Played through the original Xbox game Black, was okay. Its emphasis on destructive environments and the heavy impact of its gunfire help to make up for your slow movement speed and a story that’s largely modern warfare gibberish.

While playing the game High On Life I found it has the entire film Tammy and the T-Rex in game, and it was a trip. The 1994 film with Paul Walker and Denise Richards is like Robocop, if the mad scientist wanted to put a brain in a robot dinosaur. Completely bonkers, never boring.

Wrote a review of True Detective: Night Country, was okay. It has interesting ideas, characters, and performances that are buried beneath an excess of subplots and a constant need to rush the story forward, embracing the thrill of it over nuance. nvracar.wordpress.com/2026/07/04/t...

Played Mixtape, was great. It’s like a song: it won’t start until you press play, and once you do it’ll play out on its own. Your enjoyment of the song depends on how much it vibes with you, and how willing you are to dance along to its music. nvracar.wordpress.com/2026/06/28/m...

Wrote a (lengthy) blog post that’s half brief history of Call of Duty as a franchise, half discussion of why the story mode of Black Ops 7 was so disappointing. nvracar.wordpress.com/2026/06/25/l...

Wrote a blog post about the Tex Murphy game Under a Killing Moon and the Kickstarter campaign for its remake. The original always felt dated, because I didn’t play it when it was new, but a full 3d remake with 2K video? I can’t say no to more Tex. nvracar.wordpress.com/2026/06/21/u...

Tonight’s music to write to: lofi beat covers of the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack (or at least the parts of the soundtrack that lend themselves toward a more relaxed vibe, versus the parts of the soundtrack that are sheets of metal scraping together). youtu.be/qUWWgQ-zTMw?...

Did you know I have a number of hidden talents? I’ll show you them once I find out what they are.

Went to see I Hate Hamlet @theatretallahassee.bsky.social, was a lot of fun! It was a fast paced comedy that was less about someone hating Hamlet and more about an actor struggling to gain the resolve to attempt the challenge, and to live with the result. nvracar.wordpress.com/2026/06/08/i...

Played through Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, was great. It’s a fun return to both Peter Parker and Miles Morales that’s less repetitive than part one. Its plot is an interesting adaptation that surprised me with its changes, while still being an excellent Spider-Man story.

Played the Adventure Time DLC for Power Wash Simulator 2 despite having never seen an episode of Adventure Time (I have played one of the video games). It’s a very colorful pack of levels that has you play an in-universe washer, rather than the protagonist of the main game.

I participated in a short story reading over at local bookstore The Midtown Reader, and it was a fun time! The theme of the stories was “sunshower”, and it was an enjoyable challenge to write, and interesting to see what the other two authors did with it.

Read an article by @annatizard.bsky.social about the game of exquisite corpse. Her discussion of my own contributions reminds me of how I was going to name a book The Ordinary Extraordinary, and how I’ve developed that theme over the years. spotlightindie.co.uk/2026/05/11/g...

Played through Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, was good. While I didn’t care for the new paladin and warlock classes, I did find the story to be an interesting and surprisingly complete resolution to the Diablo 4 story, tying up practically every subplot and character arc.

Finally got my copies of my book, and straight onto the bookshelf they go. I’ve already read the book a dozen or so times, at least half of those times just last month. I’ll probably pull it out again when it comes time to plan the sequel, to remind myself what happened.

My book is now out! The first edition of These Lives That Bind Us is available on Amazon via Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover! Like Silence of the Lambs set in a community college, it tells the story of a young woman who’s lost the ability to use magic, on the trail of a killer.

Did you hear about the cowboy artist that could paint a portrait of a person in less than a minute? Some say he was the fastest draw in the west…

Here is the cover (and back cover) of my upcoming self-published book, by the immaculate ArtoftheTinMan! I might make some minute adjustments (the Amazon Cover Creator isn’t that easy to use) and redo the blurb to fill in the white space, but everything else is gold. Out 3-28!

Read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, was interesting. It’s a kids book with dated slang that elevates its whimsical fantasy with a splash of science fiction. This might be one the oldest pieces of fiction that explains traveling through wormholes by folding something.

It’s been a long while coming, but now is the time: I’m self publishing my book. It is titled These Lives That Bind Us and is a contemporary fantasy thriller, like Silence of the Lambs set in a community college plus magic. It’s set to be published in two weeks: March 28!

Watched Song Sung Blue (2025), was a really good drama about the tenuous grip of the intangible, the pursuit of the freedom of artistic expression under the weight of capitalism, all to the tune of a Neil Diamond playlist. Hugh Jackman was excellent in it.

Played Warhammer 40K: Boltgun, was good. It’s a fast and chaotic shooter that visually styles itself retro, but mechanically it’s closer to Doom (2016) than classic Doom.

Watched season 5 of Stranger Things, made for an excellent resolution to a story that does an admirable job tying together story threads, while giving a strong epilogue to its plethora of characters. If the show kept going on the cast would start to look like Too Many Cooks.

Finished Stephen King’s book of short stories If It Bleeds. Rat was okay, a horror spin on literary struggles. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is light horror buried in nostalgia. The Life of Chuck is beautiful, and the title track If It Bleeds is an excellent Holly Gibney tale.

Got a platinum trophy in Crow Country! I normally don’t chase trophies or achievements in games (this is my third platinum), but Crow Country’s S-Rank had gentler requirements than most, and my first playthrough unlocked a grenade launcher with infinite ammo. That helped a lot.

Played through Crow Country, was good. Its horror plot about a girl in search of a missing enigmatic billionaire blends retro 3D with design choices reminiscent of classic Silent Hill. Combat is slow and clunky and traps feel cheap, but the characters and story are worth it.

Played through Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion, was okay. It’s a short game with shoddy shooting that’s the worst of the N64 trilogy (not the worst Turok game, though) that still manages a surprisingly weird sci-fi plot with some pretty good boss creature designs.

Played through Stray, was okay. The game where you play as a cat who must escape a city of robots and monsters is a visual feast but mechanically average, offering little depth to its rigid gameplay systems.

Today I am PROUD to read aloud some (ahem!) *incredible* stories & poems from the talented: @nickleevee.bsky.social @madp03t.bsky.social @quantumfairy.bsky.social Paul McMillan & Alessandro Bozzo.⚡️✍️ Thanks for making ep. #99 of Brainstoryum amazing! 😍 #vss #writingcommunity #podcast

Read The Novus Quandary, was great. It’s a fast paced collision between two eras of sci-fi that’s part a suspensful thriller in space, part galactic mystery that’s epic in scope while still managing to keep itself engaging with its plethora of interesting, dynamic characters.

Probably one of the most surprising things about Power Wash Simulator 2 is its end credits song, an excellent song that sounds like it belongs in a 2000s era romantic comedy, played in a montage after the protagonist comes to accept their shortcomings. youtu.be/1LymSmqP8do?...

Went to see Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? at Theatre Tallahassee, was well done. The acting was among the best I’d seen on that stage. It has less of a plot and is more a character piece, with long conversations that circle around the truth, slowly approaching it inch by inch.

Played Tomb Raider (2013) again, still one of my all time favorites. While its villain is cartoonish and your allies never get proper development, the adventure Lara goes on is like Die Hard on an island, a fast paced ride that doesn’t stop until it’s suddenly over.

In today's Brainstoryum #podcast, I am PROUD (blushingly chuffed!) to present stories from the massively talented: D.Krauss, @nickleevee.bsky.social @jenthorne.bsky.social @quantumfairy.bsky.social Paul McMillan & Sophie Desaules 🙏✍️ #WritingCommunity , you rock! www.annatizard.com/brainstoryum

Played Saints Row (2022), wasn’t all bad. Its production is undercooked and its design feels dated, like playing a shoddy remaster of a much older game, but eventually I warmed up to its story and characters, and by the time the gang sings Love Shack karaoke it was a fun time.

I think I’ll make one resolution for the upcoming year: read more books. I read probably two books this year. Those are rookie numbers! I’m thinking twelve books for 2026. Got any book recommendations? I already have one out of twelve picked out.

Watched A Christmas Story, was okay. It felt like a vintage tale filtered through a layer of nostalgia that vaguely has a plot and sometimes is about Christmas. Probably the best family film to be adapted from stories originally published in Playboy magazine.

Did you see that the local gossip has been sticking their nose into more people’s business now than ever? They’ve really put the pedal to the meddle.

Played through Cyberpunk 2077, was a fantastic game that felt more like a role playing experience than most RPGs. It’s set in a city so sleazy it makes Las Vegas seem quaint, but its story about the loss of identity against technology, haunted by Keanu Reeves’ ghost, is engaging.

Played through Superliminal, was good. It’s like Layers of Fear if you were trapped in a dream instead of a nightmare, where perspective creates reality. It leaves a hopeful message that any problem can be solved with just a change in perspective.

Tomorrow's Brainstoryum podcast has stories from the talented @madp03t.bsky.social @nickleevee.bsky.social @quantumfairy.bsky.social Dorothy Arroyo &Paul McMillan. 💜 Plus 3 new rounds of Exquisite Corpse, a sprinkling of snow, writing prompts & fun. Bookmark this: www.annatizard.com/brainstoryum

Watched The Muppet Christmas Carol, was a fun adaptation. Michael Caine’s performance as Scrooge was just what I hoped for, and I especially liked the design of the ghost of Christmas yet to be. It makes for a great way for kids to learn the fickle nature of trickle down economics.

Reviewed Power Wash Simulator 2 for The Twin Geeks. It’s an excellent follow up to the original that adds more quality of life touches over refinements or changes. thetwingeeks.com/2025/12/11/p...

Another year goes by, another year of listening to too much Dance With the Dead and not enough Old Gods of Asgard, though now there’s Neon Odin in the mix, along with singles from the Peacemaker season two soundtrack.

Played Outlast 2, was okay. It was a fast paced chase into the darkness that suffers from linearity and quite a few sections solved via trial and error. The horror imagery is great, but the dual narrative isn’t that interested in the main plot, burying its mystery beneath lore.

If you haven’t played it Solitaire Conspiracy is a lot of fun! And now on sale!

Wrote a blogpost about why I oppose the use of generative AI, and why generative AI users are not artists, or writers, but rather customers to their business model. I feel like I could have gone into more depth, but I’m happy with it. nvracar.wordpress.com/2025/11/30/m...

Watched The Naked Gun, was alright. Its nonstop barrage of jokes hits more than it misses (the ongoing coffee gag is a favorite), and it has some great nods to the original movies and show. Odd that its plot is basically the first Kingsman movie.

Every Thanksgiving I try not to go ham on leftovers, and every Thanksgiving I just can’t give up cold turkey.

Watched The Addams Family, was delightful, and funnier than I expected it to be. It’s a loose collection of plot glued together by one liners, vibes, and incredible casting, with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston offering immense depth to Gomez and Morticia in their performances.