my life outside of games

My name is Nicholas and every so often, I remember I have a website.

Anyway, I have gone back and forth over what my next video should be and found that I am not really getting anywhere by pacing back and forth in my apartment (but that’s all part of the process). But while I continue to wait for my next video idea to strike like a bolt of lightning, I thought I would at least regurgitate what I’ve been up to on here (I am paying for this domain, after all).

In the city, I’m lucky to live in proximity to a plethora of local bookshops, movie theaters, record stores, a non-profit video rental store, and various libraries. And since moving here, I have found just how much more I’ve found myself encouraged to watch more movies, read more books, and discover new music.

Beef and Bell Peppers w/o the Beef

My YouTube channel has primarily been about video games and the role they play in my life. But there has not really been an opportunity to switch gears to talk about some of my other favorite media that aren’t games. And I guess this post is me trying to forge that moment to talk about what my life has been like outside of games.

I’ll start with the comfort meal I probably cooked the most this past summer and that is Beef and Bell Peppers.

I’m a big Cowboy Bebop fan and besides curry- this has got to be my most cooked meal. Just make sure to leave out the beef for added Bebop accuracy.

I also enjoy making it in the wok I got for Christmas. It’s huge and great for stir fry. Highly recommend using a wok.

Speaking of Bebop, I recently got my first turntable since high school and am happy to report I finally got my hands on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack (including the Netflix version).

Say what you will about Netflix’s Bebop, we still got new music from The Seatbelts.

A long long time ago, I got rid of my Crosley record player that were oh so popular during the days of 2014 Tumblr- Urban Outfitters was at the height of its power. Anyway, I only ever had like 2 albums back then: Ritual in Repeat - Tennis and some LP by Portugal. The Man that my sibling got me as a gift. But I let my sibling have anything vinyl-related because I didn’t want another hobby to collect for at the time (I was already into retro gaming at the time, so there were no funds to go around).

I think my friend trapped me into getting a turntable on purpose because for my birthday he got me Jubillee - Japanese Breakfast on record and my fate was sealed right then and there. Not to mention, I also managed to find the soundtrack to SOLO: a Star Wars Story on record later that day (I have a soft spot for failed space westerns with amazing soundtracks).

But yeah, anyway, I did not intend for this to just be a post about me going on about the records I’ve been listening to because I don’t think that is particularly interesting but I rarely let myself ever talk about anything other than games and this is just my new hobby that I’m excited over and I promise to not be insufferable about it to those around me.

Besides spending a crap ton on new records, I have also been enjoying more and more movies. WAY more movies than I ever did when I was in school for film.

Me practicing my trip to the Criterion Closet

Back in college, when I was making movies and studying movies, I never watched movies on my own time. Is that because movies in a way were already work? All I did in college was go to class and then proceed to just play video games and not really diversifying the media I was consuming but that is neither here nor there. The point is that I’ve been trying to catch up on movies and rediscover my taste in movies outside of your Spider-Man and Star Wars movies.

I even made… a letterboxd? That’s right, folks. As a former letterboxd anti, I am now rambling about movies on there so if you care to hear about my thoughts on Notting Hill, feel free to follow me there (link at the top of the website).

The reason I made a letterboxd in the first place was a) I was getting fed up with the 2025 algorthmic, AI wasteland that most of social media has become but still wanted an app to scroll on throughout the day and b) when I was asked my coworker about movie recs one day, I realized I have zero idea what my taste in movies actually is. So I made a letterboxd. I’m still coming to terms with it.

However, using letterboxd in conjunction with my local video rental store and the theater down the street has made me fall in love with movies again as a dude who paid way too much for his degree in filmmaking.

I’m not going to use this post to talk about the movies I’ve been watching because that’d be WAY too much so here’s what I rented from the store this past week:

Left to right: The Funeral, The Tatami Galaxy, and The Night is short, walk on girl.

I guess that now leaves me to talk about the books I’ve read this summer.

At the start of the Summer, I had had trouble focusing on a book since I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle over the winter which was a book that I happen to like (unfortunately) because Murakami’s writing style and the magical realism of it all is something that has stuck with me. And out of all of Murakami’s other books, I found Wind-Up to be to more acceptable book to enjoy- but even then, the bar is in hell because he’s such a freaking weirdo. But again, I’m not going to get into it here. The point is that I liked Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and am ashamed to admit that because Murakami has zero idea how to write women.

So it had been some time since I read something.

But at the start of the summer, the newest translation had just released for Yukito Ayatsuji’s House Murder series and that was a day one purchase for me because I loved The Decagon House Murders just that much.

The Labyrinth House Murders - Yukito Ayatsuji

I plowed through this book in 2 or 3 days and I just found it to be stupid fun. I thought the mystery was gripping from beginning to end and found that the translation was really clever- but to break that down would almost spoil the book so I’ll just stop there.

From there, I sought out more Japanese detective novels I had not yet read and it was only a matter of time before I found Detective Kosuke Kindaichi- my new comfort character. But I feel like I’ve already taken up enough of your time if you happened to make it this far so I’ll just stop here.

If you’re curious, here are all the books I got through this summer.

I know I usually talk about games, but this was something new I wanted to try out. I mentioned my letterboxd shenanigans but I also made a backloggd account to track all the games I’m playing so feel free to check that out if you’re curious what I’m playing when I’m not making a video about it: https://backloggd.com/u/nikgrgrio/

Anyway, I’ll catch you soon. Hopefully, in video form.