Playing Some Final Games in the Big 25
And a little bit more about music than I usually write here.
Hello, friends! It’s starting to get cold here in Maryland, and so we bade farewell to the Trivia Night season at Edgewood Community Farm, as my full-strength team battled our way to the final victory of the year. While we did not, alas, win the extra point for Best Team Name, my unprompted choice to listen to the entirety of Taylor Swift’s latest album The Life Of A Showgirl twice before heading to the farm carried us through the bonus picture round that was made up entirely of references to TLoaS’ track listing. I guess that answers the question, brought up and debated in our group Discord, of whether our hosts are Swifties or not, lol.
As my co-parent is still in Asia, the kids had to accompany me and were, for the most part, well behaved. Their favorite portion of the evening was the ability to play Grow A Garden in real life by harvesting produce and flowers afterwards, as encouraged by the farm staff. Speaking of whom, I made sure to bring some nice thank-you gifts for our trivia hosts, who mastermind the questions every month for free. I did make a point to wait till after the rounds were over and we’d won tho, so as to avoid any appearance of a bribe (and they would have still gotten the wine and card even if we’d lost, I promise!) I’m super looking forward to going back when the new season of trivia starts in the spring of 2026. The farm also has a ton of events year-round, so check out their website and plan your own visit!
In other game news, I finally played the very last Boxed Locks game that I own! To give you an idea of how long I’ve been sitting on this, I believe that the company itself shut down three years ago. It was bittersweet knowing that this would be the last escape-room-game box of theirs I ever played, but the box itself was fun and just the right level of challenging for me.
Reading-wise, I really enjoyed Michael Emberley’s Night Light this week, even tho I likely read far too much into the closing panels regarding the effects of light pollution. This sweet children’s book (or graphic novel, depending on who you’re asking) involves the lengths a caretaker and child will go to in order to get in one last bedtime story, even after the entire city is affected by a blackout. This is the third book in a series whose debut won the Geisel award, and for very good reason.
I also enjoyed another graphic novel for adults, that I started last week but only finished and reviewed in the past few days. The Holy Roller Vol 1 by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, Roland Boschi & Moreno Dinisio is a very timely and deeply clever look at what it means to fight Nazis in the modern day. It is also very Andy Samberg-coded, so if you don’t like his shtick, you might not like this book. I personally think that he’s very entertaining, but while I deeply enjoyed this book, it’s only partially because of him. THR is just a really terrific comic about battling fascism, bigotry and greed. I’m glad this creative team is spreading that message to readers who might not otherwise be clued in to the evil permeating our political spheres today.
I guess I can’t close this week’s newsletter without giving my opinion of TLoaS. Honestly, y’all, it’s fine. Ms Swift writes all sorts of different music, and this wasn’t my favorite album of hers — those would be Reputation and Midnights (3am version) — but it wasn’t unlistenable either. My friend even made a meme of my ultimate verdict on where it lies in her discography, IMO (and hi, Hot Steven!):
What has been wild to me is the discourse raging over the album. Yeah, I agree that it’s a little racist to her fiance’s exes. I really think she needs to quit punching down at other women. But it’s weird to see her accused of being MAGA or a tradwife because she sings about wanting to get married and having a dozen of her fiance’s kids. It’s also weird to see people pretending that TLoaS is a high-art concept album. It’s a perfectly pleasant, mostly middling record (and at least it isn’t bloated with eleventy billion tracks.) I do wish that generative AI hadn’t been used to make at least one promo for TLoaS. That was genuinely the most disappointing aspect of this album for me.
Unrelatedly, my friends and I got Nine Inch Nails tickets for their upcoming Peel It Back tour. Honestly, I’m only really familiar with The Perfect Drug, but it should be a good time with good people. And yes, I was absolutely inspired to go by Laszlo Tamasfi’s ongoing love for the band: check out his very rad newsletter, where he talks about NIN, game design and all sorts of other really cool things.
Oh wow, I’ve finished writing this much earlier in the day than I expected, so I’m off to reward myself with dinner before, sigh, doing more work ahead of the weekend. See you in seven, friends!
Currently Playing (Music): Beethoven’s Symphony #2 in D Major; my Declan Rice and 2025 Energy playlists; Stela Cole’s I Die Where You Begin; Jessie Murph’s Sex Hysteria; Megan Moroney’s Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine); Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl; Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend.
Currently Playing (Games): The Light In The Mist puzzletale, The Wild Beyond The Witchlight, Metazooa by Trainwreck Labs, Learned League trivia, NYT Connections, Your Friend In Witchcraft by Kay Marlow Allen; The Wolves Of Langston by Obvious Mimic; My Late Father’s Correspondence by Storybrewers Roleplaying.
Currently Reading/Writing (Games): Ghosts Of Saltmarsh.
Currently Reading or Just Read (Books): Seven Secret Spellcasters by Lynn Cahoon; A Palace Near The Wind by Ai Jiang; The Whistler by Nick Medina; Night Light by Michael Emberley; Murder At The Cape Costumers by Maddie Day.