Video games

Consuming entertainment as an aspiring creator of one, isn’t ideal. While it’s perfectly fine to get inspired by reading, watching or listening, there’s sometimes a bit of guilt involved when it comes to life and things. Then again, sometimes it’s great to take a deep dive in something as immersive as a video game. This week I rediscovered The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch. I had clocked many hours in this game already in 2017, but never bothered to finish it, let alone play the DLC-content which I purchased too. It’s not that I didn’t want to finish it, I just felt like I had to make the most of the experience before definitively finishing it. This week I decided I should probably finish it already, otherwise I might never. And thus I did defeat the final boss and then dove straight into the DLC. Turns out the whole DLC thing is such a joy and an absorbing experience, that I spent a fair few afternoons this week strolling through Hyrule and its different areas. Great fun, but then again I had also sort of promised myself I’d work on some websites, finish a book I’ve been reading for most of the year and do some writing. So enough is enough, and here I am writing my second ever week notes to kick things off…

Christmas

Ah, Christmas. I regret to inform everyone reading here that I have no Christmas tree this year. I had a tiny mini small not that big a Christmas tree, that sadly perished in the Summer drought this year. I have some Christmas lights up though, so that’s something. We thought about getting a tree but it’s getting a bit late now, and while I will be home for Christmas, there’s a lot of plans coming to fruition that might not make the whole Christmas tree thing worth it this year.

London

Since I found some of the best friends I ever had in London back in 2005/2006, I’ve been visiting London almost every year, usually coinciding with a London show of my favourite band. But this year, while I did make a whirlwind visit to a southern part of the UK in October, I didn’t see my friends or my favourite city yet. Thankfully, right before the year is over, I’ll visit the London by ways of Gatwick (let’s hope no drone disturbances, then…), for New Year’s Eve and a couple of bonus days. No Turin Brakes gig planned however, though there is one happening in February. On a Saturday night. Ehm, I feel like it won’t be a year till the next London trip… We’ll see…

USA

I haven’t really written about my America trip yet. Even though there’s plenty of experiences to write about. I might find a way to do that sometime soon (but no promises). Here’s something.

Listen

• Season 2 of Heavyweight obviously. I’ve been writing a longer blog about why this show is so great. But for now just go and listen to it.
• Spotify has compiled a top 100 list of my most listened to music. Sadly it has been infected by my girlfriend’s musical taste, which is excellent but slightly different. She’s been stealing my Spotify quite a lot, but thankfully the top 10 still looks pretty “Stefan” to me:

Turin Brakes – Lost in the Woods

Villagers – A Trick Of The Light

Flyte – Victoria Falls

Mark Knopfler – Sailing to Philadelphia

Sharon van Etten – The End of the World >> my gf used this as inspiration (here)

To Kill A King – No More Love Songs

Rhye – Open

Andy Shauf – Early To The Party

Roo Panes – Little Giant

The War On Drugs – Pain

• Oh should I post Christmas songs here?

Watch

• I am currently watching the latest season of Bojack Horseman, which remains both depressing, funny, sad and poignant.
• The gf and I just finished the bizarre but enjoyable Maniac and we are also enjoying the latest season of Doctor Who, which feels very different compared to the previous ones, but nice nevertheless.

Tech

• As an iPad Pro 2017 user, I’m a big believer in using it as a productivity device, but the fact that Apple feels like it can get away with selling $900+ devices and being bent right out of the box. Well that is ridiculous.