Saturday, June 10, 2017

Saturday Morning Update #23


This is going to be one of those "What Have I Been Doing?" kind of updates because it was a busy week. I turned 26 on Monday, so I've been a little trigger happy with buying myself presents. Katrina and I didn't make a big deal out of it since this summer is going to be busy enough with The Aquabats! and other fun stuff already happening. I've also started listening to less podcasts and reading more books and comics. A physical stack of unread books is more intimidating than a virtual collection of files. Lucky I don't have a Steam addiction. Hit the jump for a look at what I've been up to this week.

I got a copy of Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga by Hirohiko Akari (creator of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) and man is it awesome. When I opened the package I flipped through it and read about 20 pages while standing perfectly still in my apartment. The book focuses more on creating story, setting, and characters and is not a "How to Draw" book. It looks and feels a lot like my college screenwriting books, but unlike those being written by "experts" this was written by the mangaka of one of the most popular manga of all time. Parts of it almost feel more like a memoir and give a deeper look at Akari's early days in manga creating and uses Jojo as an example for many of it's topics. I can't put this book down and I strongly recommend it. Pre-order yours here.

I found the first four volumes of Ultimate Fantastic Four for a dollar each (should I start doing thrift haul videos?) and I am actually really surprised with how much I like them. I also got the first Ultimate X-Men and that one was kinda hard to get through. Fantastic Four begins in their childhood and really kicks off when the cast is in their early 20s, an interesting subversion as the Fantastic Four are usually "the adults" of the Marvel universe. The first volume sees them taking on the Moleman with their new powers and volume two has them experimenting on themselves as Doctor Doom begins to make his move. I kinda want to get the rest of the series. Check them out here.

The Exchange, a used electronics retail store I covered in my first Adventures in Pittsburgh post, has started two new initiatives: a 20% off discount on one single purchase during your birthday month, and they are now accepting trade-ins for toys and collectibles. I pulled a side a bunch of my random junk and got $19 in store credit, and new some birthday money was coming from my parents. After spending a while seeing what they had from my want list, I considered getting four or five smaller games. But then I thought: why not? As detailed in my last update I decided to go for .hack//Quarantine, the final volume of the original .hack series and one of the rarest and expensive PS2 games. Well... I got it! And just in time, because I was reading Legend of the Twilight and that put me in a mood to finish Outbreak, so this summer is gonna be all Quarantine all the time.

I think these kinds of updates are going to become the norm going forward, but that may change depending on what's happening in my life. Remember Tekko week when my update was just "I'm tired." Man that was a good one. See you all next week!