Things I Would Like to See in 2024

 I didn’t know what to do for my final Note of the year; I considered a ‘Best of 2023’ thing, but I haven’t actually done that many new things this year? In a review sense, that is. Movies, I could take a shot at, but television shows? Eh. Video games? I don’t think I played a single one that came out this year (which doesn’t mean I won’t, just that I’m not in a rush to get to them). And books? I’ve only read a couple at the end of the year that were released in 2023–which is also why I didn’t vote in the Goodreads awards.

So I apologize that this isn’t that great of a Saturday Note. It’s what I had time to write.

Slowly working through The Atlas of Middle-Earth this weekend.

Random Ideas for Christmas Stories

 2023 is almost over! What the fudge, that’s crazy. I feel pressure about doing something somewhat Christmas-related for the holiday, but I’m not good at coming up with themed Saturday Notes. Heck, I’m not good at coming up with ideas for Saturday Notes at all. This is what I get for wishing I was Limyaael.

Anyhow I’ve been playing Shadow of War and I still haven’t died yet! That’s encouraging. 

On Aragorn's Tax Policy

 We are getting to the part of December where panic sets in: have to wrap presents, I should probably get a haircut, I have to finish up some reading, and some of the gifts still have to come in… And! I’m beginning to suspect that I need to go back and work on the NaNoWriMo manuscript.

However! There are some positives. I have started reading The Olympian Affair, and I have gotten Polite Society from the library to watch. That’s exciting.

Alchemy & Capitalism

 Will I get to 50 Saturday Notes in 2023? We shall see!

I have finished the Thrawn Trilogy, and now I’m going to read a couple of books before we get to the next Skulduggery Pleasant, I think? I am not sure. I have some mixed feelings about this Anne Bonny book (it relies heavily on using modern arguments about sexism to make its point, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong; it also doesn’t cite sources in a few early statements which I have questions about), but who knows?

I’ve started replaying Shadow of War again, too. It’s fun–and I’ve found that I prefer messing around more fun than the storyline? Not that the story is un-fun, but even in the tutorial phases the Nemesis System is really cool.

Food in Speculative Fiction

 I reached over 51,000 words for National Novel Writing Month, I’m three books away from two hundred for the year, and I finished Assassin’s Creed: Origins. The remaster for Assassin’s Creed III isn’t working on my PS4 for whatever reason, but I have a bunch of other games so it all works out, I think.

Not sure which book I’m reading next, which is a bit frustrating. I’ll get to something though.

Now let’s talk about FOOD!

On Nostalgia as Substitute for Writing Characters

 I somewhat considered not doing Saturday Notes this past few weeks, because I’ve been so busy with YALLFest, National Novel Writing Month, and Thanksgiving. At the same time, I’m also desperately hoping to reach 50 Saturday Notes this year, and for that I need to fill out the next few weeks.

So! Note this week. Because I read a book about education this week, I started writing a Note about that, but the fact is that I have nothing valuable to say about the subject other than school sucks and so does the education system in this country.

Stakes in Fiction

 I am back from YALLFest! And I am behind on everything except my word count for National Novel Writing Month. I need to post a movie review, write and post another one, read some more, and on top of everything I am feeling a bit under the weather. I should be fine by Thanksgiving, but I’d very much like to feel better now, D’Arvit.

Anyhow, at least I’m re-reading The Aeronaut’s Windlass, and I’ve forgotten what great fun it is!

On Saints (in Fiction)

 When you read this, I will be at YALLFest going to panels and such, so I went ahead and wrote this before the weekend. I realized, right after I got this idea last weekend, that it would have been suitable for the Saturday after All Saints Day, but it didn’t occur to me then. Oh, well.

In other news, I’ve finished the “Curse of the Pharaohs” expansion for Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and so I’ll have to decide in a bit what the next game will be. I have a few options. And for whatever reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about Skyrim lately…

The Problems of Tie-Ins

 National Novel Writing Month has begun! Which means every evening I’m rushing home to fill out my word count for the day, despite being absolutely terrible at writing a Plot. The difficulty is getting characters to do things I find interesting, without them being stupid. Which is harder than it looks! I often come up with Plot ideas and then say, “Wait a minute, the characters would have to be stupid for that to happen/to allow that to happen.” You can’t just string cool things together! That’s how you get a bad book, or maybe a hilarious one.

Anyhow Across the Spider-Verse should be on Netflix right now, and both Paolini’s Murtagh and Butcher’s Olympian Affair are going to be out in bookstores on Tuesday, which is quite exciting. And a week from now is YALLFest! I don’t know if I will have a Saturday Note up then.

Bad Monster Tropes

Hallo! National Novel Writing Month is next week, and that is very stressful. There are less stressful things on the way too, though–YALLFest is coming up, and next week there will be pizza. You win some, you lose some. I am also currently re-reading Guards! Guards!, so expect that in the Book Diary review if you’re on Facebook or Goodreads.

I wanted to do something vaguely for Halloween, and I settled on this. I’m not really a horror guy, it’s the best I can do. 

Another listing! I’ve been re-reading some Limyaael recently as well.

On Designated Love Interests

 My guts have been acting up these past couple of days, so I’ve been having some trouble focusing. I very almost wrote another Note about fiction that refers to history without knowing what they’re talking about–but I have one of those on-site on The Emperor’s Club, and I have trouble keeping an audience as it is without repeating myself so quickly.

Well, okay, I think I have written about Designated Love Interests before, though I can’t find it on the blog. That means it’s fair game, right? I thought about it a bit when I read Shadow of the Wind a couple of weeks back.

In other news, National Novel Writing Month is coming, and I feel like I should start outlining. I haven’t started outlining. Oof.

On Protagonists Killing People They Know

 As I said before, I am seriously considering making a sort of online set of annotations for books (through Blogger, perhaps). Then again, I seriously consider many ideas that tend not to go anywhere because of melancholy. Or something. I don’t know. Maybe World War III is starting and there’s no point to anything.

Anyhow, this week I read another Brandon Sanderson book, which was quite fun, and I suspect the next book will be The Lost Years of Merlin (which would also be fun to annotate).

Cool Settings for Historical Fiction/Fantasy

 I did not know if I would have time for a Saturday Note this week, and I don’t really have that much–so forgive me that this one is a bit hasty.

Once again, the urge overcame me to create a website of annotations for certain books, much like we see with L-Space or the 13th Depository. I like making book annotations! And at times I feel like I have contributed very little else worthwhile to the Intersnet.

"Book Dumb" Heroes

 I am unsure as to whether I will have time to write a Saturday Note for next weekend. There is a small chance, but I will be busy on Friday and Saturday, so it’s entirely possible that it will fall through the cracks.

I am almost finished with the “Hidden Ones” DLC for Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and it’s worth noting that Assassin’s Creed: Mirage comes out next week!

This idea kind of floated in my head because I just rewatched Conan the Barbarian, and there’s also a new Percy Jackson book that just came out, which has some relevance to the topic of the Note.

On the Rhetorically Invincible Protagonist

 Tuesday was rough, despite being International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I sailed through those waters without walking the plank! I take me victories where I be findin’ them. The rest of the week went much better than that, and next week will be fantastic, God willing. I also hope to draft some letters soon.

We shall see!

Note for Batman Day

 This week was alright, but I fully expect that next week will be much better! I am currently reading To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, and after that I think I’ll get to re-reading Pyramids? Still doing Discovery Tour, learning about mummies and shiz.

National Hispanic Heritage Month began yesterday, but today is BATMAN DAY so we’re going to talk about BATMAN today.

Immortals & Long-Lived Characters

 Well, we’re back on the “Can’t Sleep One Night a Week” Train, which is a bummer to say the least. I feel like I’m just a horrible mess.

But! I’m doing Discovery Tour on Assassin’s Creed: Origins, learning about ancient Egypt and shiz. And I’m trying to take up painting again! I’m reading all kinds of new books, too! And, if we’re lucky, I can start outline something and have a plan for National Novel Writing Month.

This was inspired by (I think?) a random comment I saw on BIONICLE. Maybe it was on TV Tropes? It seemed like the kind of thing that would be on TV Tropes.

The Dangers of Multiple Writers on One Story

 I have almost finished the main story of Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and after that we’ll get to expansions. I’m not sure what we’ll do after that. Will we try Stray Gods? Or back to another Assassin’s Creed? Or will I replay another game? Who knows.

I considered doing this about my thoughts having read Heir to the Empire, but there are so many times I can say, “It’s stupid that they didn’t plan the Sequel Trilogy,” and you’re probably tired of that.

Anyhow! I made a questionable choice in which comic book I read. The result is this Note.

When Authors Hate a Character

 Guys, it has been A Week, and on Friday almost nothing went the way it was supposed to. I am happy that it’s done. There were good things this week, too, though–I finished Arcane, I’ve watched more Alphas, I started an audiobook (Lionboy: The Chase), and I slept longer than last week.

Also I’ve started a hefty book on Irish mythology. It’s a bit more academic than I was hoping.

I talk a lot about bad writing in certain works, and because of the above-mentioned mythology text book, I almost made this about Iron Druid Chronicles again (seriously, Hearne’s take on Irish mythology is baffling). But I did not! Though it’s still something Irish-related, so onto Skulduggery Pleasant we go!

Stop Putting Lin-Manuel Miranda in Everything

 Last weekend I finally started watching Arcane on Netflix, and it’s pretty good thus far! I really dig the animation style, too. I’ve also discovered that Alphas is on Roku and have started rewatching that. Fun fact: You know Mahershala Ali is in that series?

Currently, I am reading Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil, so if you’re on Facebook or Goodreads, expect that update to come soon.

Also! I kind of want to go see Blue Beetle; we’ll see if that happens this weekend.

Modernizing Wheel of Time

 I was psyched for Assassin’s Creed Free Weekend, but it turns out that most of the games on that list are free on PS4 only if you have PS Plus Extra. Which is fine, I have all of those games, but I was going to try out Black Flag or Ezio’s story on PS4. Whatever. Valhalla is still free for all this weekend right now.

I finished reading The Samurai yesterday. I’m still sorting out some feelings.

For this week, I struggled a bit with picking a subject, but while I was deciding I read a lot about pre-Christian European religions and mythologies. I settled on this because I saw the first three episodes of Amazon’s Wheel of Time on FreeVee (I don’t have Prime, so this was my first chance to see them).

…I wrote this and then realized that I could totally do a Note on Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Spectacle Over Story

 Oi. It’s been a week, but last weekend was pretty darn cool, so I guess it balances out, I guess? High hopes for this weekend, I guess. Maybe I get some writing done!

Some episodes of Wheel of Time are on FreeVee! Which you can watch for free! Just, with ads. I’m checking it out, and I might get a Saturday Note out of it. They said they would put all of the episodes, but right now there are only the first three and the season one finale.

This one was inspired by a video I saw about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Don’t know how much that will come up in the essay!

On Evil Superman

 I will not have a lot of time to write on Friday, so I am writing this earlier in the week! I hope it turns out okay.

Funnily enough, I wrote down the idea for this Saturday Note right before bed, and then I had a related dream? That kind of thing doesn’t usually happen to me. I thought it was pretty weird. And kind of cool, because I was Batman in that dream.

Characters Who Are Bad at Their Jobs

 I am currently trying out a couple of new shows on streaming, since I finished watching season four of The Expanse and rewatching Justice League Unlimited. We’ll see how it goes!

I realized that I had talked a lot about character competence a couple of weeks ago in that Saturday Note, but I have already worked some notes for this one, so I had to rework this to make it something different.

In Praise of the Cadmus Arc

I thought that the edition of Assassin’s Creed: Origins that I bought on sale, came with the expansions. It does not. Which is fine, really, because the season pass goes on sale often, and it’s a ways before I finish the main game anyway. I am currently reading Red Seas Under Red Skies, which I’m pretty excited about, and a couple of comics this weekend.

This was a contender for last week’s Saturday Note, but I wasn’t finished with the season when I started writing, so I thought I’d give it a week to sit in my head. And I almost forgot about the idea! But it’s cool, it’s back.

Adaptational Incompetence

My computer is having… issues with the charger, so I am working on a different computer. I don’t know how this affects my writing output; I’ll be doing my best, but I don’t know if I can write as much the next few days as I work this out. As such, we’re counting words on Saturday Note and Fun Facts for the word count total for the day.

Not that you guys keep track of these things, but it’s happening.

I am currently playing Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and I have Egypt on the mind, so I was tempted to talk about Egyptian myth or a fantasy based on Egyptian history/mythology. But instead this occurred to me (it came up in conversation recently).

Waller Doesn't Need to Hide Much

 Hallo! I am behind on my Book Diary, which has me a bit worried. I’m also hoping to have a short story finished so that I can work on Camp NaNoWriMo, starting today, so I need to make sure I get on that. I hoped to also get a new Impish article out soon. Ish. We will see!

The new season of The Witcher is on Netflix, as is Nimona–but I have the DVD of SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods from the library, so I probably won’t get to all of that now. Also, I’ve started the fourth season of The Expanse.

Anyhow some reflections on Justice League Unlimited! This one’s pretty link-heavy, and I apologize.

Tying Protagonist to Plot

 I don’t know why, but I’ve noticed that on my drive back from work I tend to be in a fairly depressed mood. Maybe I just need to listen to my iPod on the drive back rather than the radio (I generally do iPod in the morning drive, radio in the evening).

I finished another book series this week, which was super cool! I’m glad I did it. At some point soon I will also re-read Stroud’s other big-name series, the one that I actually own signed books for.

I heavily considered doing a "Angelopolis is quite terrible" Note, but for now I'll spare you.

Korra's Powerlessness

 This week has been exhausting, but I’m hoping for a relaxing weekend of playing Assassin’s Creed and reading and eating delicious food.

I finished watching Justice League on Netflix, and will soon be starting Justice League Unlimited. The Batman cartoon is also on Netflix, and I’m debating with myself whether or not I want to re-watch it, too.

Also I finished rewatching Legend of Korra (which inspired this Note) and Leverage (which did not).

The Absent Love Interest

 I made rice last night! And I missed doing that. I made a little too much because I’m hoping to share it at some point. Hopefully, I also get to grill this weekend! If not, well then that’s too bad but there will still be delicious food.

This week I read The Lies of Locke Lamora, which was fun! And it inspired this Saturday Note.

On Greek Mythology Adaptations

This weekend marks the release of Across the Spider-Verse; I will not see it this weekend, I think, but hopefully next weekend (or the one after that!) I shall get to it. The first movie is one of my favorites, after all!

Currently I am rewatching Legend of Korra, and I’ve gotten to the final season. I considered a Note about that but I already did one recently, so put that on the backburner. I’m also rewatching Justice League (the animated series) which is great fun!

I wasn’t sure if there even would be a Saturday Note this week, but we’re going to give it a go!

On De-Powered Endings

 So! Yesterday I finished BOTH The Last Enchantment AND Horizon Forbidden West, so already the weekend’s off to a good start. Not sure what I’ll do next in terms of games, but I have a few comics and Dead Man’s Hand to read for now.

Getting hyped for Assassin’s Creed: Mirage too!

Anyhow.

On Love Triangles

 I think that I’m almost at the end of Horizon Forbidden West (can’t get the DLC because it didn’t come out on PS4), which means I’ll probably spend a bit of time grinding to upgrade my armor before doing the final story mission. I’m not terribly fond of the crafting/upgrade system–there are a butt ton of things I’d rather be doing than hunting down random materials for crafting–but if you make them into little quests, it isn’t so bad.

My gut has been acting up a little for the past week, but I suspect it’ll right itself in a few days, as it usually does. 

Anyhow, I’ve been reading a lot of YA fiction lately, and I’ve thought about this a little. It was this or another Greek mythology Note.

Unalaq Makes No Sense

 I strongly suspect that I’m getting close to the end of Horizon Forbidden West, after which… I don’t know! Will I pick up a new game? Will I try an old game for the first time? Will I replay another game? We shall see.

I thought about continuing ‘themed’ Saturday Notes, but I couldn’t think of anything for Mother’s Day. I COULD think about this though, because I’ve been re-watching Legend of Korra on Netflix and this is bothering me. I realized while writing this though that my issues with religious fanatic villains? I touched a little on this in my last sporking chapter.

Also Justice League and Justice League Unlimited are back on Netflix now? Worth looking into, if you haven’t already. I still hold that the Cadmus Arc is better writing (though not flawless) than the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Star Wars Musings

 Dracula Daily’s started, so I’m getting that along with Dante Weekly and letters from Watson. I also signed up for a Three Musketeers thing, I think? That hasn’t started yet.

I don’t want to always dunk on modern Star Wars, but this week includes Star Wars Day, and today is Revenge of the Sixth. So it kind of makes sense to do a SW-themed Saturday Note. I think I touched a little on this in another essay. I did also think about doing a Note about the Dark Side but I don’t know if I have enough material to work with. It would amount to, “The Dark Side sucks, good guys shouldn’t use it,” if you’re curious.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Sin, & C.S. Lewis

 Today is the feast day of Saint Catherine of Siena! Just a thing to know. She’s cool. I’m still kicking myself that I did not see her tomb when I was in Rome a decade ago. 

Yesterday was also Terry Pratchett’s birthday, which I think is worth bringing up.

I had the thought for this essay since I got towards the end of watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and it’s been bouncing around my head every so often. Some spoilers for that series up ahead, but it’s been out for ages so I don’t think anyone cares.

Might be worth mentioning that Saint Thomas Aquinas called them “the Seven Deadly Vices” because many of the “Deadly Sins” embody emotions, rather than sins themselves. The problem isn’t feeling the emotions, it’s letting them control your actions. If you care about these things.

On “In Turn with Nature” Heroes & Societies

 I picked up the digital library copy of A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir, and uh, I don’t think it really worked for me. Which was a bit of a disappointment. Next I’ll be reading more Hellboy, I think, and maybe a new author? We shall see!

I will put up pictures of last weekend soon, I hope, for people on Facebook. But in the meantime, since this is Earth Day, I thought I would try to do something remotely related to the idea? I’ve also been looking at Limyaael essays lately, so I think this shall end up being an essay in that vein.

The Problem of Pirate Protagonists

 It is Easter! So that means I am back on Tumblr, if you care about these things.

I am writing about pirates this week for Reasons. I am flashing back to the line “good, honest pirates” from one of the Castaways of the Flying Dutchmen books, but I haven’t read it in ages, so I don’t feel comfortable bringing up in the Note.

On Jesus Imagery in Fiction

 Hallo! We are in Holy Week! After Sunday I shall be back on Tumblr, if you were worried about that. It is kind of cool to have the free time I would have used updating Tumblr to do other things, so we’ll see if I can figure out a way to balance things a bit more.

Because Sunday is Easter, I wanted to do something that was connected to that?

A Marxist Reading of "Dragons Love Tacos"

 There are a TON of things that are going to be happening over the next couple of weeks, including Holy Week and Easter! I don’t know how much I’ll be writing Saturday Notes. I suspect I will, but here’s your heads up in case I don’t.

I’m reading another Sanderson book, by the way. And I finished season four of Young Justice this morning!

My Friday was a bit rough, and I had one of those existential, “Does anything actually matter?” afternoons, but I DID tell myself that I was going to write this Note, and given the subject matter I thought it was important that I got to it. I’d been putting off this one long enough, though I’ll admit that I pulled a lot of these ideas from the blog of author Matthew Arthur Larkee; however, I wanted to take my own stab at the subject matter. 

So here we are.

On Bad Faith Criticism: The "Rip-Off"

 Happy Feast Day of the Assumption! It’s one of those feast days that it’s easy to keep track of–it’s nine months before Christmas. 

Apparently some idjit on Wired decided to trash talk Brandon Sanderson? Sanderson’s response is much more gracious than I think any of us would be (and his fans have been), considering it’s a trash feature article.

Anyhow I considered talking about Fullmetal Alchemist, but I was struggling to differentiate the idea from a Note I did at some other point. I’d have to go back and re-read the thing I wrote. So we’re talking about a video I saw some of the other day!

The Appeal of Ragnarok

 So I think I’m close to finding POSEIDON on Horizon Forbidden West. A bit of a bummer that the “Burning Shores” expansion is not going to be on PS4, though. I am still of the opinion that melee combat in this game is… not good, but I still love taking down robot dinosaurs with nothing more than a bow and some trick arrows.

Also! I finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood! I could write half a dozen Saturday Notes on just that alone, but I’m going to hold off on that because I need to form those thoughts more. That, and you guys would get tired of that pretty quickly, I think.

I have had a lot of thoughts about things this week, like AI, and Ukraine, and Greek mythology, but instead we’re going to do this one Note idea that I have been considering for a while.