Well this year sucked.

 We don't need to get into why 2020 sucked, we all know why. 

However, I am going to be making videos again. And they will not suck as much as 2020. Because nothing could suck that much. So stay tuned.

"Alien" Sequel Idea

Alien is a franchise that started in the 70's. It has had two good movies, the first and second. The others aren't without their charm, but don't reach the same standard. My idea for a sequel is far different from what has come before, not a slasher movie in space, nor an action film. 

The movie would primarily take place in a Weyland-Yutani Corporation boardroom. In it we would see an executive laying out how much money and other resources have been wasted trying to get their hands on and research the Xenomorphs. Showing how many spaceships have been lost, how many families of dead crews they have had to pay off, how many research facilities have been destroyed, and importantly how they have nothing to show for all of it. 

It could get into how they initially had military funding for some of this, but they have pulled out for it seeming to be a dry hole.  How when they first started there Xenomorph projects they thought it would quickly yield military and consumer products, but has given nothing useful. How the medical angel mentioned briefly in the second movie has been a complete nonstarter. 

You could even have moments of levity, where other executives bring up various research facilities, only to have it pointed out they they have all been renders destroyed or unusable by the Xenomorphs. 

Perhaps this would be too dry for the average movie goer, but it would be something new and different for an old franchise. 

Mount Farming

I don't always play World of Warcraft. I played it when it was new, didn't much care for it. Many years passed. Didn't think much about it. Some friends of mine played, and I would hear about it usually rolling my eyes.Then sometime in 2012 a close friend of mine gave me an account with a  fairly large amount of playtime on it. I began to play, and found something in the game that interested me; mount collecting. 

So I saw the end of the Cataclysm expansion, and the beginning of Pandaria. The account ran out of time, and I didn't return till right before the next expansion would hit. This is where my mount collection got much bigger. 

The expansion, Warlords of Draenor, had two things about it that made it very friendly for my hobby. One it was a very friendly expansion for making new characters and getting them to max level. It was also a very easy to farm gold in due to the addition of Garrisons. So once a character was at max level you spent 5 min doing your garrison stuff, and then had free time.

So between lots of easy gold, and lack of much else to do, I was able to acquire most of the available mounts at the time. Mounts from old raids that have a 1% drop rate, not to hard to get when you run the old raid 10 time a week with all your alts. Mounts from 5 man instances, there again no problem, but even faster because you can run those every day. And of course the ones that you can just trade between players, that is where the garrison's gold comes in. It was a wonderful time. 

Then Legion came out. It was not friendly toward alternate characters. Nor was it a great from gold. So again I left. Came back just last month, friend gave me some time. Not sure if I will stay.

Just Complaining

My part of the world is shut down again. I never thought the world could be brought to a halt, but damn has it been. Not sure where it all ends. 

I personally am without a job at the moment. Given the current situation, not sure what kind I can find either. I am also very aware I am not alone in this. 

Not the first time I have been without steady employment. Its more the other things I miss. The gym is closed. Anywhere I might find a woman is closed. Can't eat at a restaurant, not even outside. 

Yeah, this has just been me complaining. Well... we have out title.

Thanksgiving Is Terrible

I remember as a child finding out I would have four days off in a row. It was because of Thanksgiving. This sounded good. Then I learned I would have to waste one of those days eating a bad meal and being around people I wanted nothing to do with, 

There were two options. There was the Grandmother that overcooked everything, and the other Grandmother that under-cooked everything. So you had a bone dry turkey, with stuffing that resembled toothpaste. Or you could get very sick for the rest of the long weekend. 

Regardless of which Grandmother I was forced to be at I was surrounded  relatives that wanted nothing to do with me. I had, and still have, no interest in sports. None of the cousins were in my age range either. So I tried to find isolation and light to play Game Boy. Which would lead to my father yelling about how I should try harder, and me pointing out that I did and there were no takers.

"Black Friday" was not a thing my family took part in when I was a child. Didn't know what it was until I my first job working as holiday help at Target. I enjoy some sales now, still hate the meal. 

Can We All Calm Down?

For the second time in recent memory I have an encounter with a hostile person while shopping. The details don't matter, I did my best not to escalate the situation. Having this happen again leads me to think that we all just need to calm down. 

The world is a very stressful place right now. The situation doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. So can we all just step back? Can we all just take a moment to think before flying off the handle?

The stress part is only going to get worse. We are heading into the holidays, and that is bad time for everyone I have ever meet. We got to avoid the plague, while trying to shop in large crowds, to buy things for people we mostly can't stand.

So before anyone chooses to engage, can we all just take a moment to ask if our issue really matters that much? 

The Market Value of a Soul

 What is the value of a soul? Is it effected by population? Is there soul inflation? What has a soul? Do the souls of different creatures have different values? Are they traded like commodity, or are they more like fine art, or something real estate?

Religions can vary a bit on what a soul is, and what might have one. Assuming humanity as a whole has souls, did any of our extinct relatives? Neanderthals could and did breed with humans, and had fertile offspring. So, I guess they had souls too. This leads me to ask, where the cut off for souls? What about homo erectus? Or homo hablis? Or any of the Australopithecus? The great apes? Gibbons? And are they worth the same as a modern human's? No way to know.

Does the value of the average soul go down over time? Population goes up overtime, so therefore the rarity of souls goes down. Does the rarity effect the value? When the world population was only a few hundred-thousand was a souls worth more than now when the population is over seven billion? Does that mean that over time the selling of souls has become a buyer's market?

Bad Times Shopping at Target

 So Sunday I am at Target. I was there because it was the start of a "buy two get one free"sale on video games, and I love both deals and video games. However things didn't go well. Not because of Target. 

I went to the Brea Target, as it is the closest to me that has a large electronics department.  It was earlier than I would usually be out, somewhere between 9 and 9:30 am. I look at the available games, and am ready to buy. However, there are no employs to be found. I wait a few minutes, still no one. So I go to the nearest price scanner, which is in the toy department, and press the button on it to summon an employ. It tells me to wait by the scanner. 

After a minute, a young man walks up, and before I can state my business, another costumer starts yelling that "that dude is creepy, you need to get him out of this store, I don't think my kids are safe", referring to me. I have had no interaction this person up to this point, and I do mean ever . I try to explain that I just need someone to open the game case, and he keeps screaming to the point security comes. 

The security guard come and listens and just laughs at the guy. Tells him he needs to go about his business, and uses his walkie talkie to try and get someone with a key for me. I wait buy the register in electronics. Meanwhile the screaming man keeps pacing back and forth staring at me. When someone with a key finally shows up, it is time for round two. He starts yelling again, "You need to understand you are creepy, and I am trying to protect me kids". I don't engage. I talk to the employ with the key and say "I don't know what this guy's deal is, I just want to get and pay for some games". He starts again, " Your creepy dude, you need to get out of here". Walking to the games "I don't know what his insecurity is, but can we hurry this up?". 

While getting my games, we now had to listen about to more. "I got no insecurities bro. Look at my wife. How fucking dare you". He finally left as we went back to the register. 

This was shockingly rude behavior from a man old enough to have grey hair, and two children with him. And honestly, that is the worst part, he did this in front of his kids. They have learn a lesson about how to treat people. One that will cause endless problems for so many people they will encounter. I don't know what about me set the man off.

Least likely characters to ever be in Smash Bros

Sure, more fighters are coming. However no matter how many they add some will just never make the cut.

Popeye. Nintendo has a lot of history with Popeye, he was launch title for Famicom. Somewhere along the way Nintendo lost the license to make Popeye games. So despite some history together, he will never join the fight. Shame too, as he could easily be an alternate for Little Mac.

Will from "Illusion of Gaia". Enix, when they were their own company, made a lot of interesting games. Most of which aren't much remembered today. This Zelda-like game is no exception. He had a flute and could take on the form of a boy, a knight, and a being made of blue flames. This could make for an interesting fighter, that will never be in Smash.

Any character from a Rockstar game. GTA, Bully, Manhunt, Red Dead, any of the protagonist could make for great fighters. Sadly Nintendo doesn't have much of a relationship with Rockstar, and likely never will. Seems odd the GTA game haven't made it to Switch, and it is too late for them to be on 3ds. Last time they had a game on a Nintendo console was Bully on the Wii. Guess that makes Jimmy Hopkins the most likely to show up, and that is still an extreme long shot.

Shodan. The antagonist of System Shock 1 and 2. While these games get more love today than they ever did when they came out, they are still rather niche. Also, not sure how you make an evil artificial intelligence into a fighter exactly.

Gordon Freeman. If Valve isn't going to do anything with him, what chance does Nintendo have?

Sekiro, Why?

Above is footage of my beating of the final boss of Sekiro.

I didn't enjoy this game very much. It is not a poorly made game, it is simply not what I am looking for. I went in looking for a souls-like game, and that is not what was on offer.

My biggest problem with the game is that it gives you no real options in how to play. You will always have the same weapon, you have a fairly limited move set, and there is no equipment or stats to play with. So every fight will be tapping two buttons, one that attacks, one that is used for defense. Making for a bland and repetitive experience. This also kills any replay value.

Having a melee centered game is not in itself a problem, Bloodborne was similarly melee focused but game you a wipe option of weapons to choose from all of which made you play differently. While every option was still melee combat, you still had a choices to make, power or speed, and it wasn't a binary choice as there were options that were in various parts of the middle.

A lack of stats and equipment really hold this game back. As the RPG elements of Dark Souls and Bloodborne are what make those games shine. That they are action focused games that still allow for a huge level of customization, and endless option for how to play. What armor works for you, do you use different pieces for different situations? Do you spend all your level ups to get a longer life bar, or do you focus on your attack, or on some other aspect entirely?

Do you like having the same experience over and over again? You can start the game over once you finish it, but it will be the same as before. The bosses will have a few more hit-points, and stronger attacks, but the way you will fight them will be the same, might just take a little longer this time.