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.

Played through Diablo 1 on the PS1, wasn’t bad. It’s a solid port that’s blurrier than its PC counterpart, with significantly longer loading times. Its auto aim helps with lack of a mouse, but that suffers from short range and lack of targeting controls.

Watched The Magnificent Seven (1960), was good. It’s a fun Western built on a foundation of farmer worship, a theme encapsulated by Bronson’s speech calling the fathers of the village brave for their work, while Horst compares the unemployed gunmen and the bandits as equals.

Watched Predator: Killer of Killers, was good. Previously the movie Prey set a Predator story in a different time, this movie speed runs the idea with three shorter stories centered around family and escaping the cycle of violence, while also adding to the Predator lore.

Finished Silent Hill 3, was good. Its story and creature designs are excellent, while its combat is an uneven experience sending you from mostly easy boss fights, to enemies too high or low to be hit, to squaring off with a katana against a nightmare nurse with a gun.

Watched Weapons, was really good. It has an interesting structure, told via a repetition of events from different points of view, behaving more like a spiral than a loop, with each POV shift bringing the story closer to its surprisingly simple, but suspenseful, conclusion.

Tune in to today's Brainstoryum #podcast for: * adventures in #Fantasy Con &unexpected insights * dark & strange flash fiction from @nickleevee.bsky.social @quantumfairy.bsky.social& @madp03t.bsky.social * 3 new rounds of Exquisite Corpse * a monster in disguise 👀 annatizard.com/brainstoryum

Played through American McGee’s Alice. While it’s largely overshadowed by its sequel, I found the original to still make for a fun and twisted trip through Wonderland, despite some terrible platforming sequences and a collection of weapons that’s more like a bag of tricks.

Watched The Fantastic Four: First Steps, was really good. It’s unlike any other film in the MCU, feeling less like a superhero action flick and more like a film length spinoff of a Fantastic Four TV show, with a story that isn’t deeper than a single episode, but bigger in scale.

Played through Gears of War Reloaded, was good. Its sequels were better, but the first Gears is still a solid action game to revisit with an emphasis on long range fighting over cover based shooting due how few shots it takes to die, and your character being built like a fridge.

Watched The Girl on the Train at Theatre Tallahassee, was good, despite the uneven British accents. It’s an interesting mystery that reminds me of Memento but mainstream. The stage production was impressive with its moving train set, even if it’s largely used between scenes.

Watched The Exorcist, was really good. I was surprised by how much of the movie was spent developing the priest and the actress while also being critical of both the financial cost of health care access as well as the invasiveness of medical diagnosis based on assumptions.

Reminder that I publish a weekly list of online author events and writing workshops! This week features 11 FREE events for writers! sarahnicolas.substack.com/p/virtual-bo...

Played through Anthem (because EA’s shutting down its servers), was mediocre. Flight is fun, but the action lacks impact, with a mission structure that doesn’t understand the open world experience, while also ruining the possibility of meaningful plot and character development.

Wah-ah-ah!! 🦇 It’s time for the Brainstoryum #Halloween Special. Featuring amazing stories & poetry from: @dennisone.bsky.social @nickleevee.bsky.social @madp03t.bsky.social @quantumfairy.bsky.social Join the story brainstorms! And spook yourself out a little bit. ☺️ annatizard.com/brainstoryum

Photo modes in games are often tricky because they feel like they demand luck when timing character placement and action, but the photo mode in Cyberpunk 2077 is surprisingly robust and distracting from actually playing the game.

Read Tex Murphy and the Romanov Enigma by Aaron Conners, was great. It’s a thrilling adventure on its own, filled with quite a few surprising twists and turns that also does an excellent job bridging the gap between Overseer, the Radio Theater episodes and Tesla Effect.

Things are getting spooky in tomorrow's Brainstoryum #podcast! 👻 The Socks of Destiny thank you for your word suggestions @alexsbradshaw.bsky.social, Lee Stokie & Mariah With amazing stories from @quantumfairy.bsky.social @nickleevee.bsky.social & others! Get ready for #Halloween #writingprompts

Played the remake of Silent Hill 2, was really good. Bloober Team made a very faithful adaptation of the narrative while also making some interesting adjustments to the gameplay, most notably to the mannequin AI and the Abstract Daddy fight. Made for an excellent, spooky time.

Wrote a review of Alien: Earth for the Twin Geeks, was great. The premise of a xenomorph on Earth is more a subplot to the main story about a group of on the nose Peter Pan metaphors, but it’s interesting and suspenseful. Hopefully there’s a season 2. thetwingeeks.com/2025/09/29/a...

Watched Late Night With the Devil, was good. A horror story taking place on a late night talk show is a clever concept, and David Dastmalchian is excellent as the host. The rigidity of the setup does slow the pace down, and it’s a shame it uses even a few seconds of AI content.

Played Dragon Age: The Veilguard, was mediocre. It’s a big game filled with meaningful content, built on a foundation of bland designs. It has interesting character moments in a story that sacrifices moral complexity in favor of a team building seminar against miscellaneous evil.

Your weekend is not creative enough without Brainstoryum! * Microfiction from @quantumfairy.bsky.social @nickleevee.bsky.social Alessandro Bozzo & @madp03t.bsky.social * Zany #writingprompt game * A new dreampunk tale with a touch of darkness, from me. 😉 ⬇️ www.annatizard.com/show/90-to-h...

Rewatched Alien, was excellent. The set design was impeccable, the creature a work of art crafted in a time when the limitations of rubber suits meant there was less screen time for the alien, more screen time for atmosphere and dread, all held aloft by a fantastic ensemble cast.

Watched Superman (2025), was great. It’s a very lean superhero flick that’s labeled as a part one but feels like part three of a series, like grabbing the latest issue off the comic book stands. It’s a fun, wholesome Superman, with a fantastic entourage of side characters.