The Professional Game - August 9, 2013

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Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's installment of the Professional Gamer.  I've got a loaner TV to help feed my habits for this week, and will be looking for a new set soon.  In the interim, here's what I've been doing this week.

Watching:

This week I started watching Fairy Tail, as research for Nan Desu Kan this year.  As I watched the convention guest announcements, I noticed that most of them had contributed a voice to the series.  The jury is still out on the series for me.  My initial impression is that the show is rather formulaic and trope laden.  I've watched about 13 episodes at this point, but I'm still hoping that things will improve as the series progresses.

Playing:

This week, I'm back into Final Fantasy.  I've killed another boss and recharged my third crystal.  And then I got distracted by the extra dungeons that were added for the GBA port.  Still, I'm making a fair amount of progress, but the end of the game is not in sight yet.

Reading:

This week, I've nearly finished reading The Incredible Shrinking Man.  My initial judgment still stands.  Shrinking Man is good, but I Am Legend is the better book.  I am also noticing that Matheson's male character's seem to often have a strange obsession with sex.  But the obsession manifests itself with feelings of repression that are likely related to the period in which it was written (1940s to 50s America).  This attitude towards sex, more than anything else, makes the books feel dated.  However, I am really enjoying Matheson's ability to use a supernatural happening to explore issues of the human condition; this is really the root of all good sci-fi and fantasy.

In all, this has been a successful week for my hobbies and pursuits.  Join me again next Friday for another weekly update of the Professional Gamer.