PicoBlog

This is the second part of my It Takes Two review. In the first part, I went on about the lack of family in video games and the danger of paying attention to critics. Now I'll talk about the actual game. TL;DR: It's really good. Play it. The Plot of It Takes Two It Takes Two tells the story of an unhappily married couple and their child who wants to keep them together.

I’m at the age when you see the insides of more than your share of health clinics and some are like walking into a meat warehouse but when I walked into New York Presbyterian the other day and then the Hospital for Special Surgery, I was struck by the extraordinary kindness of everyone — even the security woman welcomed me like a friend and the receptionists and the guide who took me back to an examining room and the tech who did the exam — it really knocked me out, me a Midwesterner, this being New York — and I found Lillian the supervisor and told her what a wonderful place this is: “Most people walking in here are having a bad week and the kindness and good manners of this place mean So Much.

Hello again! Thank you for still following this infrequently updated newsletter! I am honestly amazed and touched that people not only continue to follow this thing, but I somehow seem to consistently pick up new followers every week. Why? I have no idea! Perhaps you — like me — hope that I write this newsletter more often in the future. I have made a promise to myself to do just that in the back half of 2024.

Hello and welcome back to ‘Eyb, the newsletter! Each week I speak frankly about topics that I was told were ‘eyb, or shameful, while growing up. I also share anecdotes, reading recommendations, what I’ve been writing, and more. If you have just subscribed, welcome! I have never been a particularly maternal person. Throughout my twenties I was adamant that I did not want to have children. I struggled when I visited my girl friends, many of whom had married while we were still at university or in their early twenties, and their young children would run about screaming, climbing on top of my head, or putting sticky hands on my clothes.

I don’t usually go in for rom-coms. It was beaten out of me as a teenager that rom-coms were nothing more than mental candy-floss, unworthy of intellectual or artistic time or consideration. It’s a prejudice which stuck with me for far longer than it should have. While rom-coms are rarely among my favourites (heteronormativity is a bummer man), I do allow myself to indulge in a happily-ever-after fantasy every so often when I’m feeling blue.

The price of tampons is increasing, and that’s of zero interest to half my readers. Or is it? The ABC reported last week that … “As prices for sanitary products steadily increase, Australians with periods are feeling the pinch.” Now as an Australian who doesn’t have periods, I can honestly say I have no idea what the ABC is talking about! Wait. Maybe I’m in menopause. Editor’s note: The writing of this article is momentarily paused due to an unscheduled doctor’s appointment.

Hey everybody! I am sorry that I have not sent out a newsletter, like, at all in 2023 before now. And I’m doubly sorry that I’m making my return by making a Staind joke! A true “adding insult to injury” situation! Anyway … the reason I started this Substack last fall is because I wanted another avenue for reaching my readers in light of Twitter’s apparent slow-motion collapse. And here we are in the spring and that collapse is still happening, with slightly increasing rapidity.

Ah, but this sauce has a story. It’s about colonisation, human ingenuity and a nationalist culinary heroine. About derring-do, and making-do. Enter Maria Orosa, born in the Philippines in 1893, who, as a courageous teenager, took a scholarship to study food chemistry in the United States. Returning home as a food scientist in 1922, she was determined to use technology to help her country become more self-sufficient in food production. Working at the local Bureau of Science, she set about replicating various popular foods using purely indigenous ingredients, with a particular interest in modern preservation methods such as canning.

This column is “It’s new to me,” in which I’ll play a game I’ve never played before — of which there are still many despite my habits — and then write up my thoughts on the title, hopefully while doing existing fans justice. Previous entries in this series can be found through this link. Good things happened when Hudson Soft joined forces with CAProduction. The developer was originated by former Technosoft staff who worked on Lords of Thunder as part of Red Company’s and Hudson’s classic shooter, Lords of Thunder.