Winter 2026

18 Mar, 2026

It's spring now, but it's been really hard to write this one. My journaling practice has been woefully neglected this season and who wants to think about this January again already? There's more YouTube than usual on this one and a lot of open tabs on my computer I hope I can include next time. There were some ups for me personally, though, including attending MAGFest for the first time (and guesting on a panel!), presenting a Game of The Year award, and attending the McCormack Writing Center's Winter Workshop, which I still haven't totally processed since wrapping up. With that foreword out of the way (let's keep these exceptional), here's what I've been paying attention to.

A collection of seasonal excerpts from the commonplace:

• Why the New York Times Loves Stupid Questions, Lily Alexandre

• The Future is an Empty Room, Jacob Geller

• How Fans “Ripped” Mario Kart World’s Soundtrack, James-Money

• Fallson, Nick Capozzoli

• "There is a strain of paternalism common to some of the most established writers in games criticism remaining, one that regularly asserts that whatever rabble-rouser is troubling the discourse today is part of a normal cycle of people who are either thinking too hard, or not deeply enough. That their steady hand at the till is a sign of a correct approach, and the troublemakers fading as usual is a sign of this lesson being learned./Are you sure?" -games in the real world, Joshua Rivera

• Kill Your Inner Lore Master, Jake Steinberg

• Watching Alyssa Liu skate feels like a different decade from today. But damn, she can skate!

• Music: Hadestown's newest Orpheus, Jack Wolfe, published these incredible live solo recordings of Epic's I, II, and III. March is also the National Trumpet Competition, which means it's time to marvel at the incredible musical world of trumpet ensembles!

• Reading: My Hunger Game's book club concluded with Mockingjay, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Sunrise on the Reaping. I ranked the series and the move adaptations too!

• Also Reading: Chainsaw Man Part 2 (it's so over), Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You vol. 6-8, Witch Hat Atelier vol. 13, The Moon on a Rainy Night 8, Green Yuri vol. 2 and 3, Snow White with the Red Hair vol. 22 and 23

• Watching: I've been on a high watching all of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War and Horimiya as my background shows. Not gonna find a suitable replacement anytime soon. This season I've also been closely watching Journal with Witch. I hope to have more to say on it soon, but it is a top 3 anime of all time for me. Get on it!!

• Also watching: Penda's Fen, Saltburn, Death By Lightning, Flower and Asura, Weapons, Lycoris Recoil, Love Through a Prism, Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus, Lost in Starlight, Spider-Man (2002), Gilded Age, The Pitt

• Playing: You know, it's actually really easy to hack your 3DS! I've been playing LeafGreen, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Pushmo as god intended—in short bursts on the subway and throughout the day. of the Devil Episode 2 also came out in January and continues to be one of my new favorite games. I played a bit of Death Stranding Directors Cut, put another 20 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles X thanks to the Switch 2 update, and hopefully by the next dispatch I'll have finished Paranormasight and its sequel.

• ICYMI: Wrote some blogs people liked. My interview with Austin Walker was also published.