Ok, so it’s a fairly loose use of the term “around the world.” What we’ve got are live bird cams, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and I’m defining “around the world” as “it’s almost always daylight in one of them!” They run around the clock, regardless, so you can always check in in Ithaca (New York), either of their two feeders in Panama, the one in Montana, and – my ‘light out when it’s night here’ – the one they have in New Zealand, watching the Northern Royal Albatross! There are a number of other cameras that are either currently off or retired, for which you can still go through the archives, and highlights for the active feeders too, if you prefer that to watching live.
Hex Effects: Or, Side Effects of the Amateur Alchemists. Officially. Or, unofficially, When Family Rivalries Can Only Be Settled By Giving Your Relative an Evil Alter Ego! Amongst other miserable maladies.
Hex Effects is a game which you start afflicted, and spend trying to treat your own Hexes. As you do, though, each Remedy will leave you susceptible to other Hexes, which the other players will so ungraciously give you, while also triggering your untreated Hexes with Disasters to garner an effect. There really is no winning, is there? Only there is, because it’s a card game! The first person to treat all their Hexes wins. Take that, meddling relatives!
This one is relatively simple for something that goes back and forth so much. There are a few other ways to mess with other players and/or benefit yourself – usually ‘and,’ they’re very much joint concepts – and precious few things to keep track of that aren’t directly in front of you, rendering it rather easy to pick up! While also being a “plan six steps ahead, if you wish” (“…and if the deck favors you”) kind of options-transparent. The design is similarly details-rich combined with easy-to-parse!
My brain is a little fried this evening, having spent the midday heat (and my goodness was it hot) outdoors. I don’t regret it, though! The Morton Arboretum’sWine and Art Walk was well worth it.
All this weekend, artists have set up shop around the lake nearest the Visitor Center, selling nature-themed pieces of all shapes, sizes, and price ranges. There were some very pretty landscape photography on-metal prints running in the range of $2,000, and a salamander sticker I got for $3. Shows like this are always a treat, because you never know quite what you’ll find! And what you’ll learn! Another artist and I had an illuminating conversation on glasswork. And of course, anything set in the arboretum is doomed to be gorgeous, especially when summer flowers are fully in bloom.
Here there be parrots! This was definitely the item on our Canary Islands trip for which I had the most expectation, and I wasn’t sure how it would live up. “Voted best zoo in the world, twice“? I mean, I’ve seen some pretty zoos, but a zoo’s still a zoo, y’know?
It was, in fact, still a zoo! Shocking, I know. At a glance, it looked pretty familiar: there are your ‘big, impressive animals’ – the lions, the tigers, the orcas and the apes; and then the little impressive animals, also – jellyfish, bats, tortoises. Food stops and gift shops, multiple ways to get to the same place, but still a couple of easy first-timer directions, where you can follow the loop and see mostly everything. I don’t mean this as a bad thing – this is the foundation on which our expectations of a zoo are built!
And then there’s the bonuses. Parrots, everywhere, which is a given given that Loro Parque means “parrot park.” Still, somehow, I was surprised at the amount of parrots. Between any two main exhibits, parrots. A whole cluster of walk-through exhibits: also parrots. Opening the dolphin show: there were parrots!
Even excluding the parrots (sorry, parrots), the dolphin show was a standout, with not just the tricks and edutainment one would expect, but also a strong sense of crowd work and how to keep a full house engaged! The pacing was solid, and the music choices were also strong. Delightful. We hit all four of the shows they were running, including the parrots, and while all of them were good, this one was the most memorable.
Also a favorite was the penguin house, as while Brookfield Zoo out by us has warm-weather penguins, it does not have Antarctic, and it definitely doesn’t have a conveyor belt to view them from. The walk-on conveyor belts were just a good idea in general, it seemed; slowly rotating around the exhibit while you view is definitely an experience! And it gets everyone on the belt all of the angles. Also a faint sense of comedic effect. You know. Just a little.
I have no idea how one chooses best zoo in the world, but this one was delightful, with so much to see and appreciate, and we still managed to see all but half an exhibit and all of the shows in an only-slightly-harried full day! If you happen to be visiting Tenerife, definitely keep it in mind, and if you happen to be in Puerto de la Cruz, there’s a free street train that runs to and from downtown. Happy travels!
This one is bittersweet, because I knew the game was being discontinued by the time that I acquired it. I recently came into a secondhand Nintendo Switch, and seeing that it was slated to be discontinued, the first of their free games that I tried was Star Wars: Hunters. That way, if I liked it, I’d have as long as possible!
Folks, I liked it. I adored it. I wish I’d written about it sooner, so those of you interested would have had as long as well, and it’s taken me a while to put it into words. Truth be told, I’m still a little short for words, and that’s ok.
Star Wars: Hunters is a no-hard-feelings 4v4 brawl/bloodbath with Star Wars-style characters, each new and with their own lore. And their own weapons! Lightsabers, flamethrowers, poison arrows… there are no holds barred. And! Rest assured your opponents (and your friends) will respawn when eliminated, no harm done. Except to their objectives.
Hunters has, by and large, three game modes. “Eliminate opponents” (possibly with extra steps), “hold location” (possibly with extra locations to control), and “hold object” (and possibly do something with it). One of the latter, and one of my personal favorites, is a cycling special event called Huttball, which is basically like if soccer or American football were characterized by ziplines, fire hazards, and also The Power of Unspeakable Violence. What a delight! Another special event takes the usual “eliminate opponents” game mode, Squad Brawl (won by the first team to reach 20, 25, or 30 eliminations in all), and makes every single character the Wookie, with an Ultimate Ability recharge that’s absurd. The entire battle is eight Wookies yelling and hurling boulders at each other. It’s called Boulder Bash.
I could go on for hours, but truly, I cannot say enough good things about this game. Whether you like tanks, healers, snipers, or squishy melees, there’s a solid handful of characters for you, each with their own distinct gimmicks, power sets, and catchphrases. If you don’t like one healer, there’s a good chance you’ll think better of another! If you’re not a fan of straight-up PvP mode, perhaps controlling objectives is more your speed. And the implication, underneath it all, that they’re all friends and/or coworkers, to me makes the whole thing all the more sweet. I love this game.
