Retail Therapy
Hey there! It's been awhile, I know. But here I am, writing blogs again. This is based on me having a day to myself and going a) "Dude, new Usagi Yojimbo? Keys, stat." and then b) "You know what? Fuck it. I'm going to the record store." I'd been in a bit of a funk lately and this has, thankfully, shaken me out for the time being. Starting to feel more plugged in. Anyway, here's what I picked out and a review of each item:
Hiromi "Alive" (2014) *** and 3/4
This is the first album in a long time that I've actually sat down and listened to. I paid attention to all of it. And that's no small feat, given a run time of nearly 75 minutes. Nowadays, find 75 minutes to do anything. I dare you. And really focus on it too. That's not something that comes easy in the modern world.
But enough about that. This album is Hiromi's most solid effort to date, back to front. Every song is good. Every song sets its own mood. The only weakness, which is no fault of the album nor the artist, is you have to pay attention. If you just throw this album on in the background, it'll wind up being sonic wallpaper. "Alive" only works if you are focusing on the music and not fucking around with your phone or playing a video game or having a platitude-laden conversation at some hole in the wall. No. In those situations, the album is any other piano jazz album. But when you're driving alone, or vibing out in your bedroom, just listening to the music with no other distractions, then the album really shines.
Unfortunately, the chances of finding time to actually listen to this album again are slim to none. I guess I can take consolation in the memory of the experience.
The B-52's "Cosmic Thing" (1989) *** and 1/2
Perfect driving music, and the weather has been perfect to match. The only song I didn't really like was "Bushfire". The other nine are delectable. (Also: $0.99 because the first two songs are hella scratched.)
Jello Biafra "Spoken Word Album #4: Beyond The Valley Of The Gift Police" (1994) **
The case is cracked, this shit is almost three hours long, it's long-winded and tends towards sloganeering, but Jello Biafra is on point a good 70% of the time here. Some of it has been made irrelevant by 21 years of distance from the source material and circumstances, but hey, whatyagonnado?
Little Dragon "Nabuma Rubberband" (2014) *** and 1/3
Dreamy. At times a little too much so. I don't really care about tracks 4, 5 or 8, but other than that, this album is pretty good. (Of course, there are three songs on here that really push it into the stratosphere: "Klapp Klapp", "Paris" and "Killing Me". "Klapp Klapp" is especially fucking amazeballs.)
A box of Pocky ***
Being an anime fan from an early age, I got into Japanese candy too. For those that don't know, this is basically a box of chocolate-covered cookie sticks. Anytime I go to Lost World Of Wonders, I grab some for old time's sake. (At least they're a dollar cheaper than they were 10 years ago.) Still good.
Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 29: Two-Hundred Jizo ** and 2/3
Usagi Yojimbo is a series that has been spinning its wheels for years now, yet somehow has managed to remain entertaining. I don't read the comics, so when Usagi time rolls around each July (which is when the graphic novel collections are usually published) I get excited, in spite of the fact I know nothing major will probably happen for my $17.99 and annual wait. And that's fine, because Usagi Yojimbo has yet to be bad. Ever. The comics started when I was two and a half. I'm turning 34 soon. Even if nothing continues to happen, Stan Sakai's incredible batting average should be celebrated. And hell, it means you can jump into the world of Usagi Yojimbo with practically any volume.
This series is about Miyamoto Usagi, a wandering samurai (aka a Yojimbo) who just happens to be an anthropomorphized rabbit. He goes around seeking a life of peace, but is constantly thrust into adventures, wars, snares of intrigue and the like. This volume sees the return of recurring character Inspector Yoshida as he and Usagi try to bring a pair of brothers to justice for running a gang that terrorizes the folk of the countryside. But then while they have one brother in custody, someone kills him and the mystery is on.
Unfortunately, it's pretty easy to guess who did it. I almost feel like this is intended for a Y7 audience and I just haven't stopped reading it yet. Whatever. I still enjoy it.
---------------------------
This next section will read to non-Magic players like it is written in some kind of made-up language, which in a way it is. At best, it will be like trying to read A Clockwork Orange. Magic: The Gathering has its own supremely complex slang, so much so I can say a sentence like: "He tucks my Bob and swings for lethal, so in response I put five triggers on the stack, but bricked on all of 'em and was like 'GG's'." (A Magic player would call me out for not specifying what kind of triggers, but whatev.)
Point is, normal people don't say shit like that. You couldn't make a joke like "Those pants don't seem standard playable" to point out a fashion faux pas. Then again, a Magic player wouldn't give a shit about fashion, so again, whatev. Here's a rundown of a booster pack of cards I bought:
A pack of Magic: The Gathering, Khans Of Tarkir expansion (2014) ** and 2/3
The weird thing about this pack is that there's SIX LANDS IN IT. What is this, Revised? Not that I'm complaining, because other than in a Sealed event, when have you had four playables in a single booster? I wound up with the White/Black and Red/Blue common dual-lands, and the Temur and Jeskai tri-lands. In the same pack. There were only four boosters left in the box, and this whole thing is just real weird. Here's a rundown on what I got:
Tusked Colossodon
Your basic vanilla big guy. A maybe in limited, but worthless in standard or constructed.
Scaldkin
This is not a very good card in any environment. I mean, a four drop flyer in limited isn't the worst, and the 2 damage can be used in a pinch, but who would be excited to run this?
Scoured Barrens
A White/Black dual-land. Pretty functional in any deck that runs these two colors with the upside of incidental lifegain. What's not to like? Sure, it comes into play tapped, but if it didn't it would be worth $60 and be called Scrubland.
Archers' Parapet
A wall with an okay ability. Not something I'd run outside draft, but this can be a game changer in the right situation.
Krumar Bond-Kin
If not for the Morph ability, this would be the last pick in the pack. He even looks sad about it.
Kin-Tree Warden
Blocks well because of the regeneration, and the Morph is a plus, but it's not great.
Swiftwater Cliffs
A Red/Blue dual-land with incidental life gain. Its Revised edition counterpart that comes in untapped will run you $265. (For some reason, five of these cards are in the $200 to $300 range, and the other five are from $58 to $75. Go figure.) For comparison, Swiftwater Cliffs is only worth $0.15. ($0.13 for the Fate Reforged reprint.)
Smite The Monstrous
Strictly worse Reprisal. Seeing as Reprisal was reprinted in Journey Into Nyx, that means this only becomes worth playing when Theros block rotates out. Fine conditional removal in draft though. You take what you can get in that department, sometimes.
Bloodfire Mentor
So...an 0/5 that lets me rummage? If it Morphed, maybe. But I might even pick the Forest in this pack over this, so...no.
Frontier Bivouac
The Temur tri-land. Pretty helpful if you're playing a lot of colors.
War-Name Aspirant
Not bad for Agro. Definitely running this in draft.
Mystic Monastery
The Jeskai tri-land. See: Frontier Bivouac
Avalance Tusker
The Temur five-drop. The ability is one I don't ever really use, so a 6/4 in three different colors is not something I'm looking to run, even if I'm playing Temur.
Flavor Card
Sometimes this is a token, or a rules reminder card, but this time it details the story of Ugin, his work sealing the Eldrazi on Zendikar and how he was killed in a battle with Nicol Bolas centuries later.
Forest
Your basic green mana source. Can't run a green deck without it. (Unless...dredge? Mana rocks? Moxen? There's ways around it, but shit. It's a Forest. What do you want?)
Foil Mountain
Oooh, shiny!
And, finally:
A Family Sized bag of Lays potato chips **
Functional meal accompaniment that makes my ass fatter. Always playable in standard unless your running a diet sideboard, then your homebrew...goddammit.
Hiromi "Alive" (2014) *** and 3/4
This is the first album in a long time that I've actually sat down and listened to. I paid attention to all of it. And that's no small feat, given a run time of nearly 75 minutes. Nowadays, find 75 minutes to do anything. I dare you. And really focus on it too. That's not something that comes easy in the modern world.
But enough about that. This album is Hiromi's most solid effort to date, back to front. Every song is good. Every song sets its own mood. The only weakness, which is no fault of the album nor the artist, is you have to pay attention. If you just throw this album on in the background, it'll wind up being sonic wallpaper. "Alive" only works if you are focusing on the music and not fucking around with your phone or playing a video game or having a platitude-laden conversation at some hole in the wall. No. In those situations, the album is any other piano jazz album. But when you're driving alone, or vibing out in your bedroom, just listening to the music with no other distractions, then the album really shines.
Unfortunately, the chances of finding time to actually listen to this album again are slim to none. I guess I can take consolation in the memory of the experience.
The B-52's "Cosmic Thing" (1989) *** and 1/2
Perfect driving music, and the weather has been perfect to match. The only song I didn't really like was "Bushfire". The other nine are delectable. (Also: $0.99 because the first two songs are hella scratched.)
Jello Biafra "Spoken Word Album #4: Beyond The Valley Of The Gift Police" (1994) **
The case is cracked, this shit is almost three hours long, it's long-winded and tends towards sloganeering, but Jello Biafra is on point a good 70% of the time here. Some of it has been made irrelevant by 21 years of distance from the source material and circumstances, but hey, whatyagonnado?
Little Dragon "Nabuma Rubberband" (2014) *** and 1/3
Dreamy. At times a little too much so. I don't really care about tracks 4, 5 or 8, but other than that, this album is pretty good. (Of course, there are three songs on here that really push it into the stratosphere: "Klapp Klapp", "Paris" and "Killing Me". "Klapp Klapp" is especially fucking amazeballs.)
A box of Pocky ***
Being an anime fan from an early age, I got into Japanese candy too. For those that don't know, this is basically a box of chocolate-covered cookie sticks. Anytime I go to Lost World Of Wonders, I grab some for old time's sake. (At least they're a dollar cheaper than they were 10 years ago.) Still good.
Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 29: Two-Hundred Jizo ** and 2/3
Usagi Yojimbo is a series that has been spinning its wheels for years now, yet somehow has managed to remain entertaining. I don't read the comics, so when Usagi time rolls around each July (which is when the graphic novel collections are usually published) I get excited, in spite of the fact I know nothing major will probably happen for my $17.99 and annual wait. And that's fine, because Usagi Yojimbo has yet to be bad. Ever. The comics started when I was two and a half. I'm turning 34 soon. Even if nothing continues to happen, Stan Sakai's incredible batting average should be celebrated. And hell, it means you can jump into the world of Usagi Yojimbo with practically any volume.
This series is about Miyamoto Usagi, a wandering samurai (aka a Yojimbo) who just happens to be an anthropomorphized rabbit. He goes around seeking a life of peace, but is constantly thrust into adventures, wars, snares of intrigue and the like. This volume sees the return of recurring character Inspector Yoshida as he and Usagi try to bring a pair of brothers to justice for running a gang that terrorizes the folk of the countryside. But then while they have one brother in custody, someone kills him and the mystery is on.
Unfortunately, it's pretty easy to guess who did it. I almost feel like this is intended for a Y7 audience and I just haven't stopped reading it yet. Whatever. I still enjoy it.
---------------------------
This next section will read to non-Magic players like it is written in some kind of made-up language, which in a way it is. At best, it will be like trying to read A Clockwork Orange. Magic: The Gathering has its own supremely complex slang, so much so I can say a sentence like: "He tucks my Bob and swings for lethal, so in response I put five triggers on the stack, but bricked on all of 'em and was like 'GG's'." (A Magic player would call me out for not specifying what kind of triggers, but whatev.)
Point is, normal people don't say shit like that. You couldn't make a joke like "Those pants don't seem standard playable" to point out a fashion faux pas. Then again, a Magic player wouldn't give a shit about fashion, so again, whatev. Here's a rundown of a booster pack of cards I bought:
A pack of Magic: The Gathering, Khans Of Tarkir expansion (2014) ** and 2/3
The weird thing about this pack is that there's SIX LANDS IN IT. What is this, Revised? Not that I'm complaining, because other than in a Sealed event, when have you had four playables in a single booster? I wound up with the White/Black and Red/Blue common dual-lands, and the Temur and Jeskai tri-lands. In the same pack. There were only four boosters left in the box, and this whole thing is just real weird. Here's a rundown on what I got:
Tusked Colossodon
Your basic vanilla big guy. A maybe in limited, but worthless in standard or constructed.
Scaldkin
This is not a very good card in any environment. I mean, a four drop flyer in limited isn't the worst, and the 2 damage can be used in a pinch, but who would be excited to run this?
Scoured Barrens
A White/Black dual-land. Pretty functional in any deck that runs these two colors with the upside of incidental lifegain. What's not to like? Sure, it comes into play tapped, but if it didn't it would be worth $60 and be called Scrubland.
Archers' Parapet
A wall with an okay ability. Not something I'd run outside draft, but this can be a game changer in the right situation.
Krumar Bond-Kin
If not for the Morph ability, this would be the last pick in the pack. He even looks sad about it.
Kin-Tree Warden
Blocks well because of the regeneration, and the Morph is a plus, but it's not great.
Swiftwater Cliffs
A Red/Blue dual-land with incidental life gain. Its Revised edition counterpart that comes in untapped will run you $265. (For some reason, five of these cards are in the $200 to $300 range, and the other five are from $58 to $75. Go figure.) For comparison, Swiftwater Cliffs is only worth $0.15. ($0.13 for the Fate Reforged reprint.)
Smite The Monstrous
Strictly worse Reprisal. Seeing as Reprisal was reprinted in Journey Into Nyx, that means this only becomes worth playing when Theros block rotates out. Fine conditional removal in draft though. You take what you can get in that department, sometimes.
Bloodfire Mentor
So...an 0/5 that lets me rummage? If it Morphed, maybe. But I might even pick the Forest in this pack over this, so...no.
Frontier Bivouac
The Temur tri-land. Pretty helpful if you're playing a lot of colors.
War-Name Aspirant
Not bad for Agro. Definitely running this in draft.
Mystic Monastery
The Jeskai tri-land. See: Frontier Bivouac
Avalance Tusker
The Temur five-drop. The ability is one I don't ever really use, so a 6/4 in three different colors is not something I'm looking to run, even if I'm playing Temur.
Flavor Card
Sometimes this is a token, or a rules reminder card, but this time it details the story of Ugin, his work sealing the Eldrazi on Zendikar and how he was killed in a battle with Nicol Bolas centuries later.
Forest
Your basic green mana source. Can't run a green deck without it. (Unless...dredge? Mana rocks? Moxen? There's ways around it, but shit. It's a Forest. What do you want?)
Foil Mountain
Oooh, shiny!
And, finally:
A Family Sized bag of Lays potato chips **
Functional meal accompaniment that makes my ass fatter. Always playable in standard unless your running a diet sideboard, then your homebrew...goddammit.
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