September was a busy month! Lots going on in work and life. I've come down with some sort of throat infection which is part of why this is a bit alter than usual, I'm on the mend now but still feeling pretty crap and will unfortunately miss tonight's Autocorrebt & Friends show. 🥲

I was at a few gigs the details of which you'll find in the Music section of this post. I was at a few Dublin Fringe shows which will be covered in the Theare section.

I've been doing a good job of keeping a regular diary and its working well for me. The process of writing down how I'm thinking about things helps me solidify my opinions better and writing about what I've been up to makes me very appreciative of the life I have. I recommend keeping a diary.

I've been continuing to work on a first person stealth game idea I have, there's now a pretty nice movement system in place that allows sliding, hiding, mantling etc. and works well with the level geometry without the need for helpers which was satisfying to figure out.

I tried out Jumon a new vegetarian restaurant. I recommend it. Also had a vegetarian Sunday Roast in The Legal Eagle which was as good as I remember it being.

Autocorrebt performed at Cobbleprov on the 25th and it was an incredibly fun show.

Finally I went to Porto with my friend to see Blood Red Shoes, it was a fun trip despite falling ill on it a day in. I'll do a post with some photos and recommendations soon, I have a bit of a backlog of posts at the moment.

From my blog

Just these photos from Edinburgh. I have a few mostly written posts that will be going up this month.

Some good things I read & watched & listened to

A new NoClip documentary focused on Hades 2.
Why Supergiant Games Chose to Make a Sequel to Hades - Developing Hell II

An almost 5 hour video about Ultima Online that is absolutely worth watching. This entire retrospective on the Ultima series has been a great look back on not just how that series has changed over time but videogames and the RPG genre as a whole.
Ultima Online Retrospective | The Last Hurrah

A good video on our powerful people can scare away bad stories about themselves.
Bobby Kotick vs. The Games Media

An interesting video about cruise ships.
I Tested Every Cruise Line to Find the Least Evil

Why our government is so out of touch.
The Gist: What if?

TV

Traitors Ireland

This was OK, certainly not as good as the first series though. I think we were all incredibly frustrated watching this.

Adults

A fun modern take on the friends living together in New York with them now being pushed out to the more realistic Queens as opposed to Manhatten.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The latest season is... kinda OK. I've had a few laughs but it's definitely missing something.

SNL UK & US

I like them both, they can be hit and miss but there's usually something I like every episode.

Films

Resident Evil

This was excellent, perfectly captured the spirit of the games. It gets going straight away and never lets up.

Bad Apples

A very funny dark comedy that didn't quite nail the ending for me but worth a watch none the less.

Games

Big Walk

Currently my game of the year, my friend and I had such a great time with this. A game I'm hesitant to say much about, find a friend or some friends and jump in to have a wonderful adventure of solving puzzles together.

Dishonored

I've completed this game many times but never super stealthily, until now.

   

Deus Ex: Invisible War

I'll have a proper write up on this soon. I never got into this on release, I was happy to discover it's not as bad as its reputation.

Theatre

Kate Moylan Versus The World

A fantastic blending of wrestling and storytelling from Kate, hopefully she gets to put this on again because it's utterly fantastic.

Slugs

A funny show from a US based group who I can't remember the name of.

Johnny Hollywood

I love John's improvised stand up and how every night he finds something wonderful to centre the show on.

Music

Blood Red Shoes - Stay Lonely

Haven't listened to it loads but I like what I've heard. Probably my favourite album from them in a few years.

Metric, Broken Social Scene & Stars in The Olympia

This was a really good gig, Metric are a great live band and the atmosphere for Gold, Guns, Girls is always excellent. Definitely the highlight of this was getting to witness Emily Haines w/ Broken Social Scene perform Anthems fo a Seventeen Year Old Girl.

Death Cab For Cutie in The Olympia

It's been years since I've seen a regular DCFC gig, last time it was for the Transatlanticism anniversary. They were fantastic, I really like the new music but we got loads from Plans and Narrow Stairs at this, 2 albums I adore.

Blood Red Shoes in Porto

Another band I haven't seen in a long time, they were great! I was falling ill by the time of this gig though so my energy was a bit low.

Books

A Theory of Fun - Raph Koster

Not quite finished with this yet but it's an interesting read on how our brains work and how that plays into games.