Take that, exercise!

On 05/25/2018 at 08:38 AM by Super Step

The Garmin VivoSmart 3 smart watch I had my parents get me for my birthday was an $86 bust, but I'd waited more than a month to return it, so I could only get store credit yesterday.

With that store credit, I purchased Wreck-It Ralph and God of War. I looked at the Ta-Nehessi Coates (probably misspelled that, but opening new tabs on my phone to check causes more problems than you'd think, sorry) Black Panther run and the Guardians Vol. 1 soundtrack CD and still might get those down the line, but the video-game-themed movie and video game fit pretty neatly in the store credit amount, though I did pay about $6 in tax for God of War.

Wreck-It Ralph was probably overpriced, but since I essentially bought it with free birthday money and it's a personal favorite, I'm pretty happy about it anyway. Meanwhile, God of War was an impulse buy based on wanting to try something in the series but not taking the plunge until I was able to pay for it with not really my own money. I'm hoping the story is as good as everyone says it is and I don't get turned off by slow combat.

I STILL haven't finished Horizon: Zero Dawn though, so that's another summer project after Yakuza 6 is finished ... I may or may not have been watching all Yakuza series cutscenes on YouTube before I actually play the final chapter in Yakuza 6. ... I'm near the end of 5, by the way. Oh and superhyped for Kiwami 2 in August and hoping the PS4 ports of 3-5 are coming stateside.

Music-wise, doing a 10 album challenge on Facebook has me going back to the junior high/high school well, having put Ill Nino and Sum 41 CDs in my car recently and finding a ska playlist on Spotify I absolutely love. Heavier stuff like Children of Bodom and Black Dahlia Mrder is in there as well, with some rappers a buddy has told me to listen to.

I still want to finish It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, but am super tired right as I hit the bed lately and reading has always been a before-bed activity. All Our Wrong Todays is one I've meant to keep reading as well, despite having seen nothing from the online book club I bought it for in forever.

Speaking of book clubs, a friend and I went to a nonfiction one yesterday at one of my run club friend's house. The book we both didn't read (I only got invited last week and the books are chosen month-by-month) was a textbook-like one called Drawdown about how to stop global warming and what some places are already doing. It was actually pretty interesting to hear everyone talk about, even if roughly half the group admitted not reading the whole thing. The book for next month is called Putin's Country and I'm interested in getting that one.

Only other thing I can think of book wise is this poetry collection a friend pointed out to me at Target she said people love only because it's sexual and is actually really shallow. Something and honey? I picked it up and saw a poem that said something like.

She had had sex so many times

But she realized

She never made love

And when I read that I said, "Oh wow. You're right. I hate this already." Maybe there's better stuff in there, but what a cliched and predictable thing to dedicate a page to.

But enough slamming bad poetry, what's going on with you all?

Super Step Contributing Writer

05/25/2018 at 08:42 AM

^ Written on my phone; sorry for the bad punctuation and grammar in several places.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

05/25/2018 at 08:50 AM

Coates is a smart man. I haven't read his books or his comics, but I've read articles and he knows his shit.

Sorry about the smartwatch. Sounds like you got some cool stuff though.

I've been reading a bit more. And I just bought the new Stephen King book along with a novel that was a Man Booker finalist. They couldn't be more different. I love reading, just wish I did it more.

That IS some bad poetry man.

05/25/2018 at 09:21 PM

I've definitely read a few of his Atlantic articles from a while back. That's how I know of him. I couldn't tell you what the articles were though.

Yeah, I liked having a watch in general instead of having to pull my phone out, but it gave me WAY too much credit. I'm happy with my consistency, but I still definitely don't run at a 7:30 minute/mile pace!

In the poetry's defense, I could be misquoting it... But if I am then barely.

What was the Man Booker awarded book?

05/26/2018 at 10:28 AM

ah, it didn't win it was only nominated. I forget what won. But the book is called "Elmet". It's about a family of a father and his two kids living in the back woods of england, and the father is a boxer, etc. I read really great things about it, and it's short so I decided I'd check it out.

correction, Elmet was a finalist, not just nominated.

KnightDriver

05/25/2018 at 02:12 PM

After doing a lot of bow-and-arrow play in Rise of the Tomb Raider, I'm psyched to get back to Horizon and bow it up some more. I love bow-n-arrow in games.

I used to like a certain Sum 41 song. I think it was "Still Waiting".

I came across that book Can't Happen Here and immediately thought of the Zappa song where he sings in monotone, "It can't happen here" over and over. It was a Mothers of Invention song, I can't remember the title offhand but it was probably on Freak Out. I want to read it.

So I am really obsessed with this book by Paul Johnson "Modern Times" . It's not really modern because it came out in '84 but it's an eye opening summary of historic events 20s to 80s. I can't put it down. Changing my mind about so many things.

05/25/2018 at 09:17 PM

Bow and arrow stealth headshots are uniquely satisfying.

Still Waiting was the first single they did where they went a little heavier. That one's on Does this Look Infected? I think you'd like No Reason and The Bitter End of their Chuck album. I want to say it was inspired by a guy named Chuck they met while in a foreign war zone?

I like Zappa's wild interviews and personality, but really don't know much of his music. What I've heard didn't really click with me. I know he named his daughter Moon Unit.

Modern Times sounds inheresting. I'm airways skeptical of myself whenever one book or documentary changes my perspective though, because then I'll think, "I wonder what they may have skewed or left out that I didn't see." Partly that's me being cynical, but I've also been burned before.

Cary Woodham

05/25/2018 at 08:54 PM

Wreck-it Ralph is now one of my top five favorite Disney characters. He shares the spots with Chip N Dale, Scrooge McDuck, Oswald the Rabbit, and Sorcerer Mickey.

05/25/2018 at 09:11 PM

Do you also like the movie or more just the character? Watching it again, it's not the best movie ever to me, but it hits a lot of right notes for me, personally.

05/27/2018 at 09:21 PM

I like the movie and the character. I liked the movie more than I thought I would, and it kind of grew on me after watching it again, too.

rmsk8r05

05/28/2018 at 11:48 PM

Horizon: Zero Dawn, great game, hated the camera though.

05/29/2018 at 08:25 AM

I could see that given how big enemies are, but I thought the camera was pretty good all things considered.

Nicoleb1989

05/29/2018 at 12:03 AM

I just watched Wreck it ralph the other day with my niece. She seemed to have liked it pretty well. Im pretty excited for the sequal later this year.

God of War seems to be a mix bag between people. Some have really enjoyed it and then others found it meh. I played the first one but only very little. I thought about getting this new one but I dont know when I will.

05/29/2018 at 08:27 AM

Did you like Wreck it Ralph?

And yeah, I'm going to see how I feel about GoW. I do think it's pretty.

05/30/2018 at 12:09 AM

I loved it, I thought it was good and pretty funny at moments.

goaztecs

06/06/2018 at 12:02 PM

I really liked the two Guardians soundtracks. I should actually sit down and watch those flicks. Black Panther's soundtrack is also really good. I think I bought it because I saw that there was a Sza track with Kendrick.

What does a Garmin Smart Watch do? Does it do the usual heart rate and all that jazz? I was thinking about getting something similar because I don't think the app on my phone is accurate.

10 Album Challenge sounds interesting. What do you have to do?

06/08/2018 at 04:23 PM

The two Guardians flicks for me are some of the most rewatchable of the Marvel movies. They're standard, but I think the characters are the most fun of the Marvel ones. I need to listen to more of Black Panther's soundtrack. I liked a couple songs in it for sure.

Garmin VivoSmart 3 does mileage, pace, HR, step count, stair count, etc. It didn't have a GPS though and I think that's why it might have been so "off." Initially I wanted it that way because I don't like having my movement tracked, but I may get one with GPS next time.

10 album challenge is just posting 10 covers of your favorite albums with no explanation, one for each day.

PixlBit