I’ve seen a few people doing this here, they recap their hobbies and interests, what they’re reading, watching, listening to etc. and I thought it’d be cool to do something similar. I got sick of talking about my life in my retrospective blog ‘Growing Up Geek’, but I think talking about what I’m into is the kind of non-personal thing that I could get into and people could relate.

I’ve got nothing but time free time and I always seem to be consuming something, so, every month I will recap what I’m into at the time. Now don’t get me wrong, in no world do I think I’m cool enough to be this kind of person, but I’ve got nothing better to do, so for now this is what I will be putting out.

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I have been clinging onto physical media for a while now. I got rid of most of my DVD’s (I had a lot) but kept what I absolutely couldn’t part with, which are sitting in a box in storage. This left me in a kind of limbo where I was too stubborn to re buy what I had on DVD, digitally. But time wore me down and I found myself buying movies once again on youtube. ‘Only the essentials’ I said to myself, so over the past few years I have built up a small but respectable library of movies again that for the most part, I am quite happy with.

This preamble is that no matter how many times you watch a movie on repeat, it will eventually get old. So, I broke down and started finally watching Netflix this year, and I have found it quite enjoyable.

This is some of what I have been watching.

On repeat: Next Friday. Kill Bill vol 1.

These two have been on my most wanted list since I stopped watching my DVD’s. They’re two of my favourite that I have seen an ungodly amount, and I have come to like having them on the 2^nd screen while I do other stuff.

One-time Views:

Kill Bill vol 2

Whisper of the Heart

Birdie The Mighty

Marriage Story

Superbad

Adventure Time seasons 1-4

Atlanta (I’m up to season 3)

There are more that I can’t remember off the top of my head, but this is basically it, movie wise.

I tend to watch the same stuff over and over again, so don’t be surprised in future posts that ‘On Repeat’ becomes a reoccurring thing.

Edit/ I have also started watching WWE events starting from 1997. I am only watching the pay per views as watching Raw’s and Smackdowns would take too long. I am up to 1998 Royal Rumble.

It’s a real nostalgia trip as I grew up as a teen watching the attitude era.

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Video Games were once a huge part of my life which I can’t seem to let go of.

Fighting Games, Shoot em up’s, JRPG’s, and World of Warcraft are some of what I dip into when I get the urge to play them again.

I mostly enjoy retro and rarely play anything new.

Currently I am in the habit of buying games on steam just to let them go unplayed. Until my nephew finds them and reminds me that I have them, then I kick him off and start playing until he leaves then I abandon and forget about them again.

Current games:

Suikoden. Gate Rune and Dunan Unification War remaster.

I love Suikoden. I will never forget this game and playing it as a teen. I never really read much as a teen but I played a lot of JRPG’s, and reading the stories in them were a big part of my inspiration as a writer, Suikoden being one of the big influences.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

This games is another JRPG which comes from the creator of Suikoden. I remember being excited about the kickstarter for this game but never backed it because I got badly burned when I back a different game there. This time I waited for it to be complete before I bought it.

Pampas and Seline: Maze of Demons.

I stumbled across this game while browsing the season special on steam. It’s retro adventure platforming style with rpg elements sold me and I got a pretty good deal. I really want to make time to give this game a fair shot.

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I have a huge backlog of comics and manga that seems to be ever growing. As of this post I have ordered Tank Chair vol 3, and Santos Sisters from Fantagraphics, which I am excited for. I still have yet to read Tank Chair vol 2 but I want to get on that before vol 3 arrives.

I found Tank Chair to be a weird premise that the mangaka makes work surprisingly well. An ex-assassin is catatonic and wheel chair bound and only has moments of lucidity when his sister is in mortal danger. This sets the stage for all sorts other assassins from the guy’s past returning to try get even with him. The character designs are great and the art is gorgeous which brings all the action to life amazingly. Recommended read.

Also, recently I have been searching out any and all Magical Girl vol 1 manga. I have found a few that are on my TBR pile which I am prioritizing because I am getting ready to write a new Magical Girl OVA script. I already have a script that I kept in the recent purge on my substack. I have been dreaming up a story for a while now and I am getting ready to start outlining if I could just get over this bout of procrastination.

I am interested in the tropes that go into Magical Girl stories and what makes them Magical Girl stories so I am seeing what other authors have done in the past to see what ideas I might come up with, kind of like a Grant Morrison approach (I’m not putting myself in the same league lol).

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As for cool places that I hang out, well, I hate to say this, but I am basically a shut in. I don’t watch new movies so I don’t go to the theatre, I don’t go to concerts, I don’t go to bars and like to drink alone occasionally. All my friends have started their own families and they’re always busy. The most I venture out of my house for is the art museum, and the anime/comic Conventions that come up two to three times a year.

There’s an anime convention this April so if I remember I will talk about that in the next quarterly update.

Edit/ I also go to a writer’s group fairly close by. And I am also waiting to see if I am accepted into a screenwriting workshop that runs monthly for 6 month’s. It’s pretty far away though and I have no clue how I’m going to get there yet; I may have to withdraw but I really want to do it.

That’s it for the first edition of ‘he’s back on the couch’. See you again next month.