I guess the weather forecast for the next week would just have to be poor, since I’m booked in to go camping during my upcoming week off. How un-British would it be to decide to enjoy its countryside without wet weather attempting to hamper your experience? What else would we have to talk about? Brexit? Scoff. Anyway, it’s Sunday morning and the sun is out for a spell and the coffee is brewed…wait, no it’s not brewed. This is instant! Perhaps I forgot to get a bag of the good stuff, but I’ve got 8-mile to run and I need something caffeinated SO let’s get this show on the road and ask the question, what have I been…
reading?
Another week another complete lack of good reading time. I did pop into the second-hand book shop and picked up some interesting reads so at least I can take a pretty picture to put with this segment. Hopefully with the week off I can make up for lost time but between all the walking and pubs and struggling to put up tents, it might be another lacklustre reading week.
listening to?
Coinciding with a Martin Scorsese Netflix documentary (June 12) which follows the same tour, a monumental 14-disc box set of live recordings from Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue 1975 tour has been released. Have I got a hold of one of those colossal collections? Not yet. But there is a “sampler” on Spotify, which alongside the previously released One More Cup of Coffee (as a single of sorts) has certainly acted as fantastic appetiser which has set me down a rough trod path of Dylan-mania.
For all you synthwave heads I point you in the direction of FM Attack. His new album New World is out and well worth a listen.
In terms of singles I’ve got to recommend the emo pop of MUNA’s Number One Fan, further channelling the best of The 1975 (who I have a rather on/off relationship with) with a instantly sticky track which stands face first against the negative words which spiral in our heads and are facilitated by the negativity associated with social media.
watching?
It’s E3 baby, so you know what I’ll be getting into tonight. Some of my pre-show favourites have already leaked, Watch Dogs 3 is Watch Dogs Legion and I’m looking forward to seeing what that really looks like. Otherwise my attention is primarily focused on the Microsoft conference, with Sony skipping this year can they step up to the plate and deliver the goods?
Not really been able to get into any TV of late, so I’ll actually recommend a couple of YouTube channels which I’ve been hot on at the moment.
I got into the Super Beard Bros through their Super Mario Maker content, and I’ve kept up with them ever since. Recently however, hyped for the second instalment of that game, this time on the Nintendo Switch, I returned to their Maker playlist. It’s a little weird to have nostalgia for a YouTube series, but I can’t deny I got a little sepia-tinged-tingle when the opening jingles, which have since been cut, played out again. Weird, but if you’re looking for a reason to get into the new Mario Maker game you could do worse than starting here – fans make the levels, the Beard Bros play them. It’s a simple concept, but as the themes get more specific as the series goes on the levels get better and the boys get funnier and funnier. When you’re done there, show them some love by getting into one of their current shows – Bloodborne would be my recommendation.
I’ve also been diving into some TheLifeofJord videos, summoning up some travel inspiration. His video on the Great Wall Marathon is fantastic, and certainly sparked up some motivation for me to keep running longer and longer. Heading out into the world to race unique events like that gives world travel a structure that is really enticing to me.
playing?
Pretty much just the two games have been on my radar this week, Outer Wilds – one of my favourite games of the year, that I wrote about in more (although not that much more, don’t get spoiled!) here.
And Assassins Creed Odyssey. At this point I’ve invested so much time in that game that I can’t just stop, can I? At some point I have to look at it and think, yes that’s complete, even if there is technically still content floating around in it’s massive world which I haven’t actually completed. Until that point of satisfaction I don’t think this game is going away.
running?
Now that I’m taking a post a week to actually talk about my running in more detail I won’t get too bogged down in too many training details, but suffice to say I had intended to run a sub-20 minute 5k yesterday…and it rained, hard. I could have gone to the run, but with a shift at work awaiting me afterwards I decided to not get soaked and put in a tough treadmill session instead. I’ll make it up with some good distance today.
Speaking of which, enough of this! I’m off on an 8-mile run, upon which I will probably lament the limits of freeze-dried instant coffee.
run into words 