I discovered them through “Savin’ Me” and I unironically love that song (and its music video) to bits. Even if some of the lyrics are a bit flimsy and dramatic, the song overall is so emotionally powerful. Same goes for “Hero” (packaged with the first Spidey movie). Strip away some of the ear candy in the Kroeger production and they both still hold up as beautiful songs.

I’ve been realising more and more that I need music, or certain types of music to push through something I need to do. Working in silence (with undiagnosed ADHD/whatever’s happening up there) leaves too much room for boredom, so I suppose the music acts as a stimulus to keep going.

When I have to do something as menial as chores or housework, I put on headphones and crank a mix of tracks from the Tekken games. Nothing like blasting Tag 1’s rousing, electro-rock-D&B intro to start washing the fat stack of dishes from last week. 😁

Upgrade was fantastic! So glad I caught that under the radar. Such a great action sci-fi with a dystopian flavour. “Black Mirror” meets “John Wick”. And what an ending.

Hope you enjoy it! Here’s one of the spoiler-free content guides I found for it just to give an idea. Violence, blood and gore are at the top of the list, as expected ;)

https://imdb.com/title/tt6499752/parentalguide

Without spoiling too much, the ending is not entirely traumatising in my view, but it personally left me rather depressed, with an acute feeling of loss and hopelessness. Though wouldn’t say that any standard trigger/content warnings apply to the ending (the rest of the movie does get rather bloody though)

I’ve got one that’s a gem and hasn’t been mentioned yet, for once!

Upgrade (2018)

A guy and his wife are attacked, his wife is murdered and he just barely survives. With the help of a super-chip implanted into his body by a billionaire, he sets out to get revenge. But at what cost?

A stylish, savage techno-action film, basically John Wick but with AI chip. The ending is rightly haunting. Well worth watching!

This is me right now with RDR2, almost feverish with it for the last two weeks.

Currently on my second full playthrough. This time I’m changing it up by playing with a controller, and doing a low honour run - role-playing as the disillusioned dickhead that hates the world, antagonises almost everyone and gets bounties left and right. I have been avoiding story missions for the last 5-10 hours just because the world is so engrossing, so rich with experiences and possibilities that the thought of returning to the story starts to feel restrictive. But I’ve added a good 20+ mods to enhance the experience in a lore-friendly way, too.

But man is it fun. God, what a pleasure it is to experience that world, and to know just how much of it I still have left to discover. I love it so much.