Use the Falchion

I finally found my copy of Three Houses! I spent a few days playing a copy where I had started with the Black Eagles house, a first for me! I plan on going the Silver Snow route and romancing Rhea though. I knew there was something weird going on with this save file when I realized that Lysithea had no ranks with fists or flying, because I was POSITIVE I had done Fly-Sithea and Fist-Sithea before, on the same playthrough even! And I was positive I had started Marianne on the War Cleric route! As it happens, this was a different file than my normal one. On my normal NG+ save profile, which I found a few days later, I had rediscovered that Past-Falchion made the weird choice of playing through Azure Moon with M!Byleth. Since I refused to start over, I decided that I'll just role with it and romance Manuela for this playthrough. I was alternating between Hilda (due to all of the amazing HIldaleth art) and Manuela, and I'm going with Manuela because I adore the whole "babies ever after" ending, and only Byleth and Ferdinand give Manuela offspring. For maximum shipping chaos, I'm also having Dimitri romance Annette, instead of Felix/Annette like 90% of my previous playthroughs, because why not? Their supports are cute, and their ending card is ADORABLE. (It's also hilarious that both Annette and Ingrid can marry a king, in the form of Dimitri (Azure Moon), Claude (Verdant Wind), or Byleth (Verdant Wind/Silver Snow).) I'll probably continue to switch it up and have Dedue x Mercedes, Sylvain x Ingrid, Felix x Dorothea, and Seteth x Bernadetta as well. (Or Bernadetta x Yuri. Yuri and Raphael give Bernie her best endings, but I always go with Raph so I want to switch it up.) (Off the top of my head, I can only remember children being talked about in three of M!Byleth's supports - Manuela, Shamir, and Flayn. I'm sure there are more, but those are the only ones I know right now.)

Quest Academy series by Brian J. Nordon. It's a nice blend of LitRPG and Progression Fantasy, leaning more into the latter. At least until about halfway through Book 2. I stayed up literally all-night finishing Book 1 and reading 75% of Book 2. (And then sleeping and finishing the book as soon as I woke up.) Preordered Book 3, so adding that to my Google Sheets planner thingy. Not knowing anything about the series or author, and not noticing the spelling of certain words (like, Savior vs Saviour), I found it funny that I noticed that the author was European through the word and use of Relegation. Thank you, Ted Lasso! The books are decently written, and the world is quite interesting. The "post-apocalyptic superpower" setting worked for me in a way that The Path of Ascension series didn't, but I think fans of the latter will like this series. The series does have flaws, particularly with how the author writes women (they're almost all flirty, seductive, or sexual for the entirety of the first book. Everyone (except one character, who, while being antagonistic, isn't evil) ADORES the main character as well, which to me can be a bit tiring. I get it, but it I think that there are nuances that the author can work on for the series going forward. This series continues my trend of reading/liking series where the main character has a quirk or special power that gets noticed by higher-ups at whatever world and/or socio-academic setting they're in and using that training as a springboard for even greater things. Bonus points if it's focused on teamwork and collaborative efforts. (Unintended Cultivator, Elydes, etc.) I'm finding this to be a sister setting to the whole "MC starts with a deficit, but due to circumstances they're able to catch up to their peers, and their work ethic when they were considered disabled comes into play once the odds are evened." Once again, bonus points if focused on teamwork and collaborative efforts. (Cradle by Will Wight, Manifestation by Samuel Hinton.) (Mark of the Fool and Cytoverse are in in the middle, because like many things, this is a spectrum.) Another thing I've noticed I liked is the "consumption/power copy" trope in Progression Fantasy and LitRPG. I like the different takes I've read on it, and it's fun to see how overpowered the characters can get: In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, the main character Tsuna has this ability, but he rarely uses it due to the circumstances and difficulty setting up the technique. In Ultimate Level 1, Max's ability nigh-exclusively allows him to gain stats and skills by killing opponents. It's also how he heals. (He CAN gain XP by using his baking class, but utility classes in this world take so long to gain XP and level that it's not remotely worth it.) In Cradle, this becomes one of Lindon's core techniques, providing him with Madra (that he can use or vent) and occasionally memories. This relates back to Lindon's core personality and his overall power theming as well. In Unbound, Felix's technique evolves over the series, but it works very similar to Lindon's and Max's. Felix can gain memories from Consuming Mana or opponent's corpses wholesale, and he gains a chance at gaining a skill they possessed in doing so. He can also Consume things to recover Mana, Stamina, or Essence later in the series. In Quest Academy, Sal is able to copy virtually any ability he can see being used with his eyes by replicating the way the Essence flows and knots, and then can keep the ability so long as he remembers how the flows and knots go. And when he does this, he automatically gets said power at its maximum ability, a level that most of its original users will never achieve it at. This ranges from his parents' abilities to appraise objects or restore things to a former form, to his best friend's ability to see into the future. Sal has other powers, but those are best saved for the book proper. He also occasionally gets called out on not using said power to its fullest potential, but what that means is relative, and it's also where his character growth will most likely be focused on. If anyone has any other good "power copy/absorption" series, but also where it DOESN'T crowd out other members of the cast, I'm willing to try them out! Except for Worm, if that's one. I don't feel like it.

KIndle version of Quest Academy series by Brian J. Nordon. It's a nice blend of LitRPG and Progression Fantasy, leaning more into the latter. At least until about halfway through Book 2. I stayed up literally all night finishing Book 1 and reading 75% of Book 2. (And then sleeping and finishing the book as soon as I woke up.) Preordered Book 3, so adding that to my Google Sheets planner thingy. Not knowing anything about the series or author, and not noticing the spelling of certain words, I found it funny that I noticed that the author was European through the word and use of Relegation. Thank you, Ted Lasso!

That all sounds great! Except for the cherries, but that's a personal thing lol! (Cherries are my most-hated food item.) I actually spent several summers trying to making a good peach cobbler, and...I didn't succeed. They were decent, but they weren't great. But I have some recipes I can rediscover and try it with the ice cream. Thanks for the suggestion!

The Frankenstein (cheesy spinach stuffed chicken parm) went off without a hitch! It was probably the best iteration so far, thanks to marinating the chicken in buttermilk for 6 hours and frying the chicken in duck fat. I ended up just buying the vodka sauce, since baking the cake was a LOT, and I ended up buying a beer bread mix instead of making a loaf of Broa de MIhlo. (I've never made Broa before, but SOMEDAY I WILL!) The beer bread was a massive failure, but it was also unnecessary. The wedding cake with champagne icing was a success though! That being said, I don't think the icing was worth the effort, and while I like the wedding cake well enough, I don't plan on making it again. Interestingly enough, my favorite sugar cookie place uses the same flavors of almond and vanilla! I realized this when I tasted the batter, and it tasted eerily similar to the cookies. The cake's almond flavor really mellowed out in time, and found a nice balance by Day 2 or so, but overall I'm just not a big fan of the flavor outside of those cookies. The bourbon creme anglaise was AWESOME. I made it a few times before, but this was easily the best time. The biggest problem was that it congealed into a custard after being in the fridge. I've seen this happen with my rice pudding sometimes, so I definitely cooked it too long. I also made a second bourbon creme anglaise last night, and it wasn't nearly as good as the batch I made on Friday. Part of me thinks the lack of vanilla bean shell did this. You see, for the wedding cake, I used vanilla bean and vanilla extract. I toasted the bean in the oven until it was aromatic and then scrapped out all the pods into the batter for the cake. After that, I put the husk in the milk I planned on using for the creme anglaise. It didn't impart a massive vanilla flavor, but it helped round out the anglaise. Between the anglaise, the cake, and a nice blueberry wine, the dessert was a massive success. But I'm ready to move on. For my friend and his family, last night I made beef wellington, twice baked sweet potatoes, and smoked ice cream, just as promised! The beef wellington was good! It was well-done rather than rare or medium-well unfortunately (due to using medallions rather than one long piece because of logistical issues). but the meat was tender, juicy, and flavorful all the same. Honestly, this was my most relaxed experience making Beef Wellington, and while I don't plan on making it too often due to the cost, I'm no longer afraid or intimidated by it. Maybe next I'll move onto Lobster Thermidor so I can make the ultimate Surf'N'Turf! The twice-baked sweet potatoes turned out really well also! My friend's kids loved them and getting the "Kid Stamp of Approval" is always a highlight for me. They were soft and sweet, but not too sweet as to be a pie. It was a fine line and I think I walked it well. The biggest problem was that my mom had no cinnamon in the house. She uses Cinnamon Plus (which is cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a few other things mixed in) instead. This is fine, but I was thinking about toasting the spices for depth and aromatics real quick, but I wasn't comfortable doing that with her Cinnamon Plus. I also had to use a bit more than asked for to round things out. The smoked ice cream is the star of the night though. There are several ways to smoke ice cream, apparently! You can smoke the custard before you freeze it, infuse it with liquid smoke, infuse the custard with a smoked chip or bark, or smoke the finished ice cream and refreeze it. I chose the latter, buying a high quality ice cream and smoking it on my dad's grill using offset heat and hickory chips. I put it in a disposable aluminum tray, put ice in the tray, and then put the ice cream in a metal bowl on the tray. I covered the grill for about three minutes, flipped the unmelted parts of the ice cream over, and repeated for five minutes. The effects were AWESOME. The smoky flavor brings another dimension to the ice cream, and it's so surprising more places don't do this. My friend was just in shock at how good it was. He compared it to being at a campfire and the smoke blowing your way, but it being like all of the smell and nostalgia and none of the irritation. Okay, I added in the nostalgia part, but he did the rest! (Although my mom, my friend's wife, and my friend's eldest child did NOT like it. They all said it was good once you take the smoke out lol.) My goal now is to make a brown butter ice cream and smoke it and find a nice dessert to put it on top of. ('m thinking a copycat version of Linda's Fudge Cake from Cheesecake Factory, but I'm also thinking of putting Sea Salt Ice Cream on that, so I'm undecided just yet.) I have one full week of summer vacation left. Next week, I want to make duck and then use the carcass for a stock, just like @Treamayne does! Then, I'll use the stock for couscous!

Will announced the working title for the Cradle anthology book! "Threshold." Sounds pretty cool! Hopefully we'll see it before the end of the year! (And if not, three books in 2025 works for me!)

YKYASFW Brandon says that he isn't working on anything in a Weekly Update and your first thought is that he's working on yet another Secret Project. Circumstantial Evidence Includes: Previous Trends: The last time Brandon spun his wheels and was finishing up some stuff was in November/December of 2021 IIRC, and that was when he wrote The Sunlit Man. Him doing the same for a month here is suspicious... I can see Sanderson taking off a week or two for vacation, which it seems like he partially did, but the entire month with no progress or talks about progress? That's suspicious... Brandon has openly talked about how he writes on vacation, with the first real work on Rhythm of War being done on the beach, and how most of Isles of the Emberdark was written on the beach. (And him writing Warbreaker on his honeymoon.) Sanderson "spinning his wheels" and then immediately going on a trip really feels likes there is a project he's working on. Brandon's editor Peter talked about how, when Sanderson was working on Rhythm of War revisions, he'd send in little pieces of micro fiction (or was it flash fiction?) as a sort of stress reliever. Writing something new really helps Brandon's creative process. Lack of Progress: Brandon has four things he wants and/or needs to do before the end of the year: Non-Cosmere novella and short story collection. Mistborn Era 3 Outline Polish (Mistborn 8 is here too.) White Sand revision Isles of the Emberdark revision Instead of making progress on any of these, for an entire month, Brandon simply spun his wheels. He only started working on Emberdark this past week, and immediately left for vacation. Brandon's 2024 Timeline: The rest of Brandon's 2024 is on a pretty loose timeline, and it's mostly taken up by revisions of things he's already written. Given that the first half of Sanderson's year was also taken up by revisions, and he doesn't really like the process that much (he's good at it and does it with full honestly and expertise), I can see a scenario where Sanderson would say "let me take some time to work on something new and refreshing before jumping back into revisions." Now, what this hypothetical project is, I have no idea. But some guesses! Kingmaker - The YA Cosmere story about a girl in the titular role, set on the world of First of the Sun. Given what we know about Isles of the Emberdark, that can work for or against this story being written.* Brandon would have had to figure out the voice and tone of the story first though. Could he finally make Hoid's voice work for the story, or would he have to replan it from the ground up? YA Kite Story - Sanderson's wanted to write this for a while, but given some things about Emderdark, we'll see if or when this happens.* Rithmatist Sequel aka The Atzlanian - This is my personal preference at this time, as I feel like this is the perfect time for Brandon to write the book. Writing it could be seen as a victory lap for fans, having already gotten five other surprise novels. It would also probably be really good for Brandon's psyche, finally having That One Book out of the way. (Granted, Sanderson at one time did plan for a third book titled The Nebraskian. I can imagine both Atzlanian and Nebraskian being short enough to write before the end of the year and just have the entire series done, but I can also see Sanderson just closing the loop at the end of Atzlanian and never looking back.) Silence Divine - Possible, but I think Brandon would still want some more time between this book and Covid. Grand Apparatus - Brandon's random mention of it during Dragonsteel 2023 felt more like foreshadowing than anything else, not unlike when we got a lot of information about Aethers right before Tress was announced, or how we got a lot of information about another particular thing before Emberdark was announced. If the Grand Apparatus doesn't show up in Emderdark, I'm betting it'll show up in the next Cosmere Secret Project. Something new - Honestly, this is the most likely outcome IMO. This doesn't mean that it won't have features of the above things, or that it won't be about the Grand Apparatus. Just that the plot will be something else entirely. *Emderdark notes and preview chapter spoilers

Still blasting Thunder Saga on repeat, but there's still more! "can you see me in the dark" by Halestorm and I Prevail. I've never heard of either band until 30 minutes ago, but I really like the song! It reminds me of "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence with a little more Bring Me the Horizon thrown in. (The mix of heavy synths and rock, and the song just feels thematically similar to some of their songs.) I also went on a nostalgia iTunes binge and rebought some old songs from an account I no longer have access to. "Distance (M-Flo Remix)" by Hikaru Utada - I remember discovering this song from a Kingdom Hearts AMV probably close to ten years ago. At the time, the album wasn't on iTunes, so I had to order it through Amazon and burn it to my iTunes on my old computer. That computer has since died, so no more access! I still have the CD laying around, but buying it from iTunes was far easier. I still associate this song with Kingdom Hearts, even if it's not related in any official capacity. (For those who adore Hikaru's Kingdom Hearts songs but don't know where to start for the rest of their music, I'd start with the latest album BAD MODE, as it has "Face My Fears" in English, Japanese, and remixed on the album. From there, I'd recommend working backwards to Hatsukoi (my favorite album) and Fantome. After that, I'm probably not the most helpful version, but I loved the Beautiful World/Kiss and Cry EP, which will bring you full circle back to BAD MODE, since the remix of "Beautiful World" was one of the major singles from the album.) TOPxMM - EP - Twenty One Pilots x MuteMath. MuteMath feels like an old friend musically. We don't keep up, but we've had some very good and memorable times together. Their first album, MuteMath, is still one of my all-time favorite albums. I really Blurryface from Twenty One Pilots, so seeing this collaboration made the EP an immediate buy from me. ("Heathens" is good too I guess. Probably the second-best thing to come out of that one DC movie, right behind casting Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. (Yes I know the name.)) "Clipping" by MuteMath - My favorite song by the band that isn't present on their titular album or their Spotlight EP. B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray - B.o.B. gets a lot of flack for being a flat earther, AND RIGHTFULLY SO! But this album and the few after it are actually pretty stinkin' good. Or were at the time at least. This one still holds up! (I'm considering buying "Chattering" by this artist as well, but I'm really not sure I like it.) "Cold Case" by Elle Varner - I love Elle Varner and I for nearly a decade I thought this song just wasn't on iTunes. It turns out, I had just been looking in the wrong place for all that time... "Thistle & Weeds" by Mumford & Sons - I can't even remember how or why I know this song. Maybe it was on the radio? Maybe it was in a show? No idea. "Explosive" by Bond - This song was my White Whale for nearly half of my life. I remember first hearing it in a Naruto AMV in the early days of YouTube. I would search for that AMV for YEARS and never found it. I'd try humming it in different song recognition apps, but nothing ever pulled up. The closest I ever got to hearing again was once in a random airport lounge where I was able to hear the final notes of the song before I could pull out my phone and try to record or recognize it. A few years ago, I went on another potentially fruitless hunt - this time on Reddit! - but by the grace of God I found the AMV and the song! One of the comments had the song, and, after over a decade, we were reunited. That was in, 2021? 2022? (I DM'd the Redditor who posted the title of the song later on, so they could know that their 7-9 year old comment actually helped someone, and they responded. But alas, that was deleted in Reddit's big update a year or so back.) Today was the day I decided to buy it so I could never lose it again. EDIT: "Just Love" by Lubalin is another song I've been listening to a lot.

We are the same, you and I.

Nothing this week, but next week I'll be making a Beef Wellington, wine-poached pear salad, twice-baked sweet potatoes, and smoked ice cream for my friend. He asked for the ice cream as a birthday gift last year, and I said I'd owe him a Beef Wellington. Also next week, I'll be trying out Stuffed Chicken Parm Version 6.0.* It's a cheese and spinach stuffed pan-fried chicken served over pasta with a vodka sauce. I've tried twice with chicken, then went to quail, then to duck breast and now back to chicken. I've tried this mostly with vodka sauce, but I also tried this with a lemon and brown butter sauce that my parents loved. I've tried this with homemade pasta (toasted flour, cooked spinach, and egg), but honestly it's easier to just buy some spinach tagliatelle and toasting it before boiling it. I'll serve this with a brown-butter vanilla* and almond "wedding" cake with champagne cream cheese icing (and if I can, a bourbon creme anglaise*) as dessert. Despite not liking alcohol, I like serving this with a blueberry or blackberry wine. The wine tastes sweet with the main meal, and then becomes tart and cuts through the sweetness of the cake with dessert. My parents will be out of town when I make this, and I'll be watching their house, so this all is for me and whoever I decide to give the leftovers to. I'm really just making this because I want to. What I really need to work on is my weekday meal repertoire. I've got a Japanese-inspired chicken curry and rice, Egg Foo Yung when I remember, and Spaghetti Bolognese. I have a nice lemon honey garlic salmon recipe that's pretty good that I want to add in, but I also want to make it a tad more complex. (Partially poach it in white wine before adding the sauces and finishing in the oven for roughly ten minutes.) I also like to serve this with lemon couscous, but I want to try and use a duck stock instead of chicken stock, but the effort it takes to make duck stock is daunting. (I have a very good roast duck recipe, but using the remains for stock kinda scares me.) As you can see, I like cooking with alcohol. I always say I don't like drinking alcohol, but I like eating it lol. *This is based off of Natasha's Kitchen's Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Chicken recipe. **I plan on toast the vanilla beans before adding them to the cake. I've done this before for a standard vanilla cake, and I couldn't take a difference, but that was pan-toasting. This time, I'm gonna roast them in the oven for a few minutes instead. The beans will go in the cake, and the husks will soak in the milk for the anglaise.

Epic: The Musical Thunder Saga released last night and I AM NOT OKAY.

I watched F9: The Fast Saga again with my parents on Saturday. It still is one of my favorite F&F movies. The action is good and over-the-top, characters that aren't acted by Vin Diesel get a nice chunk of screentime and development, and I honestly like John Cena as the angry brother. The movie brought back nearly every character to some degree, and while the big poster revival was one of the worst in the franchise (F 10's revival is the worst IMO), the characters reacted to it well, and it played nicely with the mid-credits teaser. I love how the final scene in the movie is Brian's car pulling up to the barbeque, as it feels like it's Justin Lin (the director of F&F 3-6 & 9) saying goodbye to the character in his own way. AND NOTHING CAN CHANGE MY MIND ON THAT. Watching it again after having seen F 10, I feel like this is a good stopping point for the series in the same way that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is for the series. The story clearly isn't over, and the adventure will continue, but everyone feels like they've completed their arcs for the saga, and they're in a better place. There's hope at the end, and in these cases, our imaginations are better than the reality we got.* Television-wise, my mom and I finally started Ted Lasso! I mean, she binged the show a year or two ago and has been trying to get me to watch it ever since, and I'm finally in the mood to watch it. And boy howdy do I love it so far! We're only four episodes in, but I've already got the craving to make some biscuits, get a cup of English Breakfast Tea, and binge 3-4 episodes with my mom. Later in the summer my dad and I will watch the 1980s Shogun to have a fun compare/contrast with the 2024 version. My dad loved the show growing up, and while the 2024 version took its time to grow on me, grow on me it did! I'm excited to see the older version also. (And fun fact, Anna Sawai aka "Mariko-Sama" in the 2024 Shogun played Elle in F9!) *Speaking of Star Wars, when I originally saw and reviewed this movie, I claimed it was as if Justin Lin wanted to direct and/or saw The Rise of Skywalker, said he could do better, and proceeded to do so in his own ninth installation. The plot and action just felt so Star Wars-y to me at the time, and I was still hurting from The Rise of Skywalker, that it made sense. Seeing it with The Rise of Skywalker nearly 5 years out, I can say that some of that still is true for me, but most of it has faded. What's left is my desire to have Justin Lin actually direct a Star Wars movie. He's done Star Trek, now let him do Star Wars! (I have a pitch and everything!) And yeah, at that time, I compared a LOT of movies to TROS. The most memorable ones that I compared to Star Wars were: F9: The Fast Saga - High octane chases, a sci-fi world-ending device that felt straight out of Star Wars, and the power of love, family, and friends. Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings - You've got an evil father, fun fight scenes, and focus on Yin-Yang/duality, mysticism and magic intertwined with modernity to a degree, and forgiveness. I'm not explaining myself very well here, but Shang-Chi gave me a lot of Return of the Jedi vibes, but condensed and in the way possible. Spider-Man: No Way Home - A (slightly) better way to introduce a villain you want to redeem but not necessarily forgiving them of what they've done. Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantamania - It was if someone wanted to do a Star Wars movie but had neither the pedigree, experience, or budget.

I enjoy the aesthetics, characters and acting, wuxia-inspired fights, and storyline. (Which, while isn't new for Star Wars, is fun to see all the same.) Is it the best Star Wars show? No. Is it the worst? Also no. It's firmly in the "enjoyable and I'd like to see the creator do more Star Wars" thing category, so around the same level as The Bad Batch, Rebels, and Ahsoka.* *Ahsoka has one of my favorite Star Wars moments ever in "Shadow Warrior," and I adore most of Filoni's works, but it still feels like he's in the middle of some growing pains.

Yup and yup. I weirdly liked Bariss' arc, but I also didn't like it at the same time. It just felt weird all around. Anyways, I'm enjoying Acolyte. That is all.

Maybe switch Kaladin to be Captain America and put Taln in as Thor? According to Brandon, he's the mostly likely person to be able to lift Mjolnir after all! Sazed would probably be the most 1:1 comparison. (Scholar in base form, hulking warrior of destruction when the situation calls for it, struggling to find peace within oneself), but maybe Zellion could also fit this category. Ohh interesting choice!