Repeating myself
Another post so soon after the other? I am not partipating in Blaugust, but maybe the extra activity on my Neocities feed has inspired me anyway.
More visits from the Home Inspector
I've mentioned the Home Inspector on the blog before – he's a neighbouring cat who likes to come into my house and methodically snoop around the place. I didn't see him for a while but he's been by a lot this week.
The other day he saw me bringing the bins in and ran over so I could pet him, then demanded to be let into the house. Petting him outside is fine, apparently. Just not inside, because that's when he's working.
He has been hanging out for longer though. One night he came in while I was making dinner and just lay on the kitchen floor for a while. I definitely wasn't cooking anything a cat would want to eat, so maybe he just likes being here. It was nice to have the company. This is not a Cat Distribution System thing – I know where the Home Inspector lives and he's very well looked-after and loved – but I'm always happy for him to visit.
Getting so excited about having an animal in the house always makes me wonder if it's time to get another pet. It has been six months since the dog died and I definitely feel like there's an animal-shaped void in my life. If nothing else, I've realised that not walking a dog every day means I leave my house significantly less often, which is not great. On the other hand, even the idea of going to the rescue right now makes me want to cry, so I think it's all still a bit too raw. Give it time.
Bingo Brawlers is trashing my sleep schedule
I have this extremely deluded idea that I'm going to be in bed by 11pm every night. First it was the football World Cup ruining my plans, and now it's the new World Cup-themed season of Bingo Brawlers (also previously mentioned on the blog). I have no idea if anyone reading this is interested in Elden Ring or esports but I get obsessed with this every time. My partner and I usually watch a film while we eat dinner, so we inevitably end up putting the latest bingo match on after that, and then suddenly it's past midnight and I'm hyped up about some crazy Ancient Rauh synergy in column four.
The appeals of the Bingo Brawlers format are many: you've got a group of players who are all incredibly talented speedrunners, so it's impressive to watch them absolutely tear across the map and rinse through difficult bosses. But strategy is equally important. Any time a player marks a square, they have to consider what that tells their opponent – not just the line they're going for but also map progress, how much build setup they've done, how much time they committed to that square at the cost of working towards others. It's so satisfying to recognise what strategy a player is going for and then watch them execute it perfectly... or to see the other player also clock it, race to snipe a critical square and completely turn the match on its head. There are so many different levels to the game. That kind of board awareness is what separates the players who are simply incredibly good at playing Elden Ring from the players who are incredibly good at bingo.
I've heard some grumbles that this season's international format means the newcomers are mostly getting stomped by the North American players, many of which have been playing bingo for years and are now terrifying good at it. Which I can't entirely disagree with, but I can understand why Domo wants to mix it up every season, and it is fun to get some new blood. Plus you can always cheer for the underdogs! I do miss some of my faves being involved, but it's nice to see familiar faces turn up in the commentary box.
If this has inexplicably influenced you to watch some bingus, I recommend the NPT vs Vswed match. Absolute heater.
Music corner
I'm still deep in this summer's 90s UK dance hole. This week my most-listened-to album has been Casino Classics, which is a compilation of St Etienne remixes. This was a pretty random market stall buy a few weeks ago, but it turns out there's some great stuff on there. The Hybrid remix for "Boy is Crying" is definitely the highlight though. I can't get enough of it.
I snapped and put in an eBay order for some Basement Jaxx, Prodigy and Fatboy Slim. I've been waiting for Fat of the Land in particular to show up in a charity shop, which seemed inevitable because it sold a gazillion copies, but I guess nobody's getting rid of it.
I'll tell you what you can always find in the charity shops around me though: Robbie Williams. On any given rack, there is at least a 50% chance of there being a copy of Life thru a Lens. I haven't bought one yet. Despite his ape iteration living on my Tomodachi Life island, I don't actually really like the guy's music that much ("Rock DJ" is a guilty pleasure). I will ride for Better Man though.
Speaking of my Tomodachi Life miis, here's a song I like that just came out today: "Michael" by Rebecca Black. Wild move to write a song named after Lady Gaga's fiance about how you're gonna steal his girl. I respect it. Anyway I loved Salvation and I am very excited for her next album this October. Rebecca please tour in the UK again I beg of you!!
Check this stuff out
I've been debating whether to make a separate section on the website for random articles or videos or posts that I liked this week, but for now I'm just gonna start tacking them onto my blog posts.
- 📰 AI Mania is Eviscerating Global Decision Making – I purposely avoid workposting on here but oh boy did this resonate with me.
- 📰 How I Did the Animorphs Covers – These were the coolest thing in the world when I was 10. Maybe I should finally live my childhood dream and make my own.
- 📼 Johnny Depp's Bed – Another masterpiece of a diorama video from Bobby Fingers (who I also wrote about this week).
- 📼 The "death" of literature and the rise of Pale Fire – I often enjoy Man Carrying Thing's book videos more than his skits, and this might be one of my favourites – definitely does the book justice.