Welcome back fellow sinners! If you’re reading this you were not raptured. Bummer…

…for Jesus! He don’t know what he’s missing!

YouTube Obsession

I have been really enjoying having the Bungletech podcast on in the background while I’m at work. It a fan podcast about the Battletech hobby from all angles; Painting, tabletop, lore, etc.

In the first episode they bring up an important point that informs why I like the Battletech universe: It is mostly grounded scifi¹ . The other popular space franchises like Star Wars or Warhammer 40k are more accurately defined as fantasy in space. The Battletech universe is decidedly all too human; No gods, no monsters, just man in all his wonder and folly.

This allows for me, a human, to relate more to the horrors and triumphs of the universe. The technical rules of the game also play into the idea of a human controlling a giant mech and all the attendant laborious procedures necessary to do so.

A great show that covers many topics in the Battletech scene and the hosts are chill.

Reading/Playing

It is fortuitous that I only recently talked about MegaMek, the fan-made suite of software that allows the game of Battletech to be played on the PC, for free. In my post I failed to mention the biggest stumbling block for downloading the suite; It’s a Java program.

23 years ago when this fan project started production, Java was the most popular software to run a game like MegaMek. Today, not so much. To even get Java running on modern computers is not hard per say, but is definitely annoying. But look, if you’re the kind of nerd that wants to play MegaMek, you’ll figure it out.

However, once you have MegaMek installed correctly, the software features tools streamlines making unit sheets and building companies. But again, navigating basic Java table charts is annoying to say the least. Once you memorized the cantankerous quirks of Java, MegaMek could significantly reduce the amount of prep needed for an irl game of Battletech.

Then, last week, the creators released the beta version of browser based tool-set: MekBay. This tool, without downloading, will allow anyone with a web browser to instantly build a lance and print out their battle sheets ready for an irl game. It’s as easy as searching for the mech you want, MekBay does the rest.

MM

I have been a lurker in a Queer BattleTech Discord community for a couple years now and I just love the community. But what is the most Queer thing you can do besides put stickers on everything? Why start a self-published zine of course!

Pirate Point is a fan made zine about the BattleTech game and universe created by queers! Featuring fan-fiction, art, builds, paintjobs and TT game encounter ideas all by queers and completely for free!

It’s goofy, it’s silly, it’s queer and it’s so cool. I love it when communities put the art they want to see out into the world themselves. Who knows, I may submit my own art for a future issue ;)

Listening

Gorillaz has released the first single from their upcoming album The Mountain called The Happy Dictator. I’m not crazy about it lol. However, I need to hear it with relation to the rest of the album as Gorillaz albums are usually meticulously arranged.

In anticipation for The Mountain I have been listening to their albums since Demon Days. It turns out that my opinion on Plastic Beach from 15 years ago has not been altered with a re-listen; It’s fairly boring.

However, I am so pissed that I never gave Humanz from 2017 a chance because this album rules. It reaches back down into weird depths and rethinks what pop-song should sound like and spits out some really inventive music.

Strobelite really gives me mid-90s R&B pop vibes, like the saccharine notes of Color Me Bad.

So much to my surprise I found out that critics consider Humanz their worst album.

Not that I’ve ever cared about what other people think about music, least of all Anthony Fartano but it does interest me when my tastes are so unaligned with the majority. I’m not reveling in my terminal uniqueness but Plastic Beaches is right there and you want to say Humanz is the worst album? Plastic Beaches prevented me from listening to new Gorillaz for a decade.

Other Notables

** The Rapture is New, Fringe and Dumb.

** ICE is literally just populated with scared boomers. There is not a hell hot enough.

** Since this week’s theme seems to be fan-made Battletech stuff

1  Don’t even talk to me about Gothic omg shut up.