Recent Obsessions Part 6
Monday November 24, 2025
I’m writing this to take a break from drawing. Open that link with caution. All of my recent drawings have been kind of aimless, which makes me feel like I should be working on a project (or like, actually study). The next issue of the zine is in the works, but I have to do the centerfold drawing last. If I finished it now, I won’t like it by the time the zine is ready for print. I’m already kind of over the centerfold drawing from the first issue.
Anyway…
UFO 50
The other contender for the featured game in this post was DOA Xtreme for the Xbox. I may or may not get into that later. I have been sitting on a draft for a whole post about it, including a drawing, but my opinions have changed as I have continued playing it. For now, I’ll yap about a much more palatable game.
UFO 50 is the reason I finally hooked a Dell Optiplex I had lying around up to my TV. It boots right into Steam Big Picture mode, and it has been pretty nice overall. I don’t think it’s a total replacement for a console due to the occasional and somewhat expected PC bullshit I run into. I have a draft post where I planned on talking about this set up in more detail, but there isn’t much else to say. It’s a Dell Optiplex using a TV as a monitor + Big Picture. Nothing special. It’s a UFO 50 (and shmup) machine.
I feel like UFO 50 was a big deal when it was released, and it was talked about a lot, so maybe I don’t need to explain what it is. For those who don’t know, it’s a collection of 50 games for an 8-bit fantasy console called the “LX”. There is something in there for everyone, but here is a list of my top 5:
- Pingolf
- Hyper Contender
- Party House
- Overbold
- Mooncat
Pingolf is #1 by a long shot. It’s 2D golf with pinball elements like pop bumpers and pegs, plus the ability to spike the ball into the ground while midair for a bounce. Hyper Contender is a platform fighter where the goal is to collect rings. Party House is a deck builder that everyone loves. I seriously haven’t met someone who has played UFO 50 that didn’t like Party House. Overbold a shooter that I pitched to my girlfriend as “primitive Blazing Beaks.” It has a cool “chicken” multiplayer mode, where each player cranks the difficulty until someone wimps out. Mooncat is a goofy platformer with goofy controls and really sick music.
If those 5 don’t sound like your thing, there are 45 other games that might be your thing. Definitely give UFO 50 a try.
Brasilian Skies
I was driving into work one morning and Brazilian Sugar (aka the DOA Xtreme Casino song, crazy coincidence) came on the radio. I wanted to hear it again, so I played it through my phone via YouTube. Beleza Pula autoplayed next and I was instantly hooked.
Here is a link to a YouTube playlist. Sorry I can’t include a nice little Bandcamp embed like I usually do.
I’ll have to explore the rest of Masayoshi Takanaka’s discography. I have no idea how it took me this long to discover this album.
The Print Rabbit Hole
I recently ordered some nice paper from Red River Paper. They offer color profiles for my printer, the Epson ET-8550. To get the most out of the paper and the color profiles, I attempted to calibrate my monitor using this website. To my dismay, the printed test image did not match Krita’s “soft proofing” view. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if my monitor just sucks. I ordered a Spyder monitor calibration tool to make sure I’m getting the most out of my monitor, but I’m willing to accept the fact that my monitor might suck. This monitor doesn’t owe me anything. I think I bought it when I was 18. Even if I don’t get it perfect, I can say for sure that the next zine centerfold will look better than the last one. If anyone has experience with color management/printing on Linux specifically, please leave a comment.
I also wanted to mention that I added a microblog to the homepage. There is no RSS feed for it, and it only appears on the homepage when on a desktop. I didn’t feel like dealing with where it would go when on a narrow phone screen. Think of it as a reason to check in.
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