Crap, I forgot to write about November

Low effort post incoming

We got a 3D printer

My wife and I treated ourselves to an early Christmas gift and purchased a Bambu Lab A1 mini 3D printer. And then after two weeks we were obsessed and ended up purchasing the upgraded model, the A1.

So far, we’ve printed objects ranging from extremely useful to utterly pointless but cool, nonetheless. My favorite print so far has been a drinking mug that holds one standard can of beverage but also doubles as a dice tower. I printed it in faux-wood filament and plan on painting the accents at some point.

My wife also designed some really cool bird drink coasters that I was able to turn into print models. I think her plan is going to be to sell them at local art markets, so follow her on Instagram if you want to find out how to get some.

What I watched

Frankenstein

Enjoyed this one quite a bit. The production design was tremendous, as should be expected from del Toro, but the way the story was presented and acted was a bit too over-the-top for me.

The Amateur

Please don’t make me look at Rami Malek for this long ever again.

The Toxic Avenger (remake/reboot)

The humor vacillated between some genuinely chuckle-worthy bits and some of the cringiest shit I’ve ever seen. Overall, a good time that is probably best enjoyed by a room packed with drunk people.

Shelby Oaks

The found-footage opening act was intriguing, if not a little bit hokey, but the back half is just boring and does absolutely nothing new or noteworthy. Total snoozer.

What I read

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

A very clever series of intertwining stories revolving around a series of drawings that ended up being more procedural thriller than horror. The way everything ended up tying together was extremely satisfying.

The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Phillip Fracassi

People are dying at the old folks’ home! But these causes are anything but natural and are instead the work of a serial killer. It’s a pretty standard slasher flair with a unique perspective, but the ending was extremely unsatisfying.

The Divine Farce by Michael S. A. Graziano

Three people are forced to live together smashed into a concrete stall. My desire for answers faded as this one went on and by the end, I didn’t really care at all. It’s way more philosophical than this dummy can comprehend.

What I played

Quarriors

This is a dice-rolling game that I owned once-upon-a-time that I grew kind of disillusioned with and sold. Years later, my friend breaks it out at a game day and I think I’ve fallen back in like with it. The main gist of the game is that it’s a “bag builder” where you roll a personal stash of dice to accrue currency to purchase more dice and score points by sending them out into battle (and having them survive until your next turn).

The art is iffy and the game’s sense of humor is a bit on par with 2006 myspace, which is probably why I dropped it to begin with. Despite this, it’s kind of the perfect filler game where you just get to chuck a bunch of dice and cheer or sob according to the outcome. Good times, good times.

Brass: Birmingham

I’ve gone on record numerous times as saying that this is probably my favorite board game in my collection, but it had been maybe three or four years since I had last played it. Maybe I’m just easily influenced by BoardGameGeek having it at the top of the community’s list as well.

At its core, Brass (Birmingham flavor) is an economic route-building game where you create networks of material depots and factories. The game is built upon the crippling idea that resources are scarce, and you’ll likely never be able to do what you really want to do.

Resources you create are communal, and if someone is connected to your network, they’re free to use them as they wish. Thankfully, when one of your stashes are depleted, the depot flips and scores you points and/or income. It’s a bittersweet feeling when someone takes that last cube off of your iron works knowing that you get rewarded, but your plans to use that cube have been thwarted. It’s this interplay between players and resources that I think is at the core of my infatuation with this game.

What I listened to

Pretty much the same crap as last month.