thought bubbles hogan

A collection of things on my mind, and/or random thoughts I don’t think would make a long enough blog post on their own.

[dc]I[/dc] returned from a camping trip on Sunday, reeking of campfires, lake water, and bad dietary decisions. My July is shaping up to be pretty good.

Wonder Woman

Stephanie and I finally saw Wonder Woman last night. Very well done, and a far cry from the awful DC films put out so far. I told Stephanie, “Wonder Woman was a better Superman movie than the last five Superman movies.” (By which I mean: Batman v. Superman, Man of Steel, Superman Returns, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and Superman III).

I did get tired of the all of the slow-motion and close-up shots of bullets, and it was a bit long, but I enjoyed the film overall, even though I did see the “twists” at the end coming.

Speedway Squad (in Color)

I read a comic on Instagram the other day referring to the “Speedway Squad” bit in a Simpsons episode, and now it’s all I can think about. Mainly, the final exchange:

The year is 1965, and you and I are undercover detectives on the hot rod circuit. Now, let’s burn rubber baby!”

speedway squad simpsonsI have an urge to write some Speedway Squad fanfic.

Darkstalkers

A collection of the 2d fighting game series, Darkstalkers, is a free Playstation Plus download this month. I gave it a shot, because I needed a reminder about how terrible I am at 2d fighting games.

I do love the character animations, however, even though the designs for some of the female characters are, uh, rather revealing. 

My hands (especially my right hand) don’t like button-mashing so much these days. Ah, the joys of being an aging gamer. Fighting games are mostly button mashing (at least for me) and so I think I spent more time downloading Darkstalkers: Resurrection and installing it than actually playing.

Related: the button mashing in the Batman Arkham games (especially Batman: Arkham City) just about killed me. So many hand cramps.

Gathering Magic

While camping, I got in a few games of Magic: The Gathering with a cousin who also plays. It was the first games I played since…the Aether Revolt prerelease?

Still, I had fun spending hours building decks for about an hour of actual game play. (This is where Magic: The Gathering Online shines: I can make a deck in a fraction of the time)

The joy of playing Magic during our annual family camping trip is the tradition of explaining to aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents what we’re doing, about every five minutes.

Except for my dad, who said: “Did I see you Gathering yesterday?”

Beach Painting

I got one good beach day while camping. Which is all I really need (or can handle). I took the chance to bust out my Sakura Koi travel watercolor kit, and did a quick pair of drawings. Yes, right there on the sand. I’m still getting used to mixing colors (there’s only 12), but it is fun.

Beach painting I did on Saturday w/ my travel #watercolor kit. #clattertron #drawing #sketchbook #painting

A post shared by Daniel J. Hogan (@clattertron) on

My “buoy orange” might not have been 100% correct, but it’s the thought that counts, right?