Now

What I'm currently doing, feeling, and thinking about...

Politics

Unfortunately, this is the topic in the US right now. It's a week until the election, I voted early last week, and I'm tired of stressing out about how close the presidential race is. I'm amazed at how normalized we've made the Orange Asshole and his deplorable agenda, shocked at how much support he has among people that pretend to be cordial and decent, and I'm sick of acting like it's just normal. I could double down and rant about religion's questionable place in all of this, but I'll save that for another time.

Less Spooky Stuff

This month I've watched a ton of scary movies. A few have been rewatches, a few more annual traditions; here are my ratings (out of ten) for most of them:

• Abigail: (7) Really wish I could have gone in without the reveal known, but good action and plot.
• Beach House: (6) First half was great (and disgusting), but it didn't really have anywhere to go—literally.
• Coherence: (9) Rewatch; great party horror and psychological exploration.
• Don't Move: (7) Consistently tense with some good twists, but found myself wanting something weirder.
• Hellraiser (2022): (8) Second act felt a bit forced, but a pretty solid remake overall.
• I Saw the TV Glow: (7) Weird, awkward, and yet pretty thought-provoking. Its open questions are interesting ones.
• It's What's Inside: (7) Clever party horror device idea, and managed to stay easy to follow. A few very illogical choices.
• Late Night with the Devil: (8) Cool concept and surprisingly good acting.
• Longlegs: (9) Consistently eerie, good pacing, and Nicolas Cage is perfectly creepy.
• No One Will Save You: (7) Aliens are fun.
• A Quiet Place: Day One: (5) Well acted and directed, just pretty bland though.
• Shadow in the Cloud: (6) I was pleasantly surprised by this one for the first half, then it got weirdly sappy and didn't answer some obvious questions.
• Talk to Me: (4) Meh party horror; good acting, direction, and ending, but third act felt aimless.
• Trap: (7) Kept a good pace, entertaining throughout, with classic Shyamalan awkwardness (that's a good thing IMO).
• V/H/S: (5) Rewatch; stand out segments: creepy siren, alien incubators.
• V/H/S/2: (4) Rewatch; stand outs: Indonesian cult, park zombies.
• V/H/S/Viral: (2) Rewatch; the Spanish parallel dimension segment is the only decent thing in this one.
• V/H/S/94: (4) Rewatch; stand outs: rat cult, weaponized vampires.
• V/H/S/99: (5) Rewatch; stand outs: burial hazing, gorgon neighbor.
• V/H/S/85: (7) Rewatch; stand outs: resurrection water, techno god.
• V/H/S/Beyond: (8) Stand outs: the stork, skydiving aliens, fur babies, stowaway.
• The Watchers: (5) First act feels really artificial, which is unfortunate since the broader story and ideas are pretty cool.

Lynchian Mysteries

I've also been rewatching Twin Peaks and made a few breakthroughs for my Lynchian noir RPG, Absurd Encounters. So far I've streamlined the mechanics, tightened up the core gameplay loop, spread out and balanced the playbooks, and written up a few chapters worth of GM tips and tools to help run it. You can find the first edition rules here to get an idea of the setting, but I'm hoping to start a season of the new version by the end of the year. I'll probably keep the rules free online until I can get artwork together and self publish it.

Last updated on October 31, 2024.