iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#47: Murder at World’s End. This one flew by. The setting (Halley’s Comet doomsday cult) was a fun setup. I’m interested to read the second one, as I can see a nice ‘found family’ angle potentially developing, and I like that there’s a M/F detecting duo w/zero romantic thought or chance.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Burying the lede: the gas tax suspension lasts until November 4th. Well. That’s convenient, isn’t it?

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I’d not heard of this one, thanks for posting about it. Tried it out this afternoon and barely squeaked out a win. Definitely will need the rules up on the tablet for a bit.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#46: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man). Sped through it from Sunday to yesterday, it was still a breezy read but it didn’t land for me quite like the first one. The step up in scope was dramatic and sudden. The setup for book 3 sounds interesting and should help keep it more focused.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Boy howdy do I have thoughts on Peace Walker

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Zero Mission is my favorite 2D Metroid. I know that’s sacrilege to some - I know several folks who don’t even think it’s the best 2D Metroid released on its own platform - but I thought it was great.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For want of something to listen to, I tried the full cast version of Rogue Protocol. Wow. The pacing was very strange by comparison; Murderbot’s VA reads so fast, it feels like he’s trying to wrap it up to get somewhere else.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#45: The Lost Library. Read aloud with the kiddo. Enjoyed it on the whole. Some of the book’s stated physics had me guessing until nearly the end. Poor Al. The presence of a heroic library cat was all my kiddo needed to be hooked.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Very pleased to see that planned Lufia I-II rerelease popping up on Steam. Please don’t mess this up, just give us a competent port…

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The Price of Reason @priceofreason.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

OKAY FINE YOU CAN HAVE A CHURU

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#44: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. My wife recommended this. Greatly enjoyed it, I devoured it in a couple of days. Plenty of laughs and feelings. The NFT subplot is very much a moment-in-time kind of thing, but you don’t *really* need to understand it (and indeed, who truly does?).

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

II is good. Can’t speak to Samus Returns. I expect if you liked Dread you’d probably like SR (same dev). II makes very interesting decisions with sound design and is a fantastic looking game given the hardware.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#43: Starter Villain. My fifth Scalzi! Lots of his stuff this year. Plenty of laughs and it went quickly, but the story was multi-layered and convoluted in ways I didn’t enjoy. The animals were my favorite part.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Outside of finishing media, I’ve been kind of quiet lately. A contributing factor: the last several things I’ve posted here have been immediately interacted with by spam/scam bots. It’s getting pretty tiresome.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I *think* Wily Stage 3 was my biggest bugaboo with that game. There was a pixel-perfect jump from an underwater platform (basically a pillar with a cutout) where if you were even the tiniest bit early, you bonked your head and died, but if you were the tiniest bit late, you fell and died.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#42: Old Man’s War. My fourth Scalzi. Recommended to me by several folks in several communities, including my wife. They weren’t wrong; it was really good. One of those books that really has punch from the opening sentence. Serious and humorous in generous portions. Pour one out for the Old Farts.

The cover of a recent(?) printing of John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War”. This is the fourth Scalzi book I’ve read after When The Moon Hits Your Eye, Kaiju Preservation Society, and Redshirts.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Another on the DNF pile for the year: I got halfway through Kirby Canvas Curse and I am *out*.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

31) Faselei! (Neo Geo Pocket Color). Came on my radar after an RPGFan review in 2019(!). Found it in ‘24 at a resale shop. I enjoyed it; in many ways it’s more similar to action-programming board games I’ve played than other video games. Solid grid-based tactics game with several viable strategies.

The credits of Faselei! are rolling on a Neo Geo Pocket Color system. Sacnoth was responsible for multiple other games I enjoyed in that era (Koudelka, Shadow Hearts), so it’s no surprise this one was also solid.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I have clear memories of Lament of Innocence, but almost nothing stuck from Curse of Darkness. ‘Vania in 3D never did it for me. Will be interested to see what you think when you get around to it.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

#41: The Wild Robot (read aloud, taking turns with my daughter). Admittedly, my performance of this was informed by the audiobook of Monk and Robot, but I think it worked. This was kiddo’s third time with the story (book last year, movie this year). I enjoyed it well enough, might see the film.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

30) Portal (Steam Deck, after several 10-15 year old Xbox 360 plays). Still a lovely game. Very refreshing experience after the grind of HL1. Hadn’t seen the updated ending before. Might break out Portal 2 sometime, the 360’s been getting some use lately.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#40: The Last One At the Wedding. I picked this up at random from the bookmobile. A mistake. No likable major characters, a twist that only aimed for shock value, and a blindingly obvious conclusion which was the most realistic thing that happened in the entire book. Doubt I’ll go random again soon.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

29) Half-Life. I’d played a ton of multiplayer, but never the story. I was very frustrated by the game about halfway through & discussed it with two friends. One reminded me it was a Sierra game, so I treated it as such (plenty of save scumming). That & the hornet gun made it palatable.

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RedditFCS @redditfcs.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This is not a joke: Valpo has a freshman DB on their team named Kaiser Wilhelm valpoathletics.com/sports/footb...

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

It just got republished by crowdfunding in the US and Canada by Crafty Games; maybe you could track down that version? I haven’t seen it in my local store yet in the US but I’m sure I will soon.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Root hasn’t been working on that point for me the last week or so. I get the notification, but when I go to the game I have to go through the menus to find my turn.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I still remember being dumbfounded at the cast of GK1. What a lineup Sierra put together for that one. Tim Curry with a n’awlins drawl sure was a treat.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

We just watched the 80s “Annie” movie and he was great in that too. (I was unfamiliar with it outside of a song or two, and had no idea how over-the-top insane that story was, thus being perfect for Curry to participate in.)

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

1) I’ve created 500+ successful sales listings and I would prefer to keep doing it myself. 2) if the “AI-ded” settings are now default for me, they’re likely default for many sellers, and whatever quality was left on eBay is about to tank.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Pretty frustrating weekend of trying to get stuff listed on eBay. They turned on their, shall we say, “computer aided” selling tools in the app and do not appear to have a way to disable them. Tried turning it off on the website but it didn’t appear to carry over to the app.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I got one of those on Yucata last week. *Yucata*.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

#39: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. I’m glad to have read it and finished up the series, and I appreciate the continued vibe of “people doing their best when things are hard”, but the core message didn’t land for me. Mostly because it wasn’t aimed at someone like me. Good luck out there, Roveg.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

28) DOOM (as comprised of E1M1-E3M8, replay after ??? years). A classic for a reason. Enjoyed a revisit, good way to spend a few hours when I kept getting distracted by Everything Else. Played on Steam Deck.

Returning to Earth after Doom episode 3 to find a rabbit in a field, just before the setup to Doom II pans in

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

*just this week* our local supermarket stocked four separate SKUs of blind box stuff and a video game got announced Why is this suddenly everywhere

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

As someone whose child discovered Warriors / Warrior Cats two months ago, and a parent who had never heard of that franchise before then, it has been wild to go from “oh, this book series has been around a while” to “this is suddenly a multimedia + merch extravaganza” in the course of eight weeks

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Leftist Logician (she/her) @leftistlogician.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

You guys. You guys. You guys. There is free official Babylon 5 episode streaming on YouTube now! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

youtube.com

Full Episodes - YouTube

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

#38: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (audiobook). Quicker start than the previous, but a leisurely pace. Enjoyed a core message (“allow yourself to take comfort where you can, or you won’t have the strength to face difficulties”). Reader had great breathless moments when leads were peppered w/questions.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

27) The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (replay after who knows how long). My favorite Zelda. Still a fantastic game. Sure, inventory management is a bit of a pain, but consider the hardware. Greatly enjoyed this revisit when I couldn’t figure out what to play.

Marin from Link’s Awakening DX overlaying a seagull. The reward you get in the ending if you don’t die during the story.

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MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Couldn’t anything be simple, just for once?

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I am working through a stone cold classic Game Boy game that I’ve played many times. In general, I remember it very well and I’ve been chugging along. However, two words may be about to derail the speedy progress. “Eagle’s Tower”.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Ah. My memory is colored by a decision where I was locked out of an ending path by my advisors overruling my opinion, then immediately regretting their life choices the second the next battle started. If only my hidden stats had been high enough, I guess. Never replayed to find out.

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Fox Harper @foxharper.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I see “Adventure: the Movie” and all I hear is Strong Bad shouting “SOMEBODY GET THIS FREAKIN’ DUCK AWAY FROM ME”

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I need one like the second one, except Serenoa starts to make an argument for the vote and someone shuts him down ala The Rock’s “IT DOESN’T MATTER”; that would echo my experience of TS

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

#37: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (audiobook). Very slow start, perhaps exacerbated by the format. Once it got going, I enjoyed the character building and interplay between the two leads. “If we want solace, we have to make it ourselves” is a very 2026-coded message. Will likely read the sequel.

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Aaron Bolner @bolnerap.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

#36: Record of a Spaceborn Few. My new favorite in this series. Was enjoying this one well enough as expanding on some groundwork laid in book 1, but when plots started clicking together, it became a very satisfying experience. Again, things aren’t perfect but people are doing their best.

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