Vivianne talks about her favorite band’s new album release and an unexpected way she found meaning in it. I’m a huge fan of Haken. They’re a huuuge musical inspiration for me. I really enjoy the musical landscapes they create, the vibes and stories they tell (I think their “Aquarius” album is the most queer cishet love story that exists). So I gotta say, I did not expect Haken to release a new…
Melanie's got a list of cool stuff for you I've got to enjoy so much good media lately. Diving in to stuff is always a risk, so it feels good when it's something you enjoy. So without too much of an intro, I hope you find some stuff here you like too.
Vivianne talks about a 3D Platformer game she played. If you know me, then you most likely know that as much as I talk about Rayman 2, I don’t really like that many 3D Platformers. I’m not interested in mechanical mastery, like Mario or Sonic, and I don’t really like platformers that are just collectathons. I want to discover a new world and have fun exploring it. So it’s been tough to find a game…
Of course Melanie went to the 4/20 Miku show I just got back from attending MIKU EXPO 2026 in Seattle on the night of 4/20. It’s not what you think. Or at least, there wasn’t a big weed presence as far as I could tell. What I did notice is that everyone had a bit they were committed to, from cosplaying as obscure Hatsune Miku memes, to bringing their own handmade Miku merch to give away to other…
Every once and a while Melanie likes to surprise Vivianne with a shared document we can both type in that we then format to look like a chat conversation. Today is one of those whiles. Melanie: Welcome in Vivianne. Before you are three items: a DVD copy of Gigli, a colander, and a pack of Gushers chewy fruit candy. Choose your weapon. Vivianne: A weapon for what? But also I feel like I can get a…
Vivianne felt compelled to talk about Death Stranding 2 after starting another playthrough. Those who know me, know that I like Metal Gear Solid. I also really enjoyed Death Stranding 1, which not many people did. I don’t think it’s worth worshipping Kojima as an auteur (I’m not gonna get into that here), but I’d say his studio still got the juice. I decided to revisit DS2 now that the PC version…
Vivianne ponders why things are fun. If you press a key on a piano, to play a single note on its own, like a C, it might not mean anything on it’s own. But if you add a G, to make a chord, and play that, it now feels different, right? The addition of a chord not only makes the note sound different, but because you played a C before, it also feels differently than if you didn’t play it.
Melanie enjoys learning about the country her wife is from Growing up, I watched a lot of TV Land back when TV Land played shows from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. This meant that my only exposure to Poland was through Archie Bunker’s Pollack jokes at Meathead’s expense (RIP, Rob Reiner and Carroll O'Connor). It’s not a great way to learn about Polish people. I’ve pretty much had to rely on my wife…
Melanie is hooked on Pokopia I like the amount of games coming out recently that aren’t entirely new concepts, but are massive game play experience improvements on formulas we already love. Hytale of course being the previous example, having improved on Minecraft in many ways. But now we got Pokemon entering the Minecraft and Animal Crossing-like scene. The game borrows so much from Animal…
Melanie recaps her month, mental health struggles, and where she found some joy I had my yearly physical in January, and at the end I asked my doctor if maybe I should try another anti-anxiety medication, since I've been on my current one for 15 or so years. Without any hesitation they recommended another pill that I could "hot swap" to without tapering or having any side effects. A week after…
Melanie appreciates their cat, Kitty Pryde. Kitty Pryde, a 12 year-old mixed tabby, was born on the mean streets of San Francisco. Once the fourth chairman of an organized cat crime syndicate, she was known as The Lion of The Dogpatch.
Vivianne talks about the new official FL Studio tutorial that frankly rules, Adam Neely’s video essay, GenAI and Bandcamp Friday (I swear it’s all related). Chances are we’re both pretty tired of the generative AI slop on the internet. I recently watched Adam Neely’s video essay on GenAI Music and “the Bad Future”. It was honestly quite a sobering watch, and the future of recorded music is…
Welcome back to the X-Men, Melanie… Hope you survive the experience! When I was getting in to comics, Marvel was getting in to the “well if we don’t own the film rights, we might as well kill it” era of X-Men. I had a huge history of X-Men comics to read through and there were still some X-Men comics coming out that were a lot of fun. By the time 2020 rolled around I was done with western comics.
Melanie and Vivianne share what’s been going on.
I’ve been going down some rabbit holes on the internet (primarily YouTube) and I figured I’d share some links I found interesting.
Apropos of nothing, Melanie wants to share some YouTube channels she likes. We need a break from all the exhausting shit going on these days, so I thought I might recommend some YouTube channels that help keep me going while I’m going through it.
Melanie has been having a great time playing Hytale It sucks to always be compared to the same thing, but judging by Hytale’s history I don’t think they are going to escape the comparison to Minecraft. It’s been in the works for over a decade. It was briefly made for Minecraft, but that ended after Minecraft changed their license agreement. It was briefly acquired by Riot Games, but thankfully…
Welcome back to Melanie’s recurring segment: Hatsune Miku Fun Facts. While Hatsune Miku’s birthday is August 31st 2007, March 9th, 3/9, is known as Miku Day. You might be wondering...
Vivianne finds a way to spice up her future Metroid Prime playthroughs with Randovania. I watched BashPrime’s video about the Grand Abyss in Metroid Prime 2 during christmas break, and he finished it by mentioning Metroid Prime is not only a fun speedgame but also fun to play with a randomizer. That caught my attention, because let’s be honest, when you replay Metroid Prime, you’re not really…
Melanie plays her first Dragon Quest game, even though it’s just the demo. It’s cold. There’s ice out. No better time to stay in and curl up with some RPGs like now. I just finished playing Paper Mario and The Thousand Year Door and just slid right over into the demo for the new Dragon Quest VII re-imagining. I’m really enjoying it. The diorama art style looks great on the Nintendo Switch 2. I…
Melanie: Hey Vivianne, thanks for joining me. I just wanted to check in and ask how things are going. How has it been blogging with me? Do you have any...
Melanie complains about the few ads she does see. I don’t see a lot of ads but I do come across ads in videos on YouTube that should not have made it through any sort of review. And yeah, you should be vetting your advertisers. A paycheck is a paycheck, but c’mon you need to have some standards. This list is non-exhaustive and doesn’t include obviously harmful ads like those for gambling. If…
Melanie follows through on her threat in The Introduction I was having fun and enjoying my time leisurely exploring the world of Metroid Prime 4. I’ve played bits of the first 3 games, but never completed them. So when defeating the final boss deleted my progress I was devastated. Does it try to warn you? Yeah, but it didn’t quite make sense to me coming from the Like a Dragon games. Could I do…
Vivianne shares SynaMax’s new video about what was one of the earliest musical performance rhythm games. Also talks a bit about his work researching Metroid Prime music, because it’s relevant...
Melanie writes about Breadcrumbs: Coming of Age in Post-Soviet Poland by Kasia Babis Breadcrumbs was on my list of books to read, but I never expected I would find a copy at a local bookstore. I guess that’s why that particular bookstore is called “the best comic shop in the world.” Vivianne is Polish and she has shown me Kasia Babis’s English-language YouTube channel. I don’t know much about…