The Toad's Burrow

      This review is going to be a little different, in the sense that I'm reviewing a rom-hack, but also because I'm just going to be reviewing Pokemon Emerald in general as well. Part of this is because I've been slowly (and I do mean very slowly) going through all of the older Pokémon generations again, and another part of it is because this game is very intentionally faithful to the original games. I don't really mind reviewing the game, after all when I first started out emulating Pokémon Emerald  was one of the first games I played, and I've had a very on and off relationship with rom hacks in my life anyways. And because I just kept on playing variants upon variants of this game, I have very little recollection of ever actually finishing it. I'm pretty sure I must have at one point, but for some reason a memory of actually finishing this game eludes me. Let's talk about it.     I'll start off with the "Seaglass" part. The art style is fa...

      If you named this book "Sapphic Encounters in the Time-Space Continuum" it'd sound like a really campy 60's flick, but that's also how I'd describe this entire book. The reason I decided to read it for my one mandatory book of the month was because I had heard about it before, I had seen it's cover, and for some reason people were clamoring about it on Twitter. If you think I base too much of my hobbies on what Twitter recommends you're probably right but still. I vaguely recall it being described as "some people call it really great, others call it too pretentious." So imagine my surprise when I pick up this book from the library, only to find that it's not even 200 pages long, and it's labeled as "Science Fiction Elementary." Let's talk about it.     On that last point for a quick paragraph. I can see why one might describe this novel as "for kids." I mean when I say it's short I do mean it, not jus...

      I promise I am not becoming a Keke Palmer fan who will review all of her films, but what I will say is that I did in fact go to the theaters with my sister to watch another Keke Palmer film, and I enjoyed it. It's messy, it's flawed, and frankly it's a pretty confusing film, but it was funny. That comedy was sort of the main tentpole that held up the very large tent that is the film I Love Boosters , which tries to do so, so much, admirably so I might add. Yet I found myself leaving the film feeling as if it tried to do too much, it tried to fit so much under it's tent, and as a result it almost cheapened the true message, the beauty that was meant to be at the center of it all. Let's talk about it.     I knew about this film when it came out, partially because of a fun movie auction activity I had done with friends, but I in fact did receive some minor promo of this film. Mainly someone posting a GIF from this movie, and a reddit post apparently from dire...

    People, come around, for I have finished another comic book series, this time by the wonderful Jonathan Hickman. I wouldn't say I've read everything he's done, but I will say that I read both his  Avengers  and Fantastic Four  runs and I both loved them, particularly as they were the leadups/lead-in's to Secret Wars . So, when I saw someone post an image of East of West , it didn't take me much convincing. Not only did the premise seem super cool, not only was it in a compact and relatively digestible 45 issues, but it was by an author whose stories I enjoyed. And well, I must say, East of West  is really good, except for the ending. That is not to say I think the story ended incorrectly, it's just that it came to that conclusion significantly faster than I thought it would. Let's talk about it.     So, for the uninitiated, the gist of East of West  is basically this. Some time in the 1800's(?) America was hit with a meteor in a place cal...