Page 19 – Burning the midnight oil at noon

24 Days of Desire (18): DIE HARD

There are a few movies that I like to watch every time the holiday season rolls around. These include but are not strictly limited to: Christmas Vacation, Die Hard, and The Phantom of the Paradise. Of those three movies listed, I own two.

24 Days of Desire (17): Cap’n Crunch Pancakes

For anyone out there who may be unawares, Cap’n Crunch is currently my favorite garbage cereal brand. Peanut Butter Crunch would be the winner for individual cereal, but realistically I’ll take whatever the Cap’n is offering. I also say “currently” because Fruity Pebbles used to have the top spot until just a few years ago, and I don’t know if, how or when my tastes will change moving forward.

All of that I a very roundabout way of saying: I really want to try the Cap’n Crunch pancake mix!

24 Days of Desire (16): An Arcade

This one’s quick and easy: I want an arcade.

Well, that is to say, a very specific arcade. An arcade that has the “holy trinity” of 90’s brawlers: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Captain America and the Avengers, and The Simpsons. Though honestly, I’d gladly accept even one of the three.

Growing up, our Chuck E Cheese restaurant had those three cabinets, all nicely aligned back-to-back-to-back, and they were where I spent the vast majority of my tokens. Those and Cruis’n USA, but I’m less nostalgic about that one. While we do have a few modern establishments that include arcade games as part of their schtick, none of them have any of the three I listed. It’s all skee-balls and coin pushers ’round these parts.

So that’s really it. My list of demands is short. Not cheap, mind you, but short. I feel like I’m putting out a reasonable ask, but I think the fact is that those arcade cabinets have left the city and are never coming back. I did see (and play!) TMNT once, but it was at a bar that has long since been replaced by a spa or something that I care equally little about.

24 Days of Desire (15): Headphones

This is a simple one: I’d like a nice pair of headphones.

The thing that makes this tricky is that there are so many different kinds for such a wide range of prices, and I have no idea what I actually want in a headphone. Just something that does a good job of relaying sounds from a computer or video game console to my head, while also blocking as much outside noise as possible.

24 Days of Desire (14): TMNT Classics

The other day, I wrote about how I’ll never have the complete set of Mega Man comics because Archie had zero respect for the series or the fans. When it comes to IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, though? Any that I’ve missed out on are totally my fault.

Actually, IDW has done a pretty great job of making sure that their original TMNT series has been easy to purchase in one format or another. Right now they’re releasing them in really nice hardcover collections, and you know that I’m all over those.

24 Days of Desire (13): A space-filler

Got another quick one today. There’s this space above my bed, and I’ve been meaning to fill it with something for years now. I just don’t know what it is that should go there. I was hoping that at some point, I’d have a flash of inspiration, or see the perfect thing whilst shopping for something else.

Alas! Four and a half years later and I have still not been wowed enough by anything to have hung it above my bed. The wall remains empty and cold.

24 Days of Desire (12): Mega Man Comics

In 2011, Archie Comics began publishing a graphic novel series based on the hit video game franchise, Mega Man. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Features a little blue robot who fights for justice? Has a handful of games across a few different platforms?

So anyway, this Mega Man comic, it’s better than it has any right to be. The Mega Man games have very little in the way of story, so it was impressive that writer Ian Flynn was able to really flesh out a plot and dialogue interesting enough to keep you reading. Even more so since it also felt true to the spirit of the games.

24 Days of Desire (11): NIeR Orchestral Arrangement

You know that I adore Keiichi Okabe’s soundtracks for the NIeR series games more than anything. I’ve typed that fact so many times. So of course I want the big, expensive box set of orchestral arrangements.

In my experience, video game soundtracks are very commonly overpriced, so in that context, the $80 USD price tag is actually pretty fair for a three-disc set. And that third disc is exclusive to the set! I can buy the first two on iTunes for 15 domestic dollars apiece, but not the third one! Is it worth $50 plus foreign exchange and shipping? Probably not for people who aren’t me!

I haven’t purchased it yet because of the price point, but I have included it on my Xmas wish list for a couple years now. Ol’ Sandy Claws just keeps letting me down [sad emoji]. So I think that it’s something I’m just going to have to splurge on once 2022 rolls around.

24 Days of Desire (10): Abs

No, you didn’t read that wrong. Today’s topic is abs. As in “visibly tight abdominal muscles that women want to rub their faces up against.” Nobody ever said that this list was going to be exclusively for material objects what must be purchased.

Okay, to be fair, I don’t really want abs so much as I want for the abs-sence of my gut. It’s not even really that much of a gut, but it has re-inflated a little bit over the last year. I’ve been trying in vain to get it back down to 2020 levels, but I’ve developed some fairly bad eating habits this year that have been proving difficult to undo.

24 Days of Desire (9): Son of Godzilla

Here’s a little-known fact about me: I have a collection of all of the (live action) Godzilla movies on either DVD or Blu-ray. Well, almost all of them. There happens to be one that I’m missing, and that’s because for some reason it’s very rare and thus unbelievably expensive. You’ve read the post title, but I guess I should reiterate that the one film in question is Son of Godzilla.