Nik

Bonus Podcast Package | Weekly Manga Recap Get more from Weekly Manga Recap on Patreon

Hey all! I have some expensive events coming up, and have put together a package of podcasts on Patreon to help me offset those costs.

It's available here for just $5, and you get five bonus podcasts and an incredible piece of art from @dirtynerdygirly.bsky.social (18+ feed).

YouTube video by Napalm Records PERSEFONE - Katabasis (Official Video) | Napalm Records

#MulticulturalMetalMonday week 7: Andorra 🇦🇩

Andorra is one of the smallest nations in Europe, with a population of less than 90,000. One of the biggest musical acts from the nation, period, is prog metal band Persefone.

youtu.be/rSlYrbibiD4

YouTube video by Nishaiar Nishaiar Igewanda

Forgot to post #MulticulturalMetalMonday because I was wiped out yesterday.

Week 6: Ethiopia 🇪🇹

Nishaiar's music is strange and engrossing, ambient black metal with elements of shamanic music that combine to make something almost hypnotic.

youtu.be/AExcC3BriQ8

A ★★★½ review of Brave (2012) Brave has two problems: other Pixar films already exist, and more importantly, The Little Mermaid already exists. Most of the film is fun and engaging and funny. It's all visually beautiful almost all...

The problem with Brave, ultimately, is that we're supposed to see Merida and her mother as equally to blame for the rift that forms between them, but one of them is a parent with full control of her daughter's life.

letterboxd.com/nikftime/fil...

YouTube video by Dream Of Fire Dream Of Fire - "Dream Of Fire" (Music Video)

#MulticulturalMetalMonday week 5: Costa Rica 🇨🇷

Honestly got choice paralysis from this one. Hundreds of small metal acts have uploaded their songs online, but at the same time none of the really big acts seriously appealed to me. In the end I decided to go with Dream of Fire: youtu.be/6gHx173AbEk

KURENAI

NI SOMATTA

KONO ORE WO...!

Israel has been accused of rigging the televote in order to boost its entries, to serve as a form of propaganda on an international stage. It really shouldn't have taken so long for people to start taking these measures.

YouTube video by Sanctuary Golgota Sanctuary Golgota - BRANI (Official Music Video)

#MulticulturalMetalMonday week 4: Timor-Leste, aka East Timor 🇹🇱

Sanctuary Golgota isn't to my usual taste for metal, but it's fun to see bands that metal growl in other languages - in this case, Tetum.

youtu.be/VjrQSAko_8Y

My viking heritage entitles me to say that neither of you dipshits are getting in.

YouTube video by Kokros Records Sons of Solomon - New Beginning (Audio Official)

Slightly belated #MulticulturalMetalMonday week 3: Solomon Islands 🇸🇧

An Oceanian archipelago with a population of about 750,000, the nation recently produced metalcore band Sons of Solomon. If they ever actually record an album, I will absolutely buy it, because damn.

youtu.be/CpIYsBtdLAw

We've had ten theatrically released Spider-Man movies this century, and the only appearance of Felicia Hardy was as Harry's secretary in ASM2. And I don't even know if her name was mentioned on screen.

So, yeah, I'll second this motion.

"I'm never going to finish this video idea I had, so I might as well turn it into a topic for a WMR bonus episode."

(I have to read a 500-page non-fiction book in preparation for the eventual discussion.)

"HOW COULD ME DO THIS TO ME!?"

YouTube video by Madjera Madjera - Masqueraded (Official Video)

This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to learn from this little venture. Thrash metal isn't exactly my favorite subgenre, but damn if my life isn't a little brighter knowing about this band.

Also here's a song I liked from a much lesser-known act, Madjera.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NPU...

YouTube video by Slave to Sirens Official Slave To Sirens - Salomé (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

#MulticulturalMetalMonday week 2: Lebanon 🇱🇧

It turns out that Lebanon has no shortage of metal bands, but the hottest act out of the nation right now is the queer all-female thrash group Slave to Sirens.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaZd...

Monaco isn't exactly known as a breeding ground for metal. The most famous band is Godkiller, whose music I wasn't really able to get into. Metal Archives lists five bands as forming in Monaco, and none of them have released an original album in over a decade.

YouTube video by Josie Frost is Adl Black knight symfonia - Ancestral torments - 04 Pegasus

Going to try doing a small thing for my own amusement:

MULTICULTURAL METAL MONDAY

Every week I'm going to try to find a metal act from a different country.

The one that came up on the random country picker this week was Monaco 🇲🇨 so here's Black Knight Symfonia:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd8d...

A ★★½ review of Chico & Rita (2010) So Chico and Rita are kind of awful for each other. Two artists constantly pining for each other when they're apart, but who then do everything wrong in the brief moments they're together, don't come ...

I dunno man I just don't like jazz that much.

letterboxd.com/nikftime/fil...

No Star Wars film has disappointed me more. I at least knew going in that Rise of Skywalker was probably going to be bad.

I've seen a lot of people claim it's the best Star Wars film and, respectfully, I think they're all crazy.

Also the Death Star's weakness being intentional is a stupid retcon.

This is an actual thing that actually happens in an official one-shot spinoff by the original creators of Death Note.

I don't know what the hell is going on with the sound production on Kaiju No. 8 S2. It's like there are literally audio tracks missing for multiple sequences. It's insanely distracting for intense action scenes to sound so quiet, it's like they're hollow.

The spaghetti scene from Lady & the Tramp takes on a different context when you realize the restauranteurs don't know animals are sentient.

They put on this fancy dinner for two random dogs and try to get them to bone, presumably because it's 1909 and TV doesn't exist yet so they're bored as fuck.

I find it hilarious that one of the most important creators in the history of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise happens to share names with a wrestler who would poke people in the throat with fake metal fingers.

(Takashi Iizuka)

Ravi is not feeling well, and we're quite worried about him right now. Very low appetite, and blood work at the vet shows he has a low white blood cell count. Hoping the medication they gave us improves his appetite.

There's one Riddle where you have to utilize the Batmobile's EMP and a specific use of the line launcher to solve it, and I literally never used either of those throughout the entirety of my playthrough otherwise. Incredibly frustrating, and showed off how bad player conditioning in that game is.

For the main campaign of the game, this is fine. I didn't have a problem with the tank combat. But it feels awkward and utterly stupid to be tied to a tank for a fucking Riddle hunt. Like I'm not solving puzzles, I'm just figuring out how to find a way to drive my car to an awkward position.

You have a TON of abilities you can use throughout the entire game, and you barely need any of them most of the time, because you can just summon the Batmobile instead of directly engaging with the obstacle you're presented with. It makes your arsenal feel redundant.

The implementation of skill- and gadget-based challenges are, for the most part, replaced with "use the Batmobile to do something," which is, at least, representative of the playing experience of the ENTIRE game.

And then there's Arkham Knight. Which I am more fond of than a lot of people are, but the Riddle hunt is absolutely a major step down. Too many trophies just lying out in the open where the entire challenge is "have them show up on your map." Felt really thrown in.

I also played Arkham Origins for the first time in this run and Jesus, that game is fucking broken. Cutscenes not triggering, enemies not spawning in the right place, the glue grenade didn't form on water in one area until I walked away and came back. I did NOT 100% the game, and never will.