The Toad's Burrow

      Man, where do I even start with this game? Disco Elysium is a daunting game to begin sure. I, like probably so many others, bought this game because it was on sale for around 3 dollars Canadian, and because anyone who comes across this game seemingly comes around with such glowing reviews. And then, you wait, it just lies in your Steam library and you think about playing it and these thoughts start to pop up. "Ooh, but I heard it's a very political game I don't know if that's what I want to play right now," "I heard there are so many ways to play this game it's kind of daunting," and it's all true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't play it, it just means that it's a lot, and you should give it the respect it deserves.     Then you start up the game and it's a lot. I'm not saying I can't read, or don't mind it, but this game is very much like a choose your own adventure book, it takes the name "visual novel...

    Look, the nicest way for me to put it was that I was quite skeptical of this film. While it's rating on Letterboxd was high, and it seemed to have high praise. I was largely going to watch this film simply because my sister asked me to come along with her, to which I happily obliged because unlike Dr. Ryland Grace (is his real name actually Ryland no one ever says it), I have immediately family and loved ones that I do not need to learn how to love. I mean just this morning I had seen Andy Weir come out with a statement that there is absolutely, positively nothing political in his work. Even though the movie does mention that part of the reason Dr. Grace needs to find a solution is that the human race will almost certainly not work together to ration enough food to "only" allow a quarter of the population to die in 30 years. And also, I did see quite a few people call it Marvel-slop, the runtime gave me pause for concern, and some others called it hope-slop. I am happ...

      I love The Wonder Years. One of the first concerts I ever attended was the 10 year anniversary tour for The Greatest Generation , and for a while a part of me thought that might be my favourite album, deep down I always knew it was this one. I mean most of my favourite The Wonder Years songs came from this album, and the remaster that was released last year only really solidified that opinion. So, with the 10 year anniversary tour for this album raging on, I'm set to once again see The Wonder Years very soon, so it's time for me to revisit one of the best pop-punk albums of the 2010's in my mind, and one of my favourite albums of all time in general. So without further ado, my track-by-track review. No Closer to Heaven - The Wonder Years Brothers & - 70/100 I don't particularly have strong feelings on this track, if you can call it that. It's really just a buildup to Cardinals, which serves and feels like the real intro track to this album anyways. Cardina...

      You know what? A surprisingly good film. I'll admit, I've been holding off on this film for basically a month, and frankly the premise didn't leave that much of an impression on me. It seemed a little gimmicky and I don't watch or read many things based on Stephen King's work so that wasn't a draw. Then the movie starts off and you can't help but get a hesitant feeling watching what is supposed to be a group of teenage boys look clearly into their 20's, evoking distinct imagery of for better or worse, 2000's era (and before) high school media which commonly employed this technique (I'm looking at you Glee) . Even still, I must admit like the boys in the film it managed to trudge through, keeping me well entertained and my eyes glued to the screen, even as temptation crept in to check my phone every once in a while. So how did it do all of that? Let's talk about it.     First of all, your enjoyment of this film hinges entirely on your ab...

       I was looking back at my original review for the first game, and I think it's safe to say that this game is an improvement on all fronts. I do really feel that this might end up being one of my favourite games of all times. I mean I literally spent over a month playing this game, and ended up with nearly 160 hours in it. At one point I was basically playing the game 40 hours a week, almost as if it was this whole other job I had to make sure I got in every day. I think it is safe to say that I may have been addicted to this game. But why shouldn't I be? I find it hard to find faults with this game, any faults I have are largely small qualms or involve pacing, and by the end I started spacing out my playthroughs just so I could savour the last bit. So let's talk about it.     Let's get the bad out of the way first because I think it's relatively minor. One of my main gripes with the first game was that by the end the combat was largely oriented around...

    If there's one word I'd use to describe this album, it's indulgent. Indulgent in the sense that there are really no holds barred on this album, it's not going to be some low-key indie affair, it might be a bit too grand or a bit much for some people, but for me, I relish in the theatrics, I will always appreciate these big, sometimes over the top pieces. Perhaps that's just me, but imagine my surprise when I randomly put this album on last year, only to instantly fall in love with it. I have a bit of a soft spot for baroque pop after all anyways, Queen was one of the first bands I listened to seriously, I used to love Fun. as a kid, and of course Pretty Odd. was one of my favourite albums growing up. What I didn't realize is that slowly but surely, this album would stay ingrained in my mind, slowly gnawing away until I enjoyed it more and more with each passing listen. Would I say it's my favourite album from 2025? If you asked me last year I wouldn'...

      Well that was a movie for the ages. I can't even remember when I first started hearing about this little indie Canadian film. It had to be close to a year ago now, on Twitter when someone posted a clip of one of the numerous, hilarious yet stupid flashbacks in this movie. Obviously I didn't make make much of it at the time, how could I. I didn't know what they were flashing back to, that it was supposed to be completely misremembered, or what the name of it even was. But slowly and surely, this movie just burrowed it's way into my consciousness, almost forcing itself onto me in a way (not that way), which is funny because that's exactly what I found so great about this movie.       First it was random billboards around the city, since I obviously live in Toronto. Of course my first thought was Nirvana, you know the famous band? I didn't even realize Nirvanna had two n's in the title until I watched it yesterday. Then finally I searched it up, and...

      Ooh I should have come into this review lacking complete hope. Whether it was the unnecessarily odd title, the mid album cover, or the fact that Harry reminds me more and more of a dog with the more facial hair he decides to grow. A part of me still held out hope. He was a pop star, surely Harry could at least deliver one hit pop song off of this album. I mean even if I wasn't the biggest fan of Harry's House at the very least you could say it had As It Was, and Late Night Talking . Surely, the lead single was just an artistic choice to ease people into the sound of the album right? Sadly, it seems Mr. Styles has lot his way, at least in my eyes, even if to most he lost it when he posted that awful shirtless photo. So without further ado, my track-by-track review. Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. - Harry Styles Aperture - 65/100 I think this song is fine, but it's really missing a proper climax to make the payoff of the entire song stick. Think Happier Than E...

    I did it. I finally bit the bullet. I had been hearing so much about this show, and as a Canadian, I had felt like missing out on a real moment of cultural heritage. How often is it do you see an entirely Canadian produced show sweep western society like that? Not very often. So I gave it a shot, after all it was only six episodes. How bad could it be? Well, I sort of stopped watching after episode two for a week or so, not really getting anything out of it, but then a friend mentioned it again. So I gave it another shot, and I wouldn't say this show blew me away, but at the very least it was beginning to slightly redeem itself. Let's talk about it.     For better or worse this series is basically just fanfiction inspired by Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. I say that because the first two episodes basically just feel like one long montage spliced together with long, drawn out, gay sex scenes. There's no other way to put it but this show loves it's sex scenes, an...