hasn't changed.

So I backed another titanium bolt-action pen, this time by Titaner, a titanium product merchant. The Titaner Bolt Pen is currently fighting with the GP 1945 for my favorite pen. A sturdy, solid, well-constructed pen of titanium (duh), the Titaner Bolt Pen has a unique bolt-action deployment that can be done one-handed by just twisting the cap. On the other end of the pen is a nice, unobtrusive glass-breaker for those "God, I really want to break some glass" moments that everyone has in their lives and, interestingly-enough, there's a little spike-pin tool hidden in the pen that can be used to release SIM cards from phones (or, I suppose, poke things like you might with a tiny pin).

Best of all, the Titaner Bolt Pen can take a variety of refills, from Fisher Space Pen refills to Scheider refills or what-have-you.

I have to say, I'm kinda leaning toward the Titaner Bolt Pen as my current favorite. The GP 1945 is an awesome pen, but I really do like the option of Fisher Space Pen refills.

Oh well. I can always carry both pens!

Review: Zombie Tools Apokatana and Zakasushi

I'm not even going to bother to explain the sequence of events that let me pull off getting both an Apokatana and a Zakashushi from the glorious mad geniuses of Zombie Tools. It's not really an exciting story.

What is exciting is that I have two new swords with leather sheaths for me to swing around my apartment and risk damage to furniture and my precious self.

I regret nothing.

The Apokatana is a brutal monster with a three-foot-plus blade and a long handle to counter the weight. It comes sharp and fierce-looking with the customary acid-etch of a ZT blade. The Zakasushi, it's Wakizashi-equivalent counterpart is shorter and lighter, with a blade that's not quite three feet long but is equally as sharp. Both blades look like something badass enough to make most anyone on the wrong end shit one's self in fear. Zombie Tools advertises their blades as "burly and sharp". They don't joke.

Already I've tried experimental Musashi swings with both blades (Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary Japanese swordsman, was famed for fighting with both katana and wakizashi). I have new respect for anyone who can do that with speed.

Both the Apokatana and the Zakasushi come with kydex sheaths. I opted to go for the leather sheath upgrades, but I have to say I find the kydex sheaths might be a better "fit" overall. For one thing, the kydex sheaths look badass, giving the blades a more ominous, cyberpunkish, look when sheathed. Also, the kydex sheathes fit tighter. Unlike the other leather sheaths I've obtained from Zombie Tools, the sheathes for the Apokatana and the Zakasushi are looser. The blades can potentially slip out easier (though be drawn quickly, so there's that). The sheaths are still gorgeous craftsmanship, though. I tend to leave the blades in the leather, purely for that reason.

Yup. These and actual sword training would actually have me ready for a zombie apocalypse. Maybe.

Review: "Pacific Rim: Uprising"

Holy shit!

So it's no secret that I love giant robots and giant monsters. I loved the original Pacific Rim. It was a movie that pleased me. There might have been some attempt at plot and acting in it, but I can't remember. It was a glorious slug-fest of robots and monsters kicking the shit out of one another in cities as people scrambled to get out of the way.

In short, it was perfect.



I just saw Pacific Rim: Uprising and I gotta say, the sequel may well be better!!!!



Set ten years after the first movie, Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), the son of Stacker Pentecost of the first film, is living as a thief and hustler who deals in Jaeger salvage tech. After a job goes awry, he meets young Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), a young prodigy who is building her own tiny Jaeger.

They manage to get arrested and are drafted into the Jaeger program - Amara as a cadet and Jake as a trainer. Turns out old Jake was a Ranger in the program but walked away.

Blah-blah character development blah-blah.

Meanwhile, there's a plan by the brilliant Liwen Shao (Tian Jing), assisted by Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) to replace the piloted Jaeger mechs with drone mechs.

Then everything goes horribly, horribly wrong.

Next thing you know, there's renegade Jaeger robots killing people (someone from the first movie bites it, much to my dismay) and treachery followed by the obligatory Kaiju attack. Then it's all Jaeger vs Kaiju action in an orgy of glorious destructive violence set in Tokyo.

Because of course, Tokyo.

There's other characters in the movie and subplots and such but that's all incidental.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is everything one wants and needs from a movie containing giant robot mechs and giant monsters. It's pure awesome bliss. Let no one tell you otherwise. It's currently holding the top spot as my favorite movie in the last couple of years. Fucking genius!