Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods

This is a documentary about a small piece of the war filmed mainly from body cams - following a company of 99 Ukranian soldiers holding a railway forest against the Russian advance. It shows the daily lives of the troop: the down time, the scavenging, the danger, and yes - some of the fighting too. You will see a few dead people (most are blurred/censored/out of shot if too close) so that might be your time to "nope" out, but otherwise it is a sobering 1 hour flick that just makes me really glad I'm not there as I wouldn't last five minutes in those conditions - and that's without an opposing force! Definitely worth watching if you can find it and is possibly one of the best anti-war films around.

As of this post it is day 1585 of Russia's two day special operation.  The front seems to be a stalemate currently, but drone warfare has improved to the point where Ukraine is now hitting targets in Moscow.

Hazbin Hotel Live on Broadway and Songs of Conquest

Entertainment with a focus on music!

Hazbin Hotel Live on Broadway

Celebrating the release of Season 2 of Hazbin Hotel, this live performance on Broadway by the voice actor/singers is absolutely brilliant - my only complaint is that it is too short! Even my wife, who doesn't watch the series, enjoyed it. Highly, highly recommended (but just like the show its not for kids), and I hope they do more of these live shows as there are many more songs they could do in the series (and that's not even going into Helluva Boss songs). I suppose they could do Hellaverse Live on Broadway? :D Here's a little sample for you all to enjoy. Five out of five!

Songs of Conquest

This pixely turn based strategy game plays a lot like the old King's Bounty game, where you have a leader or leader(s) marching around the map to capture resources and towns (where you can spend resources in building structures to recruit more folk for your army) while fighting enemies (usually static ones) via armies in hex grid maps. After you've exhausted your move, then your opponents leader(s) take their turn to wander around. I'm very thankful for the auto combat button in this one to make lopsided fights just finish in a single button press.

While that's all well and good the main draw for me was the nice story and the songs which play at the end of each mission. Very cool. I was sad when the extra "story" missions didn't have this. :P

Warhammer 40k: Speed Freekz

In this really crazy racing game, you play as the Orkz who I suppose are just super bored and want to race and fight? While I'm unaccustomed to Ork (which is basically bad English) which makes the customization difficult to understand, I'm pretty sure its one of those, unlock more vehicles and decorations the more experience you have and there are two game modes on offer, both being team vs team with the option for multiplayer.

In the first one, you're trying to get points by racing but don't let that stop you from shooting the enemy team! First you race to a main marker, then you start a mini-race to hit checkpoint around the main marker and then repeat four more times and the team with the highest score wins.

In the second mode, each team has a slow moving giant robot (that also shoots at you) "racing" slowly to a finish line. The idea is that racers pick up randomly spawning bombs (or stealing said bombs from destroyed enemy) and then driving it into the opposing robot to "slow it down". The team of the first giant robot to cross the finish line wins. 

Both modes are chaotic and... ok. And death is a mere slap on the wrist as you respawn in under five seconds but there's not much else happening with this one. Maybe its fine as a once off party game but otherwise, not recommended.

The Mandalorian and Grogu and Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc

Movies for fans of the series. 

Mandalorian and Grogu

This movie continues the story from The Mandalorian, and has everyone's favorite bounty hunter "dad" continue to teach, protect and nurture his charge Grogu, while doing some kick ass bounty hunting stuff. While the story is just ok, on par with the series, the action is definitely amped up with more fighting sequences. The two title characters also take turns taking the lead which is pretty cool but makes for a long run time. Not that I'm complaining! If you liked the series, you'll definitely enjoy this.

Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc

This movie continuation of the animated series follows our protagonist Denji thinking with his wrong head again, spending at least the first half of the movie trying to get lucky with a girl (which tracks). While the art is always top notch, the animation really kicks in at the second half which holds all the destructive fighting. Slow start but it turned out to be ok. Worth a watch if you've enjoyed the series. If you haven't seen the series, try that first and see if its for you (you'll know in a the first episode). 

Wuthering Waves

This is another gacha game which features better action combat than most and climbing / gliding system like Tower of Fantasy, which is fantastic. It also has a decent story and a ton of upgradable systems which is both good and OMG grindy. 

It also features thirsty gardeners...

You see, you have the usual gacha luck-of-the-draw party who can all level up and you can also level their weapons (both need special material grinded to break level caps). And then each can equip "captured" enemies. FIVE of them. That can also be leveled. But no its not just, "I want a lizard thing instead of this slug thing" because they also have randomized stats and abilities. This lizard might breath fire. This other lizard just naps and heals you. Want to tell the difference? 

Too bad you can't. You need to go kill the lizards until you capture one that does what you want. AND has the substat bonuses that interest you FOR THAT CHARACTER. Good thing you can only have three characters per squad... :P Also, I REALLY DESPISE they systems where everything levels up with you. Great you reached level 10? Well those level 1 monsters are now also level 10. It's like, what was the point of leveling up? But guess what, you can't AVOID leveling up, because its your exploration level that determines the monster level.

Yup! So even if you remained at level one but explored the hell out of the map, guess what? You're just leveling up the enemies. Pity, because there's some really nice story in there. If you feel like you don't mind that level of grind then I recommend this for you. Definitely not one for me though.

Spider-Noir, Harley Quinn and Kite Man

A trio of alternate superhero shows!

Spider-Noir

This currently single season story has Nicolas Cage star as a 1930's private detective who also moonlights as "The Spider", their version of Spiderman - and guess what? When you have a good story, good characters and good acting you get a good result! Without a doubt this is now our favorite version of Spiderman. On Prime you even have the option to watch in in black and white if you want. Highly recommended and hope they make a season two!

Harley Quinn (and Kite Man, Hell Yeah!)

This currently five season animated comedy features the titular Harley Quinn who starts off breaking up with Joker and then forming her own gang. A lot of the laughs come from the irreverent way it treats the whole cast, with many extras dying gruesome deaths, but it can quickly get abrasive if that's not your sort of thing. Definitely shines brighter in the earlier seasons than the later ones. 

Kite Man, Hell Yeah is a currently one season spin off from Harley Quinn and follows the adventures of the guy whose power is he has a kite? It has the same tone too so if you like the main show you'd probably like it.

Ouroborus King and Rogue Waters

Two different roguelikes.

Ouroborus King

The weak story about a King reclaiming his lands doesn't cover up the fact that this is simply chess with a variety of unique pieces. You start with only four, and on your journey can "recruit" more, "upgrade" the ones you have, or find relics that do some neat stuff like take back your previous move. Not recommended unless you really like chess.

Rogue Waters

This roguelike has a lot more effort put into it with the art and animation and tells the story of an undead pirate seeking revenge. Combat starts with three rounds of exchanging cannon fire where you either target enemy cannons so they don't wreck you, enemy soldiers so you don't have to fight them later, or "modules" that provide many buffs to their owners.

Afterwards it becomes tactical grid combat with a focus on pushing (and some cool abilities). While you will lose a lot at the start, especially to annoying cut scenes, it really gets addictive once you start upgrading your ship and crew. Thumbs up for this one!