Semantic Nonsense: Following up

A lot of us still have spare time on their hands. And will have a bit more coming, too. And it’s high time I spent some of it freshening up what old posts can be updated. Not so old that nobody remembers them, and not so stale that there’s no new information to share.

…Not that I have spare time, but I’m trying to write to fit the theme.

Fireless S’mores Revisited

As a Fourth of July special on 2017, I attempted to replicate the campfire s’mores experience as best I could using various kitchen appliances. Today, we’re continuing that quest with the air fryer I bought last year and only just the other day realized I could try air frying a s’more.

Experiment 4: Air Fried

I cooked our volunteer for 5 minutes at 350 degrees.

Coming out of the fryer, the top graham cracker had toppled over, but it hadn’t burned. The marshmallow puffed and browned on the top nicely. The chocolate hadn’t dripped off the cracker, but was a little burned. The second volunteer that only cooked for 4 minutes worked out better.

Once it cooled off a bit, it was delightfully gooey and tasty. We have a new winner!

Four in May be with you

This is a much more recent follow up. I never got back to you about how the back half of my Four in February went. And I gotta say… the wells came off the wagon a bit down the stretch.

While there is video evidence of completing the Final Fantasy Randomizer, Shovel Knight didn’t go to plan. After getting several stages into it, I came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t my thing.

Not wanting to put in peril a Four in February so close to completion that I could taste it, I made the switch to another unplayed download on my 3DS: the Virtual Console release of Sword of Hope II.

And while I wish I could tell you that there is a happy ending to that story, there is not. I’m probably less than 5 hours away from knocking the game out, but my attention got disrupted by Gamefly when West of Loathing arrived and filled me with delight.

I fully intend on finishing off Sword of Hope II, as it’s a nice game for its platform and its age, but it may take a while yet. While West has been won (and will be won again when I continue the stream), Final Fantasy 7 Remake more strongly compels me, as does making daily progress in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And there’s even a new contender on the scene, and Gamefly next sent me Digimon World: Next Order, now also known as the first Digimon World-series game I actually like.

Orville grows the beard

I checked in on the first season of Seth MacFarlane’s space… opera? twice during its debut year, and I was disappointed then.

However, I kept on giving it a shot, and was eventually rewarded. For season 2, Orville upgraded its sense of humor from embarrassingly PG Family Guy to something more like a nontraditional office comedy with the occasional MacFarlane-like reference.

The show also grows into semi-serialization, with several plots continuing throughout the season. And through those stories, Orville leans into some heavier drama and sci-fi concepts than its first season aspired to. So good show, Orville.

I am, however, a bit nervous about the straight-to-Hulu 3rd season. Orville hit the right balance in its second year, and everything I hear about how Hulu allows them to have fewer restraints in making the show makes me feel that balance is likely to be upset. Time will tell.

I should probably mention that Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery also made gains, but it still repeats the mistake of making its least interesting character the “chosen one.”