Taking the plunge, creatively speaking.

I mentioned in the very first post on this blog that I’ve been wanting to flex my creative muscles but didn’t know really how to do it. I’ve dabbled in some things and I’m also admittedly not a very creative person. I have lots of ideas but I don’t know how to execute them, you know? Over the past month I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with this point of view and I’ve decided to stop standing in my own way and to work on something.

I’ve been wanting to jump into content creation. And between the back and forth with myself over “you don’t know how to do that” and “you don’t have the setup” and “you can’t do that – it’s a pipe dream” I got fed up and just bit the bullet. Last night, I ordered pretty much everything I’d need (I think!) to start capturing video and footage for a YouTube channel.

Now I kinda -have- to make myself do this. I’m under no illusion that it’ll be easy or simple. I have to learn all of this myself and, god, it is daunting. But I want to try. I have some (self described) great ideas for content so we’ll see how it all pans out. And of course I’ll be posting them here when they’re ready. What am I getting myself into?

 

Updated Contact Info

Slowly trying to turn this into more than a blog and into more of a true passion project. This requires learning a lot of things abotu YouTube, Streaming, video capture, etc. All of which I have very little experience using!

In the meantime: I set up a twitter for this stuff. You can check it out if you want: @OGMachinations. See ya in the void!

Ant Man and the Wasp

This released back in July of 2018 and I never made it to the theater to watch it. I can’t really remember a reason why this happened. Maybe we were too busy or maybe I just kept putting it off too long. I’m really not sure. There was no reason behind it though. I remember wanting to see it. I finally did last week during my Christmas vacation. I bought it the day it released on Blu-Ray and just now got around to watching it. Notice a trend here?

I’m not going to do an in depth review – I don’t even know how to begin to write something like that. But I will say I enjoyed it – even if it feels pretty inconsequential to the overall scheme of the MCU. That’s not a slight against it. I appreciate the “smaller scale” (see what I did there?) of these movies and apparently the Quantum Realm will play a part in the future of the universe so maybe this movie will feel more important in the grand scheme of things eventually.

It’s a fun, buddy cop-ish superhero sequel that vastly underutilizes Michelle Pfeiffer but otherwise definitely worth a watch. Now I’m fully caught up before Captain Marvel and, by extension, Avengers Endgame.

Happy 2019, everyone!

Old God Machinations

Short post! I came up with a new name for this blog so for the three of you who’ve ever visited it this is what’s going on now!

Let’s Go…. away from the fans.

I’m a pretty big Pokémon fan. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, really. I was 13 in 1998 when Red and Blue were released. I didn’t know anything about the series until a Nintendo Power came in the mail with a mini-magazine inside called Pokémon Power arrived in my mailbox. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Wow that cover takes me back.

Now, I’m somewhere between a casual and a hardcore fan. I don’t have the time or interest to participate in the crazy meta/endgame battle scene. I like to collect them all and I used to buy every version – I may have to do that again soon with Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee (fwiw, I’m starting with Eevee) but, while I’m excited for their release on Friday, I’m honestly grossed out by some of the “fans” I’m seeing online.

I frequent a gaming forum called ResetERA. It’s pretty big and a spinoff of the now dumpster fire NeoGAF. But man, the insane amount of vitriol and gatekeeping from these fans who are just burned up inside over the existence of Let’s Go is staggering. From personal insults, rants and raves, declaring who is a “real fan” and isn’t. I’ve seen a lot over the last few months and it is disgusting. People really need to get their shit together and stop being dicks to each other. Not all games are for all players and at some point gamers have to realize this. Stop being so damn mean to each other!

Honestly, though. I’m not going to let them get me down. I’m excited for Friday and I’ve taken the day off to spend all day playing on my couch. It may not be a brand new Pokémon experience but I look forward to a nice time waster between now and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and whatever Pokémon Generation 8 holds. Let’s go!

 

Super Smash Bros Ultimate – Final Nintendo Direct

So Nintendo had the final Direct this morning for Smash Ultimate. It was…. something, in my opinion. I’m not outright disappointed by the final reveals (Ken, Incineroar, and Piranha Plant) but they’re kinda lame to be the FINAL group of characters revealed. There’s no real hype there.

Okay, actually, Piranha Plant is kinda cool.

I’m excited for the game though. Richter is my planned main (I currently am pretty good with Ike and Zelda though by no means a competitive player.) I really can’t wait until December 7th, though. Why no demo, Nintendo?!

Foreword

Hello, and welcome!

I know as I type this that literally no one is reading this. Who knows what the future will hold? I’ve been tossing around ideas for something, some way to flex my creative side. I’m not very creative (that’s going to be a problem down the road, isn’t it?) but I -want- to be. I have a lot of ideas and not a lot of initiative. Or money! But I wanted to find a way to get my voice out into the world.

I co-host a podcast. It’s not very big or too old and it’s doing okay, I guess, for the minimal effort we put into it. However, I don’t have full creative control and my already busy schedule of work, eating, and sleeping is stressed as it is so finding the time to record with another person with conflicting schedules is difficult at best. I needed something that I could have access to 24/7 – to update however little or often as I wanted – and something that reflected what my interests are. I’m a veteran of LiveJournal, MySpace, Facebook, and Tumblr like so many others in my age group are so I should be able to handle a blog, right? And of course I did the responsible thing and paid money for my blogging platform instead of starting small and just testing the waters. But here we are and maybe the money I’ve spent will give me the kick in the ass I need to update this thing. I’ve always been good at talking and decent with writing so maybe combining these skills with the things I love will bring out something creative inside of me and let others enjoy my thoughts on these things.

While the title of this blog is “Gaming While Gay” it won’t focus on just the two of those things. Part of the reason I chose the title is because I’ve always had an issue with being introduced as the “gay friend.” Yes, I’m gay (shocker!) but that’s not all there is to my personality. I’m not ashamed of it. There’s just so much more to me than that. My plan is to have this blog be more than just updates about gaming as well. I’ll be posting about comics, movies, tv, and anything in between that I see fit. Gaming is probably my biggest hobby, though, so expect to see a lot of that.

Anyway, I appreciate that you somehow made it to this point. Let’s go on this journey together.

-Chris