Tim Bueno

This post is a few days late but who’s really reading this anyway right? I spent January planning on a serious upgrade to my home network and server. Proxmox is amazing and it seems like it was absolutely the right choice for me. So much easier to maintain and experiment than my old Mac mini ever was. I’ve got an Ubiquiti network stack on the way and plan on installing it into a 10" rack system within a bookcase. Crossing my fingers that everything fits!

I also bought an Ayn Odin2 Portal, an Android based game console for emulation and game streaming. It’s been a fun toy to set up and I’m looking forward to playing lots of games streamed from my Xbox. There is something about playing handheld that I just enjoy more than playing on the television.

Here’s what else I’ve been up to the past month:

📺 What If…? (Season 3). I’m writing this about a month after I watched and honestly… kind of forgettable? It’s a shame but oh well…

🕹️ Metaphor: ReFantazio. I’m a recent convert to the joys of the Persona universe of games and as such, Metaphor: ReFantazio has been on my radar since it was announced early last year. These games are slow burns for me but I just love the mix of visual novel and JRPG style combat. Metaphor’s spin on over-world combat has also turned out to be the best of the Persona-esque games I’ve played so far. I’m enjoying this game immensely. I also want to note that I’ve played this game almost exclusively via local game streaming to my new Ayn Odin2 Portal and it’s working great! (👍)

📺 Squid Game (Season 2). Not sure if we really needed another season but I understand that Netflix just cannot help itself in these situations. It was enjoyable enough but I almost wish I had waited until the last part came out and binged it all at once.

📺 Shrinking (Season 2). Put this off for way too long. We loved the first season and for some reason just couldn’t bring ourselves to watch it. Not sure why as it was just as enjoyable as Season 1. I even got my parents to watch it. Harrison Ford has low key elite comedy timing. (👍)

🍿 Nosferatu. Fully enjoyed this new take on the vampire classic. The cinematography was on point and was spooky and sexy in the right ways. I will absolutely watch this again in the future. (👍)

🍿 Flow. I hadn’t really heard about this animated movie before we watched it but it’s worth putting on your radar. No dialogue, which I understand can be tough for some but it pays off in the end.

🍿 Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Needed more vampires in my life after watching Nosferatu. This 90s classic is goofy, bizarre and kinda good? Gary Oldman is predictably great. Keanu is… not.

📺 Castlevania: Nocturne. You’re now noticing a vampire themed month here. I swear I didn’t plan it. This animated series is very good and should not be skipped. (👍)

🍿 In a Violent Nature. What if a horror movie was told from the perspective of the killer? That’s what you get in this kinda good, kinda boring horror movie. I don’t think I’ll watch this again but I can appreciate trying something different in the horror space.

📺 The Apothecary Diaries. I always have some sort of anime in my backlog and I like convincing my girlfriend to watch with me. She ended up enjoying this way more than I did and I enjoyed it a lot! We’re definitely going to continue watching. (👍)

📺 Dune: Prophecy. I was afraid this was going to be bad. It was not. They managed to expand on the palace intrigue that makes the Bene Gesserit so fun in ways that I did not see coming. Also it was only 6 episodes! That’s my kind of television.

📺 Carole & Tuesday. Cowboy Bebop’s Shinichirō Watanabe’s take on an up and coming music duo taking on the world’s injustices set in NYC on Mars? Sign me up. The first season hit harder than the second but it still hit.

🍿 Heretic. Hugh Grant proves once again that he’s great at being a villain. The first time I realized this was Paddington 2 which I may need to watch again prior to the third installment in a few weeks.

📺 The Agency. Surprisingly gripping. I didn’t know I wanted a CIA spy thriller set in the UK but I do. Unfortunately I thought the end was the end and that this was a mini-series, but it turns out that more seasons are planned. I’ll probably watch.