Category: doctor j

My Year in Hobbies 2019: April!

April 2019:

Screenshot of someone getting the "To Live Forever" Trophy in the video game No Man's Sky. A faint, greyish-green sunburst in the center of a black screen, with the "Trophy earned!" Playstation Network icon at top left.
Screenshot of someone getting the “To Live Forever” Trophy in the video game No Man’s Sky. A faint, greyish-green sunburst in the center of a black screen, with the “Trophy earned!” Playstation Network icon at top left.

As I mentioned, I did hit 100% on No Man’s Sky’s trophy achievements in April. I had a lot of help on the “Reach the center of the universe in Permadeath mode” part. I found someone who had been alive in that instance for over 2 years, and had a base built 1 warp from the center of the universe, and they sent me an invite to their game after friending me. Before that, I had probably invested over 100 hours in my various attempts (though I’d probably be able to do it again, and more efficiently, if I tried now), and got close a few times.

Interior screenshot of Second Life nightclub Heck. A human with white skin and black hair, in black clothing (front and center), is seen at a DJ booth from behind. The building has black walls, accented by purple furnishings and green arrows that function as the club's teleport buttons. Photographs hang on the left and right hand wall. A tip jar sits on the stage to the left of the DJ booth.
Interior screenshot of Second Life nightclub Heck. A human with white skin and black hair, in black clothing (front and center), is seen at a DJ booth from behind. The building has black walls, accented by purple furnishings and green arrows that function as the club’s teleport buttons. Photographs hang on the left and right hand wall. A tip jar sits on the stage to the left of the DJ booth.

I returned to Second Life after a fairly extended hiatus in April, wrote about it in May, and events, if sporadic, continued at my club there, Heck, throughout the year, and will continue in 2020. I’ve also been DJing periodically at Vegetal Planet and The Velvet, and DJed at SL16B, Second Life’s 16th birthday party, on June 25th.

A Marvel Legends Black Knight action figure stands on a wooden window sill, with green foliage in a window behind it. Human figure in a blue tunic with a red insignia and red trim, blue, gold and grey armor, a brown utility belt, and blue boots and gloves, holding a large black sword with a gold hilt.
A Marvel Legends Black Knight action figure (a human figure with white skin in a blue tunic with a red insignia and red trim, blue, gold and grey armor, a brown utility belt, and blue boots and gloves, holding a large black sword with a gold hilt) stands on a wooden window sill, with green foliage in a window behind it.

I don’t buy a lot of Marvel Legends, but I couldn’t pass on The Black Knight.

An empty glass display case, center of picture, rests up against maroon walls, with some white boxes on a black shelf to its left.
An empty glass display case, center of picture, rests up against maroon walls, with some white boxes on a black shelf to its left.

Picked up an IKEA DETOLF display case for a corner of what we call “the study” in my house. Fit perfectly, and helps me display some more things like this…

Various toys and sculptures sit on a shelf: Ideal's KRUSHER doll, a green monster with orange trim; ROM The Spaceknight, a grey robot with red trim; Hugo, the Man of a Thousand Faces, a bald puppet with white skin wearing a blue denim shirt; a statue of a vampire version of comic book character The Joker; a green, pink and white ceramic statue of a sad looking dog with large green and black eyes; A green duck wearing a pink cowboy hat, being ridden by a pink cowboy.
Various toys and sculptures sit on a shelf: Ideal’s KRUSHER doll, a green monster with orange trim; ROM The Spaceknight, a grey robot with red trim; Hugo, the Man of a Thousand Faces, a bald puppet with white skin wearing a blue denim shirt; a statue of a vampire version of comic book character The Joker; a green, pink and white ceramic statue of a sad looking dog with large green and black eyes; A green duck wearing a pink cowboy hat, being ridden by a pink cowboy.

From left to right, bottom row: ceramic dog bank that’s been photographed and used as Heck’s mascot since it opened; Zimot Industries cowboy riding a duck sculpture.

From left to right, top row: Krusher The Gruesome Growing Reptile; ROM The Spaceknight; Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces; Joker vampire sculpture by Eli Livingston.

Not a bad first shelf.

An overhead shot of the basketball courts of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. approximately 15 people play basketball near a number of basketball hoops, in a circular basketball gym with pictures of famous basketball players off in the distance.
An overhead shot of the basketball courts of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. approximately 15 people play basketball near a number of basketball hoops, in a circular basketball gym with pictures of famous basketball players off in the distance.

Finally made it to the Basketball Hall of Fame with some visiting friends in April. The museum was mid-renovation, which I didn’t know at the time, and it seemed like a significant section was closed off, but we still had fun…

The Michael Jordan display case in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. A Chicago Bulls #23 jersey, white with red trim, once worn by Michael Jordan, a red and white Nike Air Jordan sneaker, and several inscribed basketballs are visible in the case in this picture.
The Michael Jordan display case in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. A Chicago Bulls #23 jersey, white with red trim, once worn by Michael Jordan, a red and white Nike Air Jordan sneaker, and several inscribed basketballs are visible in the case in this picture.

…and I got to see some other old friends.

The Julius Erving display case at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. A University of Massachusetts maroon and white basketball jersey, an inscribed red, white and blue basketball, and a white Converse basketball sneaker with red trim are visible in the case, along with a placard that is not legible.
The Julius Erving display case at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. A University of Massachusetts maroon and white basketball jersey, an inscribed red, white and blue basketball, and a white Converse basketball sneaker with red trim are visible in the case, along with a placard that is not legible.

First-run movies watched in April 2019 (1): Avengers: Endgame (I have really mixed feelings about the story directions and deviations of course they chose for various characters, to put it mildly, but I still think it’s amazing to see live action, George Perez-level super-hero crossover events done well. (I haven’t watched the Berlanti-verse Crisis On Infinite Earths yet, so I can’t speak from a position of authority on that one, but obviously the budgets are very different there.)

Comic books cancelled or ending in April 2019 (1): West Coast Avengers (Marvel Comics). This was another great series that I really wish more people had picked up on. Lots of fun, a great new take on a few older concepts, and I wish it had more time. Jeff the Shark forever!