“This is the place you made for yourself in life,” The fish said, swimming towards the rising figure in through the misty shadows. “This your hell, and it is filled with the ghosts of your sins.” His audience stared at him and said nothing. The fish swam closer through the thick air. “I am not your only companion here, either. Every victim of your cruel misdeeds is here, and we will be with you until the end of time. This is a crowded land. Do you even remember me, I wonder?”
“Mrow?” the cat said, and lunged at the fish.
Fiction: Cat Hell
December 9, 2018
Free Fiction, Uncategorized Cats, Drabble, Fiction, Free Fiction, Humor Leave a comment
Hugh Likes Video Games: Donut County
December 5, 2018
Hugh Likes Video Games, Review, Uncategorized Donut County, Have a Garbage Day, HLV, Hugh Likes Video Games, PS4, Puzzle Leave a comment
Donut County
Created by Ben Esposito
Published by Annapurna Interactive
Played on PS4
The Skinny: A charming and funny story-heavy puzzle game about stealing garbage.
The raccoons run Donut County. In a physics puzzle game that homages Katamari Damacy and is almost as strange, You play as BK, Donut County Delivery Raccoon, but your real job is stealing all the town’s garbage (and people, buildings, and geographical features) for the nefarious Trash King.
Each small, self-contained level puts you in the driver’s seat of a hole, which like in Katamari, starts out small and gets bigger the more stuff you grab. Each level has its own mechanical puzzle, from destroying an amusement park to making soup. All of these mechanics are intuitive and fun to use, if a bit on the easy side.
Controls on the PS4 used the buttons and analog stick. It is also available on Steam and Apple devices, and it feels like the game was meant to be played on a touchscreen. Not that it plays badly, in fact, just the opposite. The hole feels a little too responsive to the analog stick, and I was left wondering if playing with touch controls would’ve been a greater challenge.
The story is light-hearted and fun with a large cast of different denizens to hassle and eventually capture. The first half of the game is a sort of trial, as each of the town’s residents relate how BK stole all their stuff and trapped them underground, and then BK’s friend and coworker Mara figuring out how to fix everything. The visuals have a very PS2-era quality to them, but the designs are cute and the whole game is fairly attractive, even with blocky polygons. The soundtrack, by Daniel Koestner with Ben Esposito, is very chill and relaxing. This is a great game to unwind with.
While it isn’t the most taxing puzzle game I’ve played this year, Donut County is a great puzzle game to play with your kids, or to relax with. You can find it on Steam, the Playstation Store, or the Apple Store.
Hugh Likes Comics: Bitter Root
December 3, 2018
Hugh Likes Comics, Review, Uncategorized Chuck Brown, David F Walker, Deiselpunk, Harlem Renaissance, HLC, Hugh Likes Comics, Image, Monster Hunting, Sanford Greene Leave a comment
Bitter Root #1
Created by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene
Color Artists: Rico Renzi and Sanford Greene
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
Published by Image
The Skinny: Dieselpunk Monster Hunting in the Harlem Renaissance
Set in 1920’s Harlem, Bitter Root is the story of the Sangerye family, monster hunters who protect humanity from terrifying monsters called “Jinoo.” But they work in secret, and not without cost. As the older generation passes, the younger members of the family are called upon to step up, but trainee Cullen struggles, and Blink chafes at her role doing “women’s work.” But with the forces of darkness closing in around them, can they afford family tension?
Following their run on Power Man and Iron Fist in 2016, Walker and Greene are back, along with co-writer Chuck Brown, and they are killing it.
Pairing the monster hunting aesthetic with the Harlem Renaissance is a bold and brilliant move from this team. Greene’s designs and costuming are great, full of big chunky machines and a variety of period fashion that looks great on these characters. The night-time coloring is moody and atmospheric, and the period setting reminds the reader that we don’t have to visit fictional countries to see black excellence in comics.
Period punk sub-genres too often get caught up in the pomp of Empire and the glitz of Roaring Twenties, and forego the punk responsibilities for pulpier trappings. Bitter Root does an excellent job of bringing the shine and the shadow of the times to the front. I can’t wait to see where this series goes next. You can find it at Your Local Comics Shop or digitally via Comixology!
Podcast: Nostalgia Pilots 27 – Recapping the Recap
November 27, 2018
Nostalgia Pilots, Podcast, Uncategorized Commentary Track, hugh, Jurd, Nostalgia Pilots, Recap Episode, Spence Leave a comment
Welcome to Nostalgia Pilots! This week, Hugh, Jurd and Spence watch episode 27: The Locus of Victory and Defeat! And you can watch along with us! Since episode 27 and 28 are Gundam Wing’s mid-series recap episodes, we’re switching to a commentary track format for the next two weeks. So fire up Crunchy Roll and watch along as we join Relena for a look back at the highs, the lows, and the ambulance drivers we killed along the way.
Click HERE to listen to the commentary track!
You can watch along online in the US via Crunchyroll,
Or purchase the DVD and Blu Ray of the series from Right Stuf Anime!
Next week, we’ll be back with another commentary episode as we head off into part two of the recap, IN SPACE!
Fiction: Buzzing the Tower
November 25, 2018
Free Fiction, Uncategorized Drabble, Fantasy, Fiction, Free Fiction Leave a comment
The dragons circled the castle, cawing challenges and flying ever closer with each pass. They swooped and dove, the women crowding every window shrieking every time they got close.
The Princess stood atop the tower, hair streaming in the wind. She whistled, high and sharp, and jumped. The leader, a massive creature with iridescent red scales, peeled away dived after her. She landed perfectly in the saddle and took up the reins. They s soared high and away to a chorus of cheers. The young dragons followed them back to the stables. Roostlings were always frisky after their first flight.
Podcast: CCRC44 – The Pirates of Dark Water
November 22, 2018
CCR Commentary, Podcast, Uncategorized Chrononaut Cinema Reviews, Commentary Track, hugh, Jurd, Opopinax, Podcast, Rich The T T Leave a comment
Tonight your hosts, Hugh of HughJODonnell.com, Rich the Time Traveler, Jurd, and Opop, undertake the pirate life
Click Here to download the commentary track!
And watch a copy of the cartoon HERE!
Chrononaut Cinema Reviews is presented by http://skinner.fm and http://hughjodonnell.com, and is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Podcast: NP26 – Nuke the Moon
November 17, 2018
Nostalgia Pilots, Podcast, Uncategorized anime, Gundam, hugh, Jason, Jurd, Nostalgia Pilots, Podcast Leave a comment
Welcome to Nostalgia Pilots! This week, Hugh, Jason, and Jurd delve into Gundam Wing Episode 26: The Eternal Flame of the Shooting Star!
In tonight’s episode: Everyboyd hates Tubarov, Heero is very focused on murder, and the Treize Faction may have gotten sweet new uniforms, but they’re just as bad at this as the rest of Oz! Plus, The Nostalgia Pilots fall down a shonen anime rabbit hole, and Jason reveals the secret to piloting a giant robot.
Hugh Likes Anime: Castlevania S2
November 16, 2018
Hugh Likes Anime, Uncategorized Castlevania, Netflix Streaming Leave a comment
The Skinny: This definitely feels like a game, I’m just not sure it’s “Castlevania.”
I will admit that season two of Castlevania wasn’t boring. Although it was littered with references, the show took a very different turn from the short season one, and felt even more disconnected from its source material. But it is still an enjoyable, if gory, animated vampire-hunting romp.
After the short first season, itinerant vampire hunter Trevor Belmont, sassy wizard Sypha Belnades, and angsty but beautiful son of Dracula Alucard were all set to take down the King of the Vampires after saving a town from invasion. But first they have to go back to the ruins of the Belmont estate and figure out how to find the castle.
While they are off studying, the series introduces some new bad guys to play for time. Most of the season is taken up by the machinations of Dracula’s War Counsel, a collection of vampires from around the world that have gathered at the castle. The only two who are important to get speaking lines are Godbrand, a reckless viking vampire, and Carmilla, a lady vampire with war plans of her own. Also introduced are Isaac and Hector, a pair of humans who do the actual work of making monsters as Dracula’s Devil Forgemasters.
While this season wasn’t too long at just eight episodes, it feels like only the last two were very important to the story. Carmilla’s plotting, which feels straight out of a 90’s World of Darkness Vampire game, is fun, but ultimately kind of pointless, as she never even meets up with our heroes. The two plots feel like they are happening in two separate rooms, with a few monsters shuffling back and forth between them.
While it is a bit disjointed, Season 2 of Castlevania was still a heck of a lot of geeky, gory fun, with plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the games. These range from hordes of recognizable monsters, to an extremely Rococo portrait of “Lament of Innocence” protagonist Leon Belmont, to a few gorgeously arranged selections from the games’s soundtrack.
If you enjoyed S2 of Castlevania, this continues the story with some nice twists, and if you’ve been looking for some fun scheming and evil to tide you over until Game of Thrones returns, this has you covered as well. You can stream Castlevania on Netflix.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 
Podcast: NP28 – A Robot Horse’s Death Wouldn’t Mean Anything
December 4, 2018
hughjodonnell Nostalgia Pilots, Podcast, Uncategorized Commentary Track, Gundam Wing, hugh, Jason, Jurd, Nostalgia Pilots, Podcast, Spence, Too Fancy for Cars Leave a comment
This week, join Spence, Jurd, Jason, and Hugh as we watch episode 28 of Gundam Wing, Passing Destinies!
Click HERE to listen to the podcast track!
This is another recap episode, so watch along with us as we do a commentary track!
Watch along for free on Crunchy Roll!
You can also buy the series on DVD from Right Stuf Anime!
Then, settle in as the Nostalgia Pilots look back at the first half of the series, and Jurd and Spence make predictions about what we’ll see in part two!
Next week: High school is back in session. Princess high school that is.