Things I Liked Last Month: January 2024
01 February 2024
Welcome to the first instalment of my monthly series: Things I Liked Last Month, where I go over various things I’ve read/watched/played/etc. that I want to share with you! I hope you enjoy, and without further ado:
The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts by Delyth Badder and Mark Norton
It was really cool to meet Delyth at an event and get my copy of the book signed! The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts is chock-full of really interesting and inspiring stories from Welsh folklore, including sources translated to English for the very first time! I’m going to be releasing a proper review of this book sometime in February, so keep an eye out for that!
Jet Lag: the Game Season 8: Arctic Escape
On the topic of things I want to write about, Jet Lag: the Game is some of the most creative, high-budget game design I have ever seen, and Arctic Escape is one of their greatest series yet! Watching them race all the way down the continental USA was so fun, and I loved the use of tickets with specific distances and limitations to travel rather than previous seasons’ coins that you spend per mile. Michelle Khare was also an absolute delight of a guest and her videos seem super cool too!
Grave of the Fireflies dir. Isao Takahata
And now for something absolutely harrowing. Grave of the Fireflies is a film filled with nothing but dread. It is an absolute heartwrencher of a movie and, if you can muster yourself to get in the mood for it, is something you need to see. Combining this with Godzilla Minus One, which I saw in December, it's been really refreshing to see war movies from a perspective that isn’t clouded by military propaganda.
The Traitors Season 2
I have a kinda mixed relationship with the Traitors and Werewolf, which its mechanics are based on. I think the player elimination is kinda lame, especially when you're playing for such a massive cash prize as this. While I don't love the design of the game, the narratives it creates are super thrilling. I changed who I was rooting for like 4 times throughout season 2!
Nothing Left to Love by James and the Shame
Who knew that Rhett from Rhett and Link would have such a lovely voice as a country singer? I basically only listen to James and the Shame and Orville Peck to get my country fix, but they’re both great and I’ve been enjoying this new EP from JatS a bunch, especially the title song.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + DLC
I had Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U so I didn't bother buying Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch for the longest time because it felt like mostly the same game. With all the new tracks that have come out in the last two years, I thought I’d finally get myself a copy and it feels great to be back in this game. I accidentally had Smart Steering on for ages which makes the game significantly easier, to the point where I thought the game engine was weird or bugged because it was steering me away from doing weird turns. But that’s sorted now and, yeah, I love this game!
So thanks for reading Things I Liked: January 2024! Please share your thoughts on my things and share some of your own things you liked last month in the replies! I promise there will be tabletop games in these sometimes.